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Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar won major Grammy awards on a night charged with political defiance, as musicians pushed back against Donald Trump's deadly ICE crackdown. Billie Eilish, who took song of the year for Wildflower, used her speech to declare: 'No one is illegal on stolen land.' The best new artist award went to Olivia Dean, presented by last year's winner Chappell Roan. 'I am up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant,' Dean said, drawing loud applause

In today's newsletter: Public outrage has reached fever pitch following the killing of US citizens. But, amid the focus on violence, another story of mutual aid and neighbourhood organising is unfoldingGood morning. The world's attention has been fixed on Minneapolis for weeks now. The small midwestern US city has been under siege since Donald Trump's administration launched its latest immigration crackdown in December.Public outrage has reached fever pitch across the US after the killing of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Though the White House has softened its rhetoric in relation to the killings, there is little indication of any meaningful shift in tactics on the ground.Epstein files | Peter Mandelson says he has resigned his membership of the Labour party to avoid causing it further embarrassment" after more revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.Iran | Donald Trump has said Iran is talking to the US, hinting at a deal that would avoid the use of military strikes.Ukraine | A Russian drone attack on a bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region has killed at least 12 people, officials said.Cuba | The United States has said it will ensure there will be no more fuel shipments to the beleaguered island, Cuba will be failing pretty soon," Donald Trump said earlier in the week.Grammy awards | Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar took home major Grammy awards during a night that saw musicians hit back at Donald Trump's ICE occupation. Continue reading...

The president and his supporters joining forces to decide what audiences read and see seems straight from a fascism playbookTwo events, juxtaposed, tell us a great deal about what is rapidly taking shape in the US. In one, Melania Trump releases a glossy documentary, Melania, an account of her return to the White House. Amazon outbid others to secure the rights to the documentary, spending $75m (54m) in total, and ticket sales so far suggest that this was, shall we say, not a purely commercial venture.In the other, the Washington Post is set to cut up to 200 jobs early this month, including the majority of its foreign staff and a sizeable chunk of its newsroom. Both Melania and the Washington Post are backed by Jeff Bezos. His two decisions, to invest in state propaganda and divest from the fourth estate that supposedly holds power to account, reveal much about how capital and authoritarianism join forces to decide what audiences read and see.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Trump announces two-year closure of Kennedy Center, citing construction needs - key US politics stories from 1 February 2026Donald Trump, who remains embroiled in tensions surrounding ICE's presence in Minnesota, as well as scrutiny over the justice department's latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, has made another announcement on Sunday evening: the temporary closure of the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC.Trump, who overhauled the center's leadership at the start of his second term and renamed it to include his own name, described the center as tired, broken, and dilapidated," adding that it has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years". Continue reading...

Bannon's claim revealed in text messages in tranche of documents released by US authorities in connection with Jeffrey Epstein

DC arts venue, which has seen wave of canceled events after Trump's takeover, will start renovations in JulyThe John F Kennedy Center, a world-class venue for the performing arts in Washington DC, will halt entertainment events for two years starting on 4 July during renovations, Donald Trump posted on Sunday on Truth Social.The Kennedy Center, which has seen a wave of performers cancel events in recent months as well as the lowest ticket sales in years, has been in turmoil since the president orchestrated a leadership overhaul in the beginning of his term. Continue reading...

Witnesses say protest outside ICE facility was peaceful until agents deployed teargas and rubber bullets around childrenThe mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded US Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched teargas at a crowd of demonstrators - including young children - outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest that he and others characterized as peaceful.Witnesses said agents deployed teargas, pepper balls and rubber bullets as thousands of marchers arