US news | The Guardian

One of the player's WNBA rivals said the Fever guard is treated differently from her Black peers. There's plenty of evidence to back that statement upWhite privilege. An accusation that triggers multitudes of white people in America as if you had insulted their mother. Mention racism, and people may debate you. Mention discrimination, and people may even listen. But say the words white privilege", and suddenly defenses go up, outrage erupts, and people start explaining why privilege couldn't possibly have anything to do with what everyone just witnessed with their own eyes.Which brings us to DiJonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham. Continue reading...

Elaborate ruse was used to transport president to military flight from Air Force One in JulyDonald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey to Britain last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse - prompted by an Iranian assassination threat - that involved hiding the president in an airport catering container, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post. Continue reading...

Jennifer Balkcom to face Democrat Jamie Ager in race to represent North Carolina's 11th congressional districtNorth Carolina Republicans on Monday chose state lawmaker Jennifer Balkcom to replace Chuck Edwards, the incumbent congressman who earlier this month dropped his re-election bid after a US House investigation determined his conduct towards to young female staffers likely amounted to sexual harassment.Balkcom will face off against the Democratic nominee, Jamie Ager, in the November midterm elections to represent the 11th congressional district in western North Carolina. Though Donald Trump won the district by 10 percentage points two years ago, Democrats believe Ager may have a shot at winning amid the president's low approval ratings and frustration over the pace of recovery from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the region in 2024. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.

New York mayor's office plans to appeal ruling, which comes after homeowners sued over property surcharges last weekA judge has temporarily blocked Zohran Mamdani's pied-a-terre tax, which would place a surcharge on second homes in New York City, dealing a blow to the progressive New York City mayor after homeowners sued over the policy.The tax would apply to people who own, but do not reside full-time in, any house worth more than $5m, or a condominium or cooperative unit worth at least $1m. Continue reading...

Company also announced a paid service for early access to president's posts on policies to the social media siteDonald Trump's media company - which owns the Truth Social platform favored by the US president - posted a $238m loss in the second quarter.Trump Media & Technology on Monday reported that losses in the three months through June came as the company branched into new ventures including crypto. The company's new chief executive, Kevin McGurn, announced at a conference call about the earnings that after a yearlong effort to expand into online betting and crypto, the company would be refocusing on social media. Continue reading...

Thousands mourn the death of the eagle at California's Big Bear Lake, whose life was closely followed via livestreamJackie - the beloved bald eagle at California's Big Bear Lake whose livestream was followed by millions of viewers as she birthed and raised chicks - died on Monday due to a mysterious illness. She was 14.Jackie had been receiving treatment at the Ojai Raptor Center since mid-July when she was found weak and unable to fly after a scuffle with two younger eagles. Experts at the center had discovered that she was suffering from severe anemia, and suspected she had been sick for weeks before the fight grounded her. Continue reading...

Congresswoman demands answers after a DHS agent was apparently stationed outside her Minnesota town hallDonald Trump's administration is facing questions over whether it is using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to surveil political opponents" after after an investigative agent was apparently stationed outside Democratic representative Ilhan Omar's monthly town hall meeting in Richfield, Minnesota.After the incident, Omar demanded the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarify whether Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents have been used to monitor any other activity" involving local, state, or federal officials" in the state. Continue reading...

Incidents of damaged trees at Burnt Cedar beach have been reported since 2022 and seem to be linked, officials sayPine trees near Lake Tahoe are being poisoned in what authorities believe are a series of interconnected incidents in the popular tourist community on border of Nevada and California.The incidents have damaged nearly 30 trees, some reportedly more than a century old, and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. Continue reading...

Loyalist sworn in after Senate voted narrowly in favor of his confirmation on Saturday morningTodd Blanche has been sworn as US attorney general, cementing Donald Trump's installation of his former personal attorney in charge of the Department of Justice.Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, was confirmed in his new position during a ceremony at the White House on Monday. The 52-year-old is the second Senate-confirmed attorney general of Trump's second term, after Pam Bondi, who was ousted earlier this year. Continue reading...

Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisisJuly was the hottest month ever recorded in the US, with repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records stretching back over the full 132 years of reliable measurements.Last month's average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, which excludes Alaska and Hawaii, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has no interest in agreeing to a deal. For relief to come to Gaza, real US pressure must be exertedAt the end of July, Donald Trump announced that a monumental" US-backed deal had been struck on Gaza, securing the phased disarmament of Hamas in parallel with Israeli military withdrawal. Three days later it was reported that another 18 people had died in Israeli airstrikes. Not for the first time, it appeared that Mr Trump's rhetoric had only a distant relationship with the reality it purported to describe.Such suspicions were duly confirmed yesterday. Under pressure from far-right members of his coalition, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, explicitly rejected the sequencing of a 15-point plan from the increasingly hapless Board of Peace - an international body set up by the US president - and poured scorn on a wave of rumours of ... Israeli withdrawals on all fronts". In a direct message to the White House, MrNetanyahu stated that we know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary."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...

