Abortion medication ruled to be safe as judge orders Trump administration to consider overturning restrictionsA federal judge upheld the safety of the abortion medication mifepristone and ordered the Trump administration to examine and consider overturning restrictions on the drug as barriers to abortion access mount across the country.Robert S Ballou, a US district judge in Virginia, ordered the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) on Friday to reconsider mifepristone restrictions, which the judge found to be arbitrary and capricious. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Carter Sherman with Madeleine Aggeler . on (#777AJ)
After years of trying to be skinny, Guardian reporter Madeleine Aggeler did a 180 and decided to 'bulk'. Bulking, or gaining weight on purpose to get stronger, challenged everything she had been taught about her body, and transformed her relationship to food. Madeleine speaks to Carter Sherman about her owns body image struggles, and they discuss why strength training and weightlifting has become so popular for women. Is this actually healthy, or just an extension of toxic diet culture? Continue reading...
Environmental groups are sounding the alarm over plans that threaten a desert spring that's home to rare fish and turtles and sacred to the O'odham peopleQuitobaquito Springs in south-west Arizona has been called a biological wonderland with few equals.The springs are an oasis in the vast Sonoran desert along the US-Mexico border, held sacred by the O'odham people, who call it A'al Vaipia. Here, water flows out of an aquifer at the bottom of a hill, runs along a short concrete channel and collects in a pond. Continue reading...
Wildfires in Europe, Russian missile strikes in Kyiv, the cockroach protests in New Delhi and the World Cup final - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalistsWarning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing Continue reading...
Philadelphia wasn't the obvious destination for LeBron James. That may be exactly why it makes perfect sense for a player who has always prioritized fit over sentimentShould we have seen this coming all along? LeBron James knew that joining the Golden State Warriors would have been a losing gamble on the health of players five times closer to the ends of their careers than the beginnings. He knew the Cleveland Cavaliers, however strong their analytics, hopelessly lacked the unquantifiable greatness of a championship team. He knew the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Miami Heat were too unproven to hitch his wagon to.Of course he knew. Continue reading...
Traffic cameras captured the moment a driver dressed as Spider-Man helped a wheelchair user safely cross a busy road in Arkansas. In the footage, a person who was on his way back from a superhero-themed event is seen jumping out of his vehicle to help the struggling pedestrian Continue reading...
The 25 Democratic attorneys general say administration imposed unlawful' conditions on federal disaster grantsA group of 25 Democratic attorneys general led by California's Rob Bonta are taking the Trump administration to court for imposing unlawful" conditions on federal grants for disaster preparedness and response.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) have been placing stipulations on federal grants that amount to a campaign of coercion" designed to force states to adopt the White House's preferred voting and immigration policies says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island on Thursday. Continue reading...
Over 11,500 people this summer are suspected to have been sickened by disease that can cause explosive diarrhea, CDC saysInvestigations into the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak on record expanded to nine states this week, as more than 11,500 people are suspected to have been sickened this summer, according to reports and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Data released by the CDC this week said the agency is looking into 4,173 laboratory-confirmed domestic cases of the disease and investigating an additional 7,400. Continue reading...
Explosive diarrhea infection detected in 41 states with at least 72 sickened by new, as yet unknown source of parasiteConfusion abounds in the cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands in at least 41 states, as officials identify a new cluster of cases and more potential products come under scrutiny.The recall of products during this outbreak of explosive diarrhea has been an unusual one, complicated by poor communication, politicization and the delay of a new regulatory rule could have helped trace the cyclosporiasis outbreak faster. Continue reading...
Marriage offers an opportunity to ask for help creating a home. But what about when the marriage ends - and the household with it?It's peak wedding season, and my own divorce is waiting on a judge's signature. People are being congratulated with Dutch ovens and serving bowls for dinner parties they may not ever host.Marriage comes with an etiquette system for asking people to help build a home. The registry says the embarrassing part for you. Divorce deserves the same grace. Continue reading...
