White House deputy chief of staff had an odd pause during a CNN interview when asked about the president's power to deploy national guard troopsAn odd moment in a CNN interview with Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has been circulating on social media after Miller's distinct pause when discussing the plenary authority" of the president. A technical glitch - crossed wires from another broadcast in Miller's earpiece - caused him to stop talking before completing his thought, CNN said.But the term plenary authority", has been taken as subtext for the broader ambitions of the Trump administration to assert legally-unassailable power over the use of the military and other functions of government. Continue reading...
This is the best prospect of ending Israel's war in Gaza since it began. But a long-term solution remains distantDonald Trump called the pause in hostilities he has brokered the first step to a strong, durable and everlasting peace". No one can do more to determine the outcome than the US president. This was, for him, a modest statement, acknowledging that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his plan - it being their decision, not his, to break a multi-point agreement into a multi-stage discussion. Two parties so far apart agreed on one thing: both would rather defer the really difficult issues.In Israel and Gaza, there was joy - however tentative- at the announcement. An end to the annihilation, the release of all hostages and the resumption of large-scale aid have all been desperately needed. There is every reason to fear that this will not lead to a lasting peace, and every reason to strive to ensure that it does. In finally reining in Benjamin Netanyahu, and in offering Qatar a security guarantee that persuaded it (with Egypt and Turkey) to lean more heavily upon Hamas, Mr Trump has created an opportunity which must be seized.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...
Prosecutor says Jonathan Rinderknecht had traits of an arsonist and family expressed worries about mental stateA federal magistrate in Florida on Thursday ordered a man charged in California's deadly Palisades fire to remain jailed after a prosecutor said he had traits of an arsonist and his family had worried about his declining mental state.Federal officials have said Jonathan Rinderknecht, who lived in the area at the time, started a small fire on New Year's Day that smoldered underground before reigniting nearly a week later and roaring through the wealthy enclave, home to many of Los Angeles's rich and famous. Continue reading...
Two who received presidential pardon among six activists charged with trespass and conspiracy in PennsylvaniaSix anti-abortion activists, include two previously pardoned by Donald Trump, will stand trial on state charges that they trespassed on an abortion clinic's property and refused to leave.The six, who were also charged with criminal conspiracy, were due in court on Wednesday, but waived their right to appear - a move that is tantamount to pleading not guilty, according to lawyer John Williamson. A trial date has not been set. Continue reading...
New law signed by Gavin Newsom will define and ban ultra-processed foods of concern' beginning in 2029California will become the first state in the US to phase out certain ultra-processed foods from school meals over the next decade.A new law signed by the governor, Gavin Newsom, on Wednesday will first define, and then ban, ultra-processed foods, the often super-tasty products typically full of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, from school meals. Continue reading...
Report looks at White House nominees and appointees and agencies dictating energy, environment and climate policyDonald Trump has placed dozens of people with ties to the fossil fuel sector in his administration, including more than 40 who have directly worked for oil, gas or coal companies, according to a new analysis.The report from Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy and ethics non-profit that has been critical of the Trump administration, alongside the Revolving Door Project, a corporate watchdog, analyzed the backgrounds of nominees and appointees within the White House and eight agencies dictating energy, environmental and climate policy. That includes the Environmental Protection Agency, the interior and energy departments and others. Continue reading...
Adelita Grijalva won a landslide election for her Arizona seat. But Mike Johnson is defying the will of the votersThe people of Arizona's seventh congressional district - a vast territory extending across the state's south, along the Mexican border - have been denied representation in Congress for weeks. That's because Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, has refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva, their representative-elect, who won a special election to fill the seat vacated by her father, the late Raul Grijalva, in a landslide late last month. Grijalva, a Democrat, has been largely ignored by the speaker. Unlike sworn representatives, she has to go around the Capitol with an escort. There's an office with her name on the door, but she hasn't been allowed inside, and has worked instead out of a conference room on another floor.It is an unprecedented abuse of procedural power on the part of the speaker, one that has had the effect of silencing a political opponent and denying representation to the citizens of her district. In refusing to seat Grijalva, Johnson has defied the will of Arizona's voters, and effectively nullified, at least for the time being, a legitimate congressional election. He has persisted in this even in defiance of his own promises, after saying on Friday he would seat her this week once the House returned to session - and then telling lawmakers they wouldn't reconvene this week after all. Last week, Grijalva showed up to a three-and-a-half-minute pro forma session, hoping to be sworn in then. (Johnson has sworn in other representatives at pro forma sessions in the past.) But the Republican presiding over the session, Morgan Griffith, ignored the effort. On a weekend talkshow, Grijalva said she had heard absolutely nothing" from the speaker about the timing of her swearing in.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelledA Rutgers University professor who taught a course on anti-fascism was blocked from leaving the US for Spain on Wednesday night, according to media reports, hours after Donald Trump hosted a White House roundtable highlighting the impact of antifa - or anti-fascist" - far-left activists.Mark Bray, an historian who published the 2017 book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, and has taught courses on anti-fascism at the New Jersey university, was attempting to board a plane at Newark airport bound for Europe when he was informed at the boarding gate that the reservations for him and his family had been cancelled. Continue reading...
Dog named Eeyore attracted sheriff's deputy's attention: He practically dragged me to her'A dog named Eeyore turned into a very good boy and a hero of the hour after leading a Florida sheriff's deputy to where a missing 86-year-old woman had fallen while walking him, bodycam footage shows.The woman's husband reported her missing on the night of 25 September after she failed to return from her walk in their Destin neighborhood in the panhandle region of the US state. Continue reading...
The Guardian's parenting WhatsApp group discusses the recent spate of school shootings and political violence - and how they explain it to their kidsI have been emotionally at my wit's end with the violence."Gabriela Rangel is a glass dispatch coordinator in California City, California, and mother to a five-year-old. Like many parents across the nation, she was horrified to learn about the 27 August shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two children were killed and 17 other people were injured. Continue reading...
Concerns that three separate shots would be more costly and time-consuming, and keep kids from being vaccinatedThe measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is undergoing more scrutiny by the Trump administration in their ongoing reassessment of vaccines despite the worst measles outbreak in decades.Jim O'Neill, the deputy secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called on Monday for new vaccines to replace the current MMR shots. Continue reading...
Voters support progressive economic populism, our survey shows. They just don't trust Democrats to deliver itIf anyone could have broken through as a progressive in red America, it was Sherrod Brown. For decades, the Ohio senator railed against corporations for shipping good-paying jobs overseas and pleaded with Democrats to take the struggles of deindustrialized communities seriously. Yet in 2024, even Brown, a model economic populist, fell to a Republican challenger.Does that prove, as writers such as Jonathan Chait have argued, that the idea of winning back the working class with progressive economic policies has been tried and has failed?Jared Abbott is the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics. Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation magazine and the founding editor of Jacobin Continue reading...
Tucker Carlson says young people are more health-conscious than older generations. Does it explain why Republicans are drinking less?Butterworth's, an eclectically decorated restaurant in Washington DC, is an unofficial lounge of the Maga elite. A nameplate on one table declares it the official nook" of Raheem Kassam, the former adviser to the rightwing British politician Nigel Farage and a co-owner of the restaurant. Steve Bannon is also frequently sighted holding court over Carolina gold rice - though the signature dish is bone-marrow escargot, which some young Maga politicos swear is good for your collagen.When he opened the farm-to-table brasserie in 2024, Bart Hutchins, Butterworth's chef and one of its partners, was determined to resist what he sees as the new puritanism" of wellness and sobriety culture. Hutchins finds non-alcoholic mocktails" annoying on principle. I did this edict, where I was like, I'm not stocking that stuff,'" he said. If you want to drink a glass of juice, just ask for a glass of juice; I'm not gonna pretend it's a cocktail." Continue reading...
Lawyers scramble as Robert Roberson to be first person executed under theory now widely seen as junk scienceAt 6pm next Thursday, barring a last-minute reprieve, Robert Roberson will become the first person in America to be executed under the theory of shaken baby syndrome", a medical diagnosis from the 1970s that is so disputed it is now widely denounced as junk science.Roberson, 58, will enter the death chamber at the Huntsville unit in Texas, where he will be strapped to a gurney and injected with a cocktail of lethal drugs. He will be put to death having been convicted of shaking to death his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis in 2002. Continue reading...