Move closes loophole but doesn't include definition of ultra-processed foods, promised earlier this yearThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing its rules on how food manufacturers notify them of ingredients brought to the market - but the Trump administration has once again punted on defining ultra-processed foods", promising more details later.While the move would close a regulatory loophole, it falls short of the administration's promises to reform food regulations dramatically even as one of the biggest foodborne illness outbreaks unfolds. Continue reading...

US president on Truth Social concedes contractor had cut some corners to finish $14m renovation project by deadlineDonald Trump has conceded his own administration's renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was rushed and shoddy, while insisting that alleged vandals were to blame for damage to the Washington landmark.In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said the pool's contractor had cut some corners to finish the $14m repainting project in time for a 4 July opening. As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job," he wrote on Sunday, claiming the resulting damage from this was confined to a very small area" and relatively inconsequential". Continue reading...

Opponents fear Elon Musk firm's plan to develop 18-mile strip of Pecan Island will badly damage fragile ecosystemPlans by Elon Musk's SpaceX to build a vast rocket launch site on a stretch of Louisiana's rapidly eroding coastline have stirred a backlash among some local opponents who fear it will badly damage the area's fragile ecosystem.A deal for SpaceX to take control of 130,000 acres of coastal Vermilion parish is reported to be close to being finalized, allowing the company to escalate its number of launches, including of its new Starship mega rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to deploy artificial intelligence datacenters in space, and while some experts have doubts about this, it has submitted regulatory filings to build a constellation of up to a million of them. Continue reading...

The challenger to Netanyahu is more of the same. His record makes that abundantly clearWestern media outlets cannot seem to get enough of Gadi Eisenkot.Israel's former military chief and the leader of the newly formed Yashar party has been embraced by the international press as he and his party take the lead in the polls in the run-up to October's elections.Mehdi Hasan is Guardian US columnist and the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo. Continue reading...

The practice of openly proclaiming to the world what you can't afford can lead to lower fees, reduced prices and better dealsAsk any small business owner what has challenged them the most over the past couple of years and you'll frequently hear about cashflow. It's no secret that costs have risen dramatically and finding places to save money isn't easy.If this describes your situation then I've got a solution to your problem. Ever hear of loud budgeting"? Of course you have! You've probably been doing it for years. Continue reading...

Hong, whose grassroots campaign has made her a frontrunner, aims for primary win after public skepticism from top Democrats and a last-minute shake-upAs Francesca Hong surged ahead in the final weeks of the chaotic Democratic primary to be Wisconsin's next governor, the democratic socialist has become the internet's main character.Donald Trump has mocked her old tweets, while major figures in her own party publicly questioned her ability to win a general election. The man she is vying to succeed even launched a late blitz in support of one of her rivals. Continue reading...

State confirms nine cases, including five deaths, from Vibrio vulnificus organism, which thrives in seawaterHealth officials in Louisiana are urging beachgoers to take precautions during a summertime surge in infections from a flesh-eating bacterium found in coastal waters.Louisiana has confirmed nine cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections this year, the state's health department said last week in a news release. All were hospitalized, and five died. During the same period over the previous decade, Louisiana reported an average of seven cases and one death. Continue reading...

Small skiff ran out of fuel off Alaska and was helped by cruise ship even though Meta CEO's vessel was closer

Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same.He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s. After a Reddit post he made about his discovery picked up traction, he started looking at other types of consumer goods - cookware, shoes, tools, clothing. Continue reading...

Israeli PM is insisting on a full Hamas disarmament before the deal can be implemented. Plus, what it feels like to get locked into an opera performance that lasts nearly 24 hours

Gabar Choli tells of how, for months, he was shackled, pinned and forcibly fed - and the physical and emotional scars the ordeal has leftIn June 2025, a sluggish and thin Gabar Choli, with sunken temples and bones visible under his skin, braced himself for the immigration detention center guards to charge into his cell once again.Choli was in a solitary confinement medical cell inside the Port Isabel service processing center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in south Texas where immigrants arrested in Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown are detained. Continue reading...

DoJ to give $300m for enforcement surges in four cities, as long as they abandon progressive ideologies on policingThe Trump administration is offering grants of tens of millions of dollars to cities across the US to create more Memphis-style enforcement surges - on the condition that they abandon progressive ideologies on policing.The US Department of Justice says it will announce up to four finalist cities which will split $300m in grant funding under a federal Model Cities" policing initiative (MCI) next month, setting the stage for some of the largest federal policing grants ever awarded to individual US cities. Continue reading...

