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Administration's plan to scrap drilling-free buffer zone around New Mexico site prompts scrutiny from UnescoThe Trump administration's push to expand oil and gas extraction across the US is set to bring drilling near cherished natural and cultural sites, raising alarm among conservationists and prompting questions from the UN's heritage body.Unesco said it has received information on the administration's plan to scrap a drilling-free buffer zone around the Chaco Culture national historical park in New Mexico, a world heritage site and one of the most important cultural areas in the US. A Unesco spokesperson said it has procedures regarding potential threats" to a world heritage property and was awaiting a response from the federal government as to its impact. Continue reading...

Tenants can be evicted for not paying utilities even if they have paid rent - tenants and their allies are fighting back

Avenal has been rocked by the council's refusal to accept the results of a recall election - and the repercussions extend far beyond the Central ValleyFrom the outside, the city of Avenal appears to embody every bit of its motto - an oasis in the sun". Approaching the community, passing through the dusty yellow hillsides of the Central Valley, Avenal emerges with a sudden burst of green on the horizon.Its small-town feel and quiet tree-lined streets offer respite from the bustling Interstate 5 some five miles away. But trouble is brewing here that has brought this lonesome city national attention. Continue reading...

By now we know that charity, generosity and compassion are virtues that the US president doesn't seem to have even in trace amountsMany years ago, in the crowded corridor of a Manhattan hotel, I was surprised to find myself standing face-to-face with Imelda Marcos, then the first lady of the Philippines. At that time, she was said to possess 3,000 pairs of shoes.I desperately longed to ask the wife of the dictatorial president Ferdinand Marcos why anyone could need all those shoes. And more importantly, why would someone spend so much of her country's wealth on stiletto heels when so many citizens were so desperately poor? But natural reticence, good manners or simply fear prevailed, and I walked away. Continue reading...

Manny Rutinel hopes price-tag politics can win key voters in Colorado House raceDuring his presidential campaign in October 2024, Donald Trump staged a photo op at a McDonald's franchise in Pennsylvania, where he was briefly taught how to work the fryer and drive-thru window at the closed restaurant, while making several unsubstantiated claims about Kamala Harris's past summer job at McDonald's.The posturing around McDonald's garnered significant publicity, as Trump and Republicans capitalized on an affordability crisis triggered by high inflation that occurred globally due to the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

Americans are backing progressives not because they want socialism, but because they want candidates who will fight for the working classMost discussions about the Democratic party in this election cycle focus on the remarkable rise of progressive Democrats, such as the Florida state representative Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist who scored an upset win in the Democratic US Senate primary on Tuesday.But an equally big story is the remarkable decline of corporate Democrats. Continue reading...

Israeli military orders criminal investigation into deaths of Hind and six family members. Plus, FCC chair Brendan Carr's close coordination with White House revealedGood morning.The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing.What prompted the investigation? The Israel Defense Forces repeatedly denied its troops had been in the area, but investigations by the media and others found evidence that strongly suggested nearby Israeli tanks were responsible.How significant is it? The IDF published reviews on Wednesday into five high-profile incidents in Gaza. But criminal misconduct investigations into Israeli troops over the killing of Palestinians rarely lead to convictions. A UN report published in February described a pervasive climate of impunity" by Israel in occupied Palestine.What is the wider context? In September last year, a UN commission found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, citing tens of thousands of civilian deaths and massive destruction.What did Bejar say in his testimony? That his job often included him briefing Meta's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, on product issues. He estimated that he spoke to Zuckerberg at least 100 times. One email Bejar sent to Zuckerberg in 2021 showed the engineer warning of constant reports of harmful content and damage to teenage wellbeing on Facebook and Instagram. Bejar said he emailed Zuckerberg after the chief executive publicly said the company did not prioritize profit over safety. Meta denies all allegations in the case. Continue reading...

Inflation deterring shoppers from spending, especially in the US, says high street chainThe sports fashion retailer JD has cut its profit forecasts as cost of living pressures, fuelled by the US war on Iran, weighed on sales of trainers.JD Sports, which sells brands including Nike and Adidas, said widespread inflation had hit shoppers' wallets, resulting in a drop in sales across important markets such as the US, where it struggled to shift trainers and other footwear. Continue reading...

On one side, you face the domination of the Islamic Republic; on the other, the imperialist forces that Republic claims to stand againstAugust marks the anniversary of the 1988 mass executions in Iran, a horror that echoes in the country's current surge in death sentences. It also marks the 19 August anniversary of the UK- and US-orchestrated coup against the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. Amid the current, indiscriminate waves of US-Israeli military assaults against Iran, this letter of solidarity denounces the repression of the Iranian people and their political prisoners by forces both at home and abroad.*** Continue reading...

The former Sunday Night Football stalwart is now one step from a seat in the US Senate. And she could cause a shock in liberal MinnesotaAs the third leg of NBC's Sunday Night Football crew alongside play-by-play man Al Michaels and the tart-tongued analyst Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya was a paragon of deference and neutrality for 11 years as an NFL sideline reporter, dutifully relating boilerplate tactics, talking points and injury updates when she wasn't nodding along to softball interviews or fumbling through hammy production gimmicks for viewers who might have been too offline to get the bit. She was almost pathologically committed to not doing anything to draw attention to herself or her gender in an era when sideline reporting was a fast track to national celebrity. Even her football takes hewed to the middle. (New Orleans doesn't want to lose to Atlanta twice in a season ...") Anyone who says they saw the 61-year-old emerging as a rightwing firebrand was watching a different game.And yet here we are. Last week, Tafoya was the decisive winner of Minnesota's US Senate Republican primary, earning the party's nomination for November's general election. Even more striking: she beat back eight challengers, not least Adam Schwarze, the party-endorsed pro-gun, pro-military ex-Navy SEAL, and Royce White, the anti-leftist, anti-trans NBA flameout currently testing WNBA gender norms. Continue reading...

The Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator says Dershowitz, who also defended Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, only has himself to blame' for being ostracisedLarry David has opened up about the collapse of his friendship with Alan Dershowitz, saying that Dershowitz made a deal with the devil" when he became Donald Trump's lawyer.Dershowitz, a former Harvard University law professor, has been a member of legal teams for Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, OJ Simpson and Harvey Weinstein at various points in his career, and served on Trump's defense team during the president's first impeachment trial in 2020. Continue reading...

The US president waxed lyrical about grass being added around the new White House helipad in front of the media. 'You know, grass has a life like humans have a life,' Trump said Continue reading...

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Former real estate developer leads press corps on tour of grounds and says one thing I know how to do is build'As the US national debt climbed past $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, and the war with Iran he started nearly six months ago dragged on, forcing Americans already struggling to pay the bills to spend more on fuel, Donald Trump led the press corps on a tour of the extensive remodeling of the White House grounds he is personally overseeing in his role as the self-styled builder-in-chief".The tour, during which Trump showed off upgrades such as a new granite driveway and refurbished columns, and expounded at length on newly laid grass, culminated in Trump autographing the back of a stone, inscribed with his name, to go in the center of the ornate new helipad he insists he needs. Continue reading...

Officers reportedly believed invitees were trying to make unauthorized entry on to Vandenberg base in CaliforniaFive news reporters and two members of the military who were invited to an event at Vandenberg space force base in California were briefly detained at gunpoint by security officers who thought they were gatecrashers, according to local news reports.The incident happened Monday ahead of an invitation-only groundbreaking for a new training facility for missile operators at the federal airfield near Santa Barbara, California. Reporters from Noozhawk and KEYT were among those detained, and both outlets published articles detailing the detainment. Continue reading...

Regulations that would block sale of older tires praised by environmental groups amid rightwing backlashCalifornia has become the first state in the nation to mandate that replacement tires be energy efficient, a major auto industry regulation set to block the sale of older tires and make vehicles on the road greener.State regulators have said the new rules will reduce emissions and drivers' fuel costs. But the rules - which come as the Trump administrations fights to block other California restrictions to promote greener cars - have already sparked a rightwing backlash, with one conservative news outlet calling the policies a massive overreach". Continue reading...