Trump says all hostages to be released and Israel to withdraw troops to an agreed line. Plus, shutdown deadlock deepens as senators reject competing bills
Artificial intelligence endangers democracy - but it's less about specific deepfakes and more about a bigger transformationWe study AI and democracy. We're worried about 2050, not 2026.Half of humanity lives in countries that held national elections last year. Experts warned that those contests might be derailed by a flood of undetectable, deceptive AI-generated content. Yet what arrived was a wave of AI slop: ubiquitous, low quality, and sometimes misleading, but rarely if ever decisive at the polls. Still, given the outcome of the US presidential election, few observers concerned about democracy felt relief. The immediate, prolonged challenges brought by the second Trump administration make it difficult to do much more than react to crises as they happen.Samuel Woolley is the author of Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity and co-author of Bots. He is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Dean Jackson is a senior fellow at the University of Pittsburgh's CTRL Lab, a contributing editor at Tech Policy Press and the principal of Public Circle LLC, a research consultancy on technology and democracy issues Continue reading...
The club will finally begin playing in Miami next season. For local fans near Chase Stadium there are mixed emotionsFrom an abandoned and derelict symbol of failed efforts to establish professional football in south Florida, to the arena where Lionel Messi has dazzled MLS while attracting visitors from around the globe. It has been a unique journey for the site where Fort Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium once stood.Even after all these years it's so funny to me that Lionel Messi, one of the most famous faces in the history of mankind, is not only playing for our club but playing in this stadium that was abandoned," said Nico Abad, a member of The Siege supporters' group and a native of Broward County, where Chase Stadium stands on the former site of Lockhart. It's where kids would go to do doughnuts and to smoke and drink." Continue reading...
Colorado Republican congresswoman kicks off fourth term run with email to potential donors: They tell us we're crazy'Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert has kicked off her run for a fourth term in the US House by pledging to pursue the truth about UFOs", said an email from the Colorado politician's re-election campaign to potential donors.For decades, our government has shrouded the truth about UFOs in a veil of secrecy," the Boebert campaign's message on the topic read. Strange crafts have been spotted soaring through our skies, defying the laws of physics, and yet the bureaucrats in Washington act like we're too NAIVE to handle the facts." Continue reading...
Exclusive: Republicans Against Perry are relaunching their campaign to oust Trump ally Scott Perry in 2026A group of Republicans in Pennsylvania are relaunching their efforts to unseat Congressman Scott Perry, the fervent Trump ally who represents the state's 10th congressional district, according to plans first provided to the Guardian.The Republicans Against Perry" (Rap) group began in late 2023, backing the congressman's Democratic opponent, Janelle Stelson, who ended up losing by less than two points in the 2024 election. Now, Rap is restarting their grassroots campaign on Thursday, which includes a slew of electronic billboards throughout the district. Continue reading...
A southern hockey feud has morphed into a clash of styles, politics and privilege that mirrors America itself and exposes how deeply the NHL's power still skewsThe Florida Panthers-Tampa Bay Lightning rivalry was once a regional sideshow, a quirky matchup between two southern expansion teams playing to half-empty arenas and polite indifference. But in the space of just a few years it has mutated into the nastiest, most revealing feud in hockey: one that's exposed the NHL's double standards, cronyism and cultural divide.Preseason hockey is meaningless by design, a handful of perfunctory tune-ups that even hardcore fans barely notice in the run-up to opening night, when the games finally start to count. Yet in the past week the Panthers and Lightning turned a pair of exhibition contests into three-hour fever dreams of violence: 114 penalties totaling nearly 500 minutes in the box, 16 game misconducts and one ejected player who somehow picked up an assist on an eighth goal that shouldn't have counted. It was all-out bedlam before the season even began, but the uneven fallout has raised uncomfortable questions around the sport. Continue reading...
Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen have former an axis of excellence. But which player will break that cycle?There has been a trend in recent NFL seasons. Around Week 8, the MVP race starts to follow a predictable script: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson (if the Ravens are rolling) will almost certainly feature.Between 2015 and 2019, the NFL had four first-time MVP winners - Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Mahomes and Jackson. But in the last five years, only Allen has been a first-time winner (Aaron Rodgers, Mahomes and Jackson were the other victors). Continue reading...
Relatives of Israeli hostages who are currently residing in Washington DC spoke over the phone with US president Trump, who told them that their loved ones will all return on Monday (October 13). Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey, Shrai Popat, Maya Yang and Tom Ambr on (#70KN6)
Witnesses at White House describe being assaulted by leftwing protesters but fail to mention they often confront people and film the responses they provoke. This blog is now closed.
Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly started blaze that destroyed over 6,800 structures in CaliforniaA 29-year-old man has been arrested and charged with igniting the fire that days later became the devastating Palisades blaze, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures in one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history.Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested near his Florida residence on federal charges of destruction of property by means of fire, acting US attorney for the central district of California, Bill Essayli, announced on Wednesday. No motive was presented. Continue reading...
The plan attempts to thread the needle between creating the conditions for a ceasefire and negotiating a lasting end to the war but hard questions remainFor Donald Trump, a peace deal - or even a durable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas - could be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.The details and sequencing of a deal to end Israel's war in Gaza remain murky but the statement of purpose by both Israel and Hamas is meaningful. In agreeing to a deal with political backing from Arab states and other regional powers, this is the best chance for an end to the war since a ceasefire broke down in March, returning Gaza to a grinding war that has left nearly 68,000 people dead, most of them civilians. Continue reading...
First vote in Congress on military campaign that White House says has hit four vessels and killed at least 21 peopleSenate Republicans voted down legislation Wednesday that would have put a check on Donald Trump's ability to use deadly military force against drug cartels after Democrats tried to counter the administration's extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers to destroy vessels in the Caribbean.The vote fell mostly along party lines, 48-51, with two Republicans, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, voting in favor and the Democrat John Fetterman voting against. Continue reading...
Purpose of Friday checkup at US military medical center unclear for oldest man to be inaugurated presidentDonald Trump, the oldest man to be inaugurated US president, will visit Walter Reed national military medical center on Friday for what the White House said was a routine yearly check up".On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Wednesday. While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly check up. He will then return to the White House." Continue reading...
During a White House roundtable, secretary of state Marco Rubio handed Donald Trump a handwritten note with the words 'very close' underlined. 'I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we're very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they're going to need me pretty quickly,' said the US president
Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego hold press conference at speaker's office over his refusal to swear in Adelita GrijalvaArizona's Democratic senators pressed Mike Johnson on Wednesday to swear in their state's newest representative, Adelita Grijalva, but the Republican House speaker refused to budge until funding for the government was restored.Grijalva, a Democrat, last month won a special election to replace her late father, Raul M Grijalva, in a southern Arizona House district. However, she has been unable to assume her new role because Johnson has not administered the oath of office. Continue reading...
by Joseph Gedeon in Washington and Robert Mackey on (#70M79)
Homeland security secretary calls loosely affiliated network of anti-fascist street activists just as dangerous'The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, on Wednesday compared antifa to MS-13, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic State, calling the loosely affiliated network of antifascist street activists just as dangerous" as designated terrorist organizations during a White House roundtable discussion.They are just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA [Tren de Aragua], as Isis, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them, they are just as dangerous," Noem said. They have an agenda to destroy us, just like the other terrorists we've dealt with for many, many years." Continue reading...
Move comes after White House memo suggests workers may not get back pay, despite law Trump signed in first termThe Internal Revenue Service said it will furlough nearly half of its employees - about 34,000 workers - due to the government shutdown, making it significantly harder for US taxpayers to receive assistance.In a statement on Wednesday, the IRS said that due to the lapse in appropriations", it would begin its furlough on 8 October for everyone except already-identified excepted and exempt employees". Continue reading...
Authorities say they found convicted killer Derrick Groves after a standoff at a home in south-west AtlantaThe last fugitive from the high-profile, 10-man New Orleans jailbreak in May has been captured, according to authorities.In an announcement on Wednesday, Jason Williams, the New Orleans district attorney, said that authorities had captured four-time convicted killer Derrick Groves after a standoff at a home in south-west Atlanta. Continue reading...
UK ministers preparing to raise payments to end standoff with pharma industry, cited as reason for firms axing British investmentsMinisters are preparing to raise the amount the NHS pays pharmaceutical firms for medicines by up to 25% after weeks of intensive talks with the Donald Trump administration and drugmakers.Labour has drawn up fresh proposals to end a standoff with the industry over drug pricing, including changing the cost-effectiveness thresholds under which new medications are assessed for use on the NHS, according to industry sources. Continue reading...