Court questions plan to offer male hormone treatment to cisgender troops while denying it to trans service membersPete Hegseth's controversial plan to screen older soldiers for testosterone deficiencies and offer them more of the hormone faced scrutiny this week from a federal judge, who ordered the Trump administration to explain a discrepancy with the treatment of transgender troops.The US defense secretary announced earlier this month that male service members aged 30 and above would be checked to ensure they have the right testosterone levels" to perform in the military at an optimal level. Continue reading...
Rightwing provocateur meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who says he expects to meet Donald Trump in Washington next weekVolodymyr Zelenskyy will meet Donald Trump in Washington next week, according to the rightwing US influencer Laura Loomer, amid signs the White House's traditional hostility towards Ukraine is beginning to crumble.In an interview with Loomer, the Ukraine president said he will probably attend the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham and hold talks with Trump, which will take place as the latest version of the Russian sanctions bill makes its way through Congress. Continue reading...
Sister Leticia Ugboaja says she went into a cold sweat as ICE officers approached her in McAllen on her way to churchA nun who was taken into immigration custody last month in Texas said on Thursday that she went into a cold sweat as two armed men approached her while she walked to Sunday mass in her habit, thinking about the day's Bible readings and carrying little more than her rosary and cellphone.Honestly, in that moment, I did not understand what was going on, what was happening to me," Sister Leticia Ugboaja said at a news conference at Our Lady of Sorrows church in McAllen, Texas, on the US-Mexico border, where she spoke out for the first time since US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested her on 28 June. Continue reading...
An incident in which an autonomous OpenAI agent hacked a startup either confirms that the end is nigh - or that the product is just amazingly sophisticatedThroughout history, many things have been seen by terrified populaces as a harbinger of doom. A comet. A crow on the battlefield. A solar eclipse. A mutant livestock birth. Yet times move on. In the modern era, the leading harbinger of doom is literally any picture of the OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, attached to a news story. You know it's not going to be good, right? You know that by the time you've read it, you'll be begging to go back to the time when the worst thing that could happen to us at the hands of the techlords was just some democracy-subversion, or childhood destruction, usually followed by Mark Zuckerberg putting on a suit and claiming: We will learn from this."Anyway: a lot of pictures of Sam Altman in the news of late. Most recently, this week, one darkened the skies alongside the tale of how an OpenAI autonomous agent went rogue during a supposedly sandboxed/guardrailed test, and hacked a major startup that functions as a repository of coding information. (I'm slightly obsessed with the fact that the startup in question is called Hugging Face, adding weight to my suspicion that some vast, tweely benign emoji is the last face humanity will see before it dies.)Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Residents warn project could worsen gambling addiction and raise rents, while developers promise jobsOn Main Street in Flushing's Chinatown, shoppers weave between fruit stands, restaurants and family-run businesses that have served the New York City neighborhood for decades. But behind the bustle, many residents fear the working-class immigrant community is under threat from an $8bn casino development that could displace thousands of renters and force small businesses to close.A predatory project is being dumped in our community that disproportionately harms our people," said Jack Hu, 37, a Flushing resident and member of the No Casino in Flushing Meadows Corona Park campaign. This community is really upset about this project and how it was pushed through without our consent." Continue reading...
Measures replace 10% global duty and come after supreme court declared many of the earlier tariffs illegal. Plus, how secondhand fashion got so expensiveGood morning.Donald Trump has imposed a fresh round of tariffs on more than 80 countries to replace a 10% global duty that was due to expire, provoking a wave of criticism and protests from US allies and trading partners.What is Trump's justification for the tariffs? The newest tariffs, announced late last night by the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, would fall under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, aimed against countries that engage in forced labor. Trump had said his administration would investigate unfair trading practices to impose permanent tariffs as soon as the February supreme court decision was announced.How have the affected countries reacted to the news? The forced labour' rationale for Trump tariffs has been met with bewilderment, with some saying their labor laws are stronger than those in the US.How are the authorities responding? Last week, Bill Essayli, an assistant US attorney, asked the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the cluster to determine if there is an environmental cause. Continue reading...