MyPillow founder and Trump ally lost primary to Lisa Demuth by 11 points, but still refuses to concede defeat

Milestone marks years of government spending that grew under both Donald Trump and Joe BidenUS debt reached $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, the US treasury department said, after the government deficit doubled over the last decade.The treasury's latest debt balance showed $40.047tn on Tuesday afternoon, the highest in US history. Continue reading...

The Rhode Island town of Narragansett was left with a very smelly cleanup over the weekend after thousands of squid spilled over the highway. The incident happened on Sunday morning when the driver of a tractor-trailer transporting the squid failed to make a turn and the vehicle fell on to its side, the town's police department said in a statement. It created hours of delays for motorists and a foul stench

They call us extreme, they call us radical,' the progressive Senate candidate said. But I think people see through that'

The Trump administration's America first' approach has contributed to the scale of the crisis now unfolding in one of the world's poorest countriesFor months health experts have warned that the scale of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could surpass the one that swept west Africa in 2014-16. This week, the authorities in the DRC announced that a grim milestone has already been passed: at least 2,325 people have died from the virus, making it the deadliest of the country's 17outbreaks and the fastest-growing in history.There is no effective vaccine against Bundibugyo - a rare strain of the virus that spread fatally undetected during the spring, often being misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid. In contrast to neighbouring Uganda, which succeeded in eliminating an outbreak, multiple factors are combining to let the disease rip through the DRC. The worst-affected region is contested by armed groups, and a context of population displacement and chronic insecurity has made monitoring and surveillance more difficult. Ebola treatment centres have been attacked as a result of misinformation and community distrust. Continue reading...

Result tees up marquee race in US midterm elections, which could decide if Republicans or Democrats control Senate

Discovery marks latest grim finding in lake as water levels in crucial reservoir outside Las Vegas continue to declineHuman remains have once again been discovered at Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, Nevada, marking the latest in a line of gruesome discoveries as water levels in the crucial reservoir continue to drop, authorities said.These remains were discovered on 16 August, USA Today reported. The National Park Service (NPS) told the outlet there did not appear to be anything suspicious about the body. Continue reading...

Image captured in early June shows animal foraging in the waterway in first since early 1900s, signaling its recoveryAn otter has been spotted in the Bronx River for the first time in more than 100 years, in a further sign that New York's previously befouled waterways are recovering some of their ecological health.The North American river otter was photographed by a motion-activated camera foraging near some vegetation in the Bronx River, a waterway that flows through New York's Bronx and empties into the East River. Continue reading...

A weak yuan guarantees Beijing massive trade surplus even as the White House tries tamp down on Chinese importsSince China offered a truce in the trade war last October following its threat to deprive the United States of rare-earth magnets, the Trump administration has been happy to stop escalating. After all, imports from China have been falling, down by 40% in the year to June, compared with the same period in 2024. Best to declare victory and call it a day.But the US hasn't won this battle - and there's strong evidence to show it's too chicken to really try. Continue reading...

Overton has said that Congress should strictly regulate abortion drug mifepristone to protect women and children'Donald Trump nominated Dr Heidi Overton - an abortion opponent who stood next to the president as he made false claims about vaccines - to be commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Today I am honored to nominate the wonderful Dr. Heidi Overton, MD, PhD, as our next FDA Commissioner. Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History. She is known to take on the HARDEST issues, and bring me solutions that work best for the Country," the president wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Republican James Comer writes to private equity investor demanding full cooperation with investigationThe Republican chairman of the House oversight committee has threatened to hold the private equity investor Leon Black in contempt if he does not fully cooperate with the panel's ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, amid accusations that the billionaire is purposely delaying and disrupting the panel's inquiry.A letter released by Representative James Comer's office on Tuesday, which was addressed to Black's lawyer, revealed new details about the high-stakes clash between the powerful Kentucky congressman and Black, the co-founder of Apollo Asset Management who was Epstein's friend and former client and paid Epstein tens of millions of dollars in fees. Continue reading...