State attorney general Ken Paxton claims cabal of abortion-loving radicals' practiced medicine without a licenseEight people linked to a Texas midwife accused of performing illegal abortions have been arrested, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, announced on Wednesday.The midwife, Maria Rojas, earlier this year became the first person to be charged under Texas laws that outlaw virtually all abortions. She is now facing three counts of performing an abortion and 12 counts of practicing medicine without a license. The new arrests were all of people indicted for practicing medicine without a license under Rojas, who operated three clinics in the Houston area, according to Paxton's office. Continue reading...
Katie Porter grows testy when CBS reporter asks about 40% of voters who went for Trump, saying: I'm going to call it'Former California representative Katie Porter, a leading Democratic candidate for governor, threatened to walk out of an interview with a local news outlet after the reporter pressed her on whether support for a redistricting measure would alienate Republicans who voted for Donald Trump.The on-camera exchange between Porter and the CBS News reporter Julie Watts has gained widespread attention, drawing a sharp rebuke from her rivals and potentially shaking up the stagnant race to replace the term-limited Gavin Newsom. Continue reading...
Suit filed by Republican congressman challenges state law allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be countedThe US supreme court heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit challenging an Illinois law governing how the state counts mailed-in absentee ballots received after election day, meeting a sympathetic bench.Arguments center on who has standing to challenge the law, not whether the practice itself is constitutionally valid. Justices asked questions about whether they should view a political candidate as an object" of the law - an entity for whom a regulation bears a direct consequence, and whether the odds of mail-in ballots tipping an election had bearing on whether a candidate had a right to challenge the law. Continue reading...
Case marks significant step in Trump's efforts to politicize the justice department and punish political enemiesThe former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday in connection with federal charges that he lied to Congress in 2020.Comey entered the federal courthouse shortly before 10am through a private entrance. He was joined in court by his legal team, as well as his wife and daughter, Maurene, who was fired last month as a federal prosecutor in the southern district of New York. Troy Edwards Jr, Comey's son-in-law who resigned as a prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia immediately after Comey was indicted, was also seen at the courthouse. Continue reading...
Mobile county sheriff, Paul Burch, faces backlash after skeletons in sombreros and ICE' shirts spotted in his yardA sheriff in Mobile county, Alabama, is facing criticism for putting up a Halloween display that featured two fake skeletons in sombreros and traditional Mexican ponchos being chased over a fence by three skeletal figures dressed in ICE" T-shirts.The display outside sheriff Paul Burch's home has drawn ire online, from neighbors and from Hispanic interest groups. Continue reading...
President accused Brandon Johnson and JB Pritzker of failing to protect Ice officers as troops deploy to ChicagoDonald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers.Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. Governor Pritzker also!" Continue reading...
Memphis lawmaker to go up against Steve Cohen, joining wave of younger candidates calling for generational changeJustin Pearson, a Memphis state lawmaker who rose to prominence in 2023 as part of the Tennessee Three" gun control advocates, on Wednesday launched a primary challenge against Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, joining a wave of younger candidates calling for generational change in the party.For too long, our district has been told to keep going' with the same leadership and the same outcomes, even as Memphis's poverty rate at 22.6% is nearly double the rate for all Tennesseans," Pearson, 30, said in a statement, announcing his candidacy. We can't afford more of the same." Continue reading...
Every year players are pushed to their limits in a sport that chases the sun. But the number of retirements, withdrawals and injuries this season has been shockingJannik Sinner had tried everything but after baking for two and a half hours inside the suffocating sauna of Shanghai's stadium court, he was finished. Even around midnight, the humidity was still so oppressive that Sinner had spent the final 20 minutes of his third-round match against Tallon Griekspoor cramping, panting and in considerable pain. Eventually, he could not even walk properly. Midway through the final set, the 24-year-old hobbled slowly to his chair using his racket as a crutch and terminated the match.Those scenes were representative of the Shanghai Masters so far as, throughout the past week, so many players have wilted in brutal conditions. Terence Atmane and Hamad Medjedovic both retired after struggling with the heat. Francisco Comesana appeared close to collapsing and he had to be helped mid-match by his opponent Lorenzo Musetti. Despite the benefit of competing at night, Novak Djokovic repeatedly vomited in two consecutive matches and there were times in his fourth round win over Jaume Munar where he too looked as if he had reached his limit. Continue reading...
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