The US will no longer hold transportation agencies accountable for unintentional discrimination. That's devastating for those of us who depend on itAs the first congenitally blind member of Congress and a former president of the Bay area Rapid Transit (Bart) Board, I know that the ability to move - to get to work, to school, to the doctor - is a freedom our nation's civil rights laws have long promised to protect. Last month, the Trump administration derailed that promise.Through a regulatory maneuver designed to evade public scrutiny, the Department of Transportation announced it will no longer hold transportation agencies accountable when their decisions produce discriminatory outcomes - no matter how severe - so long as the discrimination was unintentional. As a result, decades of civil rights protection were erased by regulatory fiat.Congresswoman Lateefah Simon represents California's 12th congressional district in the East Bay. She is the first congenitally blind member to serve in Congress and a strong advocate for transportation and disability justice. She previously served as Bart president and executive director of the San Francisco Lawyers Committee for Civil RightsGuillermo Mayer is an attorney and the president and CEO of Public Advocates, a 55-year old civil rights law firm and advocacy organization dedicated to challenging the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination Continue reading...
Sixty years ago, the famed Red Sox slugger used his Cooperstown speech to champion Black players who were excluded because of the sport's color barrierWhen Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he had an iconic career to reflect on. But he decided to dedicate a portion of his speech to championing Black players who had been excluded because of baseball's longtime color barrier.I've always been a very lucky guy to have worn a baseball uniform, to have struck out or to hit a tape-measure home run," Williams said in his 25 July 1966 speech - 60 years ago Saturday. And I hope that someday the names of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in some way could be added as a symbol of the great Negro players that are not here only because they were not given a chance." Continue reading...
Journalists urge attenders to confront president over media attacks, while Melanie Trump and JD Vance to be absentDonald Trump will address a rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association (WCHA) dinner on Friday three months after the original event was abruptly halted after an armed assailant tried to storm it, with the alleged aim of assassinating him.The rearranged dinner has been condemned as hypocritical" by retired journalists and press freedom groups, who are urging the association to use it to confront Trump over his administration's intensified attacks on the media. Continue reading...
From Lionel Messi's final flourish to players who barely featured, we rank every MLS representative who appeared in the 2026 World CupMessi was always going to be No 1. In what was likely his last World Cup, the Argentinian put together an incredible tournament, registering eight goals, four assists and the most progressive passes of any player, according to Futi. With zero defensive responsibility on his shoulders, Messi was free to do as he liked. The 39-year-old roamed the field with ease and effortlessly drew Argentina back from the brink time and time again. It was Messi who led his country to a 3-2 win against Cape Verde, Messi who assisted and then equalized against Egypt, and Messi who created both of Argentina's late goals against England. In the final, however, Messi disappeared. Across 139 minutes including stoppage time, Messi completed just 28 of 39 passes, registered only one shot and hardly affected the game. He may have left the tournament with no personal or team accolades - a rarity for him - but Messi extended a World Cup legacy that few players have ever to come close to rivaling. Continue reading...
The US is aligning itself with dictators and autocrats to prevent those accused of genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes from ever facing justiceBarely a month appears to go by without Donald Trump making a fresh attempt to destroy the international rules-based order. The US has pulled funding from dozens of international institutions, shut down USAID and withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement. Nato may survive on paper, but Trump has made clear that he has little interest in coming to the aid of any ally that is attacked. The Board of Peace is clearly an attempt to sideline the United Nations.But the state department's announcement last week that it wishes to dismantle the international criminal court brick by brick" could be Trump's most frightening move of all.Steve Bloomfield is the former international editor of the Observer and a previous winner of the Orwell prize Continue reading...
New tariffs will replace 10% global duty and come after US supreme court declared many of the earlier levies illegalDonald Trump has imposed a fresh round of tariffs on more than 80 countries to replace a 10% global duty that was due to expire, provoking a wave of criticism and protests from US allies and major trading partners.In the latest attempt to instate aggressive trade policies despite challenges from the US supreme court, the president has imposed tariffs of between 10% or 12.5% on dozens of countries, including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, China and the 27 countries that make up the European Union. It in effect replaces the blanket 10% tariff that Trump imposed in February, right after the supreme court declared many of his earlier tariffs were illegal. Continue reading...