Yields, at recent highs this week, dropped after treasury's vow to provide greater liquidity support' to bond marketThe US treasury is doubling its buyback of government debt in an effort to balance out the bond market and counterbalance investor concern over high inflation.The yield rate on 10-year, 20-year and 30-year treasury notes all hit 20-year highs this week, with the 30-year treasury yield rising to its highest rate since 2007. The rapid rise was concerning news for borrowers as major loans, including mortgages, are backed by treasuries. Continue reading...

She made the statement during a debate when asked about potential threats to US national security in South China Sea

Justice department claims there's no dispute' over whether ex-FBI head's post could be read as a threat against TrumpThe US Department of Justice has defended its prosecution of former FBI director James Comey, claiming in new court documents there is no serious dispute" that his social media post last year featuring a photo of seashells arranged to read 8647" could be interpreted as a threat against Donald Trump.There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey's post could read it to mean Kill President Trump'," prosecutors wrote in a document filed on Tuesday in response to efforts by Comey's efforts to have the case dismissed. Continue reading...

Firefighters describe being pushed to limit by a brutal wildfire season, with key leadership roles going unfilledThe US has faced a critical shortage of firefighters at the US Forest Service (USFS) this summer as thousands of fires erupted across the country.Despite officials' claims that the firefighting workforce was stronger than ever, the agency has failed to keep pace with escalating conditions and the catastrophic fires fueled by them, according to nine firefighters who spoke to the Guardian anonymously, because they are barred from disclosing the information to the public. Continue reading...

Compton's Cafe is one of the earliest examples of LGBTQ+ resistance. Today, a prison company occupies the siteOne of the earliest documented examples of LGBTQ+ resistance against police happened on a hot summer night 60 years ago this month. It started not with the throwing of a brick, as it did in New York City's 1969 Stonewall riots, but with the throwing of a coffee cup inside Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco.When police attempted to raid Compton's - a hub for the drag performers, trans people and sex workers in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood - hundreds of people in the community fought back. A drag queen threw a coffee mug at a police officer; others threw dishes and chairs outside. It was the culmination of years of police harassment, arrests and violence against the community and the beginning of the city's trans movement. Continue reading...

Michael Caruso, once praised by Ron DeSantis, removed from Palm Beach county civic official roles after arrestFlorida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has suspended a former close ally and senior civic official who was arrested on felony child sexual abuse charges.Michael Caruso, who was removed as clerk of court and comptroller for Palm Beach county on Tuesday, was a vocal supporter of a law signed by DeSantis in 2023 that allowed the death penalty for anybody convicted of the sexual battery of a child under 12. Continue reading...

Sunday incident created significant traffic disruptions' and a foul odor as crews worked to clear cephalopod remainsMore than 20 tons of squid spilled on to a Rhode Island highway during a traffic accident, creating hours of delays for motorists and a foul stench as crews worked in baking sunshine to scrape up the remains of the fast-decaying cephalopods.The incident occurred Sunday morning in Narragansett when the driver of a tractor-trailer transporting the squid failed to make a turn, and the vehicle fell on to its side, the town's police department said in a statement, reported by ABC News. Continue reading...

Storm also caused destructive flooding and damage to homes and infrastructure with one woman dead

Some restraint on Trump's excesses might be accomplished if November's midterm elections give Democrats more powerDonald Trump is essentially unrestrained when it comes to enriching himself during his second term, with no sign of stopping. If anything, he's ramping things up.The numbers so far are astonishing. He amassed $2.2bn in 2025 revenues, the Guardian and other news outlets have reported. Continue reading...

New findings further call into question scientific judgment of current health leaders in the Trump administrationA French researcher whose work was praised by Donald Trump and Dr Mehmet Oz during the Covid-19 pandemic published hundreds of papers with substantial" ethical and legal concerns, according to a new analysis.An international team of scientists found concerns in 853 articles published by the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Mediterranee Infection, or the IHU, hundreds more than previously flagged by past investigations into work at the large research hospital. Of those, institute founder Didier Raoult was listed as co-author on 758 of them, according to one of the researchers behind the new analysis. Continue reading...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's co-opting of conservative language to discuss a movement against state-sanctioned killings of Black people is damningAugust has brought us a referendum on Woke 1" - a term that reductively brands 2020's social justice movement - as prominent liberal voices reflect on that time period with disappointing hindsight. During a recent appearance on ABC's This Week, when asked about 2020-era demands to abolish prisons and police, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the US congresswoman from New York, abandoned her previous support of the defund the police" movement, and instead joked: Woke 1 was crazyyyyy."Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist, implied that the still-resounding calls for municipalities to reduce police budgets and to divert aid to poor communities were worth advocating for during the 2020 uprising, but are now crazyyyyy". In 2020, she noted that a lot of people cannot fathom what an abolitionist America looks like. Tell them it looks like a suburb. Affluent white communities already live in a world where they choose to fund youth, health, housing more than they fund police." But she has since backtracked on that idea. Continue reading...

Klaire Rhodes was attacked by a brown bear in state park but spray helped her escape with relatively minor injuries'An Alaska marathon athlete used a repellant spray to fend off an attacking bear that officials say injured her while she ran on a popular trail recently - an encounter that she has since described as a nightmare come to life".The particularly harrowing episode unfolded on 13 August, when a woman who later identified herself online as marathon winner Klaire Rhodes, 28, was running alone on the Wolverine Bowl trail in Chugach state park, officials with Alaska's fish and game department said. A brown bear on the trail attacked and injured her, according to the agency. Continue reading...

Poll after poll shows the same thing. The American people know that the current economic system is riggedThe media pundits have written article after article desperately trying to understand why progressive candidates, despite being heavily outspent, keep defeating establishment Democrats in primaries around the country. Well, the answer is not complicated.Whether it is a corrupt campaign finance system, unprecedented income and wealth inequality, a broken and wildly expensive healthcare system, the enormous threats posed by AI or an immoral and destructive foreign policy, progressives are talking about the real issues facing working families. And they are providing real solutions. Establishment Democrats are not. Continue reading...

Speculation about US president's executive assistant sparks furious backlash from White HouseWearing shoulder-length blonde hair, gold earrings and a red dress, cancer survivor Natalie Harp introduced herself to the 2020 Republican national convention as a formerly forgotten American from California" and compared Donald Trump with George Bailey, the everyman hero played by James Stewart in the classic film It's a Wonderful Life.George Bailey's father was right," smiled Harp, her voice echoing in the Andrew W Mellon auditorium in pandemic-hit Washington. All you can take with you is that which you've given away. Mr President, that makes you the richest man in the world." Continue reading...

Baseball showman Bill Veeck's most audacious stunt sent Eddie Gaedel to bat for the lowly St Louis Browns in 1951 - and created an unforgettable diamond spectacleBill Veeck had a track record for designing some of the most elaborate marketing promotions during his four stints as a Major League Baseball owner, including an exploding scoreboard in 1960. But his most outlandish publicity stunt was sending 3ft 7in inch pinch-hitter Eddie Gaedel to the plate at a game 75 years ago Wednesday.Sporting uniform number 1/8, Gaedel was greeted with a standing ovation at Sportsman's Park in St Louis as he came to bat in the second game of a doubleheader on 19 August 1951 for the St Louis Browns. A famous AP photo shows Detroit Tigers catcher Bob Swift sitting on his knees with a ball in his glove, towering over Gaedel and his tiny strike zone. Not surprisingly, he walked on four pitches, and was immediately lifted for a pinch-runner. Continue reading...

US president delays 50% tariffs by three days, and says contentious oil project may be awoken from the grave'Canada has temporarily avoided a bruising 50% US tariff, reaching a Tuesday-evening agreement with Trump administration officials hours before a hike that would have affected $20bn worth of goods was set to take effect.Donald Trump posted late on Tuesday on social media that he had paused the tariffs for three days based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!" Continue reading...

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Nixon bested Alexander Vindman to win Democratic nomination and now faces Republican Ashley Moody in November