It's easy to second-guess decisions made during the pandemic. That doesn't justify the Republicans' politicized responseLike the rest of us, Anthony Fauci is far from perfect. His influential guidance, as the country's top infectious-disease specialist during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, certainly didn't get everything right.A great deal about the deadly disease - where it came from, how it spread, how best to protect the public - was unknown, or was being learned midstream, during a crisis. Continue reading...

There are profound rewards of handwritten correspondence in our digital ageI sent my first postcard, as a six-year old, to Olympian Mary Lou Retton, who returned an autographed black and white photo of herself in a wide smile and chic haircut. GOOD LUCK USA 84" it said.There followed four relatively fallow decades for me as a postcard sender or receiver until last year, when I became enchanted by the infinite possibilities available in four by six inches. Continue reading...

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull tells a public inquiry that the Aukus deal with the US and UK will probably result in no submarines at all for Australia. He says the US's capacity for building submarines has remained stubbornly laggard, and that it is prevented by its own legislation from selling any submarines to Australia if that would 'degrade' its own fleet. It currently needs to nearly double its submarine production rate, from 1.2 to 2.3 a year Continue reading...

Americans want someone on their side in the fight against vested interests - that means politicians like the Michigan primary winner and Zohran MamdaniAbdul El-Sayed's win in the Michigan Senate primary was a historic breakthrough. Not only because he is a Muslim son of immigrants who broke with almost every single tenet of establishment Democratic party politics. But because he has wiped that complacent sneer at progressive wins off the faces of centrist gatekeepers. Zohran Mamdani? Relax, he's just a mayor. And it's New York City. Outside urban and liberal corridors, there is nothing to worry about. Now El-Sayed has won the Democratic party's nomination in a swing state that is also on the list of presidential nomination states.There is a lot to be excited about. Not only within the US, but for observers abroad hopeful for the emergence of a truly revolutionary left that is able to weather powerful and well-funded adversaries and prevail. The money raised to defeat El-Sayed was staggering. He was outspent by more than nine to one. It was the most expensive Democratic congressional primary ever. A roll call of cartoon bad guys, such as Chevron and Philip Morris, funded his opponent, Haley Stevens, to the tune of over $60m. Of that funding, nearly half came from a Super Pac backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). Continue reading...

Scharf, who helped president win approval for $400m ballroom, to replace David Warrington on 1 SeptemberDonald Trump announced on Sunday that Will Scharf, the staff secretary who helped secure approval for the $400m White House ballroom project, will become White House counsel and assistant to the president.Effective 1 September, Scharf will replace David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Warrington formerly served as a personal counsel and a lawyer for Trump's 2024 campaign. Continue reading...

US congresswoman to share journey online as she criticizes Trump administration's attacks on reproductive careAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life," Ocasio-Cortez said. Continue reading...

Small cruise ship rescued skiff in south-east Alaska even though Meta billionaire's $300m megayacht was closerMark Zuckerberg has faced questions over why a small cruise ship in south-east Alaska rescued a stranded skiff and its crew when his 387ft superyacht had been closer.The Silicon Valley billionaire's yacht, worth a reported $300m, is said to have repeatedly" declined to assist when a nearby boat called for help last week. Continue reading...

Levels at reservoir along Arizona-Nevada border dipped below previous record set in 2022, amid water crisis in westLake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, the latest sign of a deepening water crisis in the American west.Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4ft (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to federal data. That's just below the record set on 28 July 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation. Continue reading...

Michigan nominee, who spoke to Obama after primary win, vows to fight inequality as president makes billions off you'Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, embraced Donald Trump's suggestion that the two represent VERY DIFFERENT" versions of the US, pledging to fight inequality while the president is making billions of dollars off of you".In a Saturday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself and the first lady, Melania Trump, beside a photo of El-Sayed, who is Muslim, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab. Two VERY DIFFERENT America's [sic]," read the caption. Continue reading...

Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during Covid are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communitiesMiquette Thompson's home in rural Mendocino county has been covered in smoke all week. There are the nearby Feliz and Woodside fires in northern California, which have burned more than 1,000 acres, as well as the wildfires devastating Oregon and Washington that are sending smoke their way, too.It's become not unusual," she said of walking outside and seeing a hazy sky. Continue reading...

Manuel Hernandez charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment after boat overturned in New York harborThe captain of a boat that capsized in the New York harbor on Saturday evening has been charged following the deaths of a 27-year-old woman and her five-month-old daughter.Manuel Hernandez, 46, was arrested and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment in the early hours of Sunday morning, a New York police department spokesperson told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Rage-baiting efforts of Trump accounts silenced after posts such as a video linking her Red album to RepublicansSome of Taylor Swift's songs have been removed from videos posted on social media by Donald Trump's campaign and the White House, silencing efforts to mock the pop star.A video posted 3 August featuring the US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, watching fireworks was posted this month on TikTok with Swift's song August. Continue reading...