Tariffs ranging from 10%-12.5%, taking effect on Friday, are US president's latest effort to circumvent CongressJust before a temporary levy on global imports was set to expire, the Trump administration issued a fresh wave of tariffs on more than 80 countries late on Thursday, ranging from 10% to 12.5%. The new tariffs take effect Friday morning.It's Donald Trump's latest effort to continue imposing global levies without congressional approval, despite the supreme court ruling in February that found the US president had illegally used his executive power to implement his global trade policies. Trump has long maintained that the US has been paying more than its fair share in tariffs, and that increased duties are necessary to boost American manufacturing and jobs. Continue reading...
New York Times reports that list of those killed changed from 18 on Wednesday to 14 on ThursdayThe Pentagon's official online list of service members killed in the ongoing Iran war does not include the four soldiers who died during renewed fighting over the weekend, despite the fact that their names were included in a Pentagon press release on the formal transfer of their remains back to the United States on Wednesday.A review of the current list on the Pentagon's Defense Casualty Analysis System website shows that, despite having been last updated on Wednesday, the number of US military personnel killed during Operation Epic Fury, the Pentagon's name for the US-Israeli war on Iran that Donald Trump launched on 28 February, remains at 14. Continue reading...
Defense attorneys question LAPD criminalist on third day of hearing to decide whether singer will stand trialBlood stains on objects recovered from singer D4vd's former Los Angeles residence probably came from Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old whose decomposed body was found in his Tesla last fall, according to testimony heard in court on Thursday.Prosecutors say D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, fatally stabbed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez last year to prevent her from exposing the sexual nature of their relationship amid his rising profile in the music world. Continue reading...
Suspect allegedly yelled Allahu Akbar' before attacking a 57-year-old Asian man and a 50-year-old Jewish manNew York City police are investigating a pair of stabbings near Central Park as a possible hate crime, police commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday.The suspect, Raul Morales, allegedly stabbed a 57-year-old Asian man in the back with a knife, then stabbed a 50-year-old Jewish man in the torso with a screwdriver, according to a New York police department spokesperson. Morales allegedly yelled Allahu Akbar" before the stabbings, police said. The attacks occurred about two blocks apart and in broad daylight in Manhattan's affluent Upper West Side neighborhood. Continue reading...
Vote from advisory group - whose members include people linked to peptides industry - likely to embolden RFK JrA panel of federal health advisers on Thursday narrowly recommended easing access to several peptides popular with wellness influencers and celebrities, despite warnings from government scientists that the chemicals have not been shown to be safe or effective.In a series of votes, outside experts to the Food and Drug Administration advised the agency to drop current restrictions barring pharmacies from producing injectable peptides with names like BPC-157, TB-500 and KPV. Continue reading...
Republicans have latched on to the announcement after Trump's lie-laden speech, but experts say DHS's data is designed to create a false argument'Donald Trump and his allies quickly seized on an announcement from Mikie Sherrill, the New Jersey governor, on Tuesday that 6,600 noncitizens had registered to vote because of a software error, and fewer than 400 of them voted, using the disclosure to escalate false claims that there are scores of noncitizens on the voter rolls.Trump seized on the news days after he said in a primetime speech that the Department of Homeland Security identified 278,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls in New Jersey and three other states. But a Guardian review of the letters the DHS sent the states shows the agency expressed less certainty about the number and has offered no explanation of its methodology. Continue reading...
Republican Blake Miguez is weighing what district to run in after state redrew map following supreme court decisionA congressional candidate from Louisiana who was the subject of a police report accusing him of rape - which he denies - says he is hoping to again earn" Donald Trump's endorsement as he considers precisely where to run amid redistricting.The candidate, Blake Miguez, is weighing running in one of two districts, neither of which he lives in but in which he is allowed to run. He has been mulling that choice after the supreme court's landmark decision in Callais v Louisiana prompted the state to swiftly redraw its US House districts - and after he had secured the president's backing under the previous congressional map. Continue reading...
Journalists had reported on security concerns about US president flying on $400m Air Force One plane from QatarDonald Trump's justice department has abandoned, for now, efforts to subpoena New York Times reporters over their coverage of security risks involving the president's Qatari-gifted Air Force One replacement.Sean Buckley, a top-ranking official in the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office, announced the decision on Thursday afternoon about an hour into a proceeding where he was repeatedly grilled on the appropriateness of the subpoenas. Buckley was in court because the New York Times filed paperwork to fight these subpoenas. Continue reading...
Agent came under suspicion after allegedly providing info in MS Now report about vice-president's helicopter tripA Secret Service agent assigned to JD Vance's protective detail is the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security", according to the Secret Service chief of communications.The agent came under suspicion after allegedly providing information that appeared in an MS Now report about the vice-president's planned Marine Corps helicopter trip with his son to a golf lesson, a source told CNN. Continue reading...
Forecasters warn of US coastal flooding, heavy rain and dangerous surf as the storm tracks westTropical Storm Bertha made landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon, and is moving westward toward the Texas coast, where it is expected to reach later on Thursday, bringing rainfall, winds and rising water levels.In a Thursday morning update, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Bertha was moving west and that the center of the tropical storm was expected to move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts over the next several hours before moving inland over Texas on Thursday evening. Continue reading...
Torrential rains in West Virginia have caused flash flooding that inundated homes and businesses. Authorities say the floods washed out bridges and led to numerous water rescues in portions of the state. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia's governor, declared a state of emergency for all 55 counties on Tuesday night. No deaths were immediately reported. Morrisey sent 100 National Guard members to the hardest-hit areas in the northern portion of the state with an additional 200 members expected to arrive by late Wednesday morning. The rains were part of wide-ranging storms that produced reports of tornadoes in several states Continue reading...
Congressional Progressive caucus say healthcare should not be a privilege' as they champions single payer systemThe Congressional Progressive caucus (CPC) held a shadow hearing on Medicare for All on Wednesday, led by Pramila Jayapal and Debbie Dingell.The hearing comes as over half of the House Democratic caucus has co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation, and Senator Andy Kim introduced legislation on Tuesday that would enroll all children into Medicaid until the age of 26, while Republicans passed drastic healthcare cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including nearly $1n in cuts to Medicaid and allowing Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire. Continue reading...
We are now a nation of homogenized open concepts and curb appeal. It's an approach that leads to anxiety and isolationRecently, Jonathan Swan - one of the authors of a new tell-all about Donald Trump's second term - told the hosts of The View that if you had a pie chart of Trump's mind, a pretty substantial slice is devoted to interior decorating". He also revealed that Trump is engaged in design wars" with Melania and moved furniture she had selected into his spaces. The commander-in-chief apparently has even been caught supergluing gilded accents to the Oval Office mantel himself. Though Trump claims taxpayers won't be on the hook for the costs of his renovations, the New York Times reported that the White House's 18 major remodeling projects - from the botched Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool to the paved-over Rose Garden to the looming Arc de Trump" - will probably come with a price tag of $1.2bn.Of course, Trump's renovation compulsion didn't start this year. The president celebrated winning his first term, in 2017, by ripping out the Oval Office's royal blue carpet with the presidential seal and replacing it with a Mar-a-Lago peach version, accented with - what else? - gold. But in his second term, he's gotten bolder, both politically and aesthetically - and more addicted. By the autumn of his first year back in office, he went ahead and tore down the East Wing entirely. Continue reading...
Committee accused of trying to weaponize' justice system via laughably weak and vindictive criminal referral'Democrats have accused the US House of Representatives judiciary committee of a baseless" and vindictive" attack on former special prosecutor Jack Smith after it referred him for criminal prosecution for allegedly lying to Congress over his investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Committee chair Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote to acting US attorney general Todd Blanche on Wednesday night, asserting Smith made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact" during testimony about obtaining phone records of a number of Republican lawmakers. Continue reading...
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