Case, who has represented island state's first district in US Congress since 2019, beat state senator Jarrett KeohokaloleThe moderate Democratic representative Ed Case has seen off a progressive challenge to retain his party's nomination for the US House of Representatives election in Hawaii's first congressional district.Case, who has represented the district in Washington DC since 2019, prevailed in Saturday's primary over Jarrett Keohokalole, the state senator. Continue reading...

Jurors hear from host of medical experts as defence says postpartum psychosis caused young mother to kill childrenIt's been called America's saddest murder trial" and last week jurors in the Lindsay Clancy case listened to mental health professionals, counsellors, psychiatrists, and medication experts explain the circumstances in which the young mother killed her three children.It has been a spectacle that has gripped America, not least because Clancy's legal defense has been supported by her now divorced husband.In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978 Continue reading...

Chuck Schumer and other senators took part in exercises in which legal experts laid out election disruption scenariosIn a Washington DC conference room last month, some of the most senior Democrats in the US Senate gathered to plan for a prospect that only recently would have felt more akin to science fiction: they started to wargame democracy.Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, and senators including Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner, Elissa Slotkin and Raphael Warnock were among those in the room as a team of legal experts offered scenarios. Continue reading...

Lawyers for man accused of killing healthcare CEO Brian Thompson raise red flags about limits on reportersWeeks before Luigi Mangione faces a jury over the killing of the UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson, the hugely anticipated proceedings already have potential to reach trial-of-the-century status.Intense global interest in Mangione's case is unfolding against a media landscape where news consumers expect minute-by-minute updates, a mise-en-scene now made all the more complicated by social media influencers who managed to get press credentials and often flock to major US criminal cases in search of clicks and money. Continue reading...

New research shows that a class gap on the left threatens any winning coalition - but there are ways to address itDebates on the left are typically framed as a division between moderates and progressives, with the two sides wrestling over how best to form a governing coalition. Yet, in many ways, this divide obscures a much bigger fault line: the class divide. The fact is, many of the Democratic party's ideological factions consist almost exclusively of college-educated professionals. As a result, the priorities of this class tend to dominate the party's appeals. The priorities of working-class voters, meanwhile, are an afterthought.A new report from Jared Abbott, the director of the Center for Working Class Politics, and Joan Williams, author of Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back, looks at ways to bridge the yawning class divide that threatens the possibility of forming a winning coalition. Continue reading...

Gerson Turcios was 17 when he fled violence in Honduras to build a new life in the US. Six years later, he was mowing lawns in his home town of Rhinebeck when immigration officers took him. Within hours, friends, neighbours and local celebrities sprang into action. Could they stop his deportation?Gerson Turcios didn't recognise the menstanding next to a couple of dark SUVs outside his house one July afternoon last year. He figured they were lost and approached to see if he could help. A slim 23-year-old with short dark hair and big brown eyes, Turcios had just finished work mowing lawns in the pretty town of Rhinebeck, in New York's Hudson Valley. The men asked if he knew someone called Jimmy - he did, but Jimmy hadn't lived in the small, white weatherboard house with Turcios, his brother and his brother's girlfriend for a while.The men noted Turcios's accent and asked where he was from. Turcios didn't answer, so one took out his phone and snapped a photograph. The next thing Turcios knew, he was in handcuffs in the back of one of the SUVs and on his way to an ICE processing centre in Newburgh, New York, then on to a detention centre. Continue reading...

Officials did not identify the pilots but said they were employed by Helicopter Transport Services, which was contracted by US Forest ServiceTwo helicopter pilots who crashed while they were fighting a wildfire in Utah have died, officials confirmed Saturday. The pilots were killed when their Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter went down Friday morning, according to the Sevier County Sheriff.The helicopter was among those fighting a fire in the Fishlake National Forest. The crash ignited a new fire that spread to connect with the existing blaze, which has now scorched nearly 174 square miles (nearly 451skm). Continue reading...

Weather system tied to warming sea surface expected to intensify in fall and winter, persisting until early spring 2027El Nino, a recurring climate phenomenon marked by above-average sea surface temperatures, when changes in wind patterns allow warmer water to spread across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, could spell a wet winter for portions of the western and south-eastern US, climate models show. Coastal areas may be at elevated risk of flooding, experts warn.Climate scientists predict this year's super" El Nino, a label assigned when sea surface temperatures climb by at least 2C, will be the strongest of the century. The weather system is expected to intensify in the fall and winter, persisting until early spring 2027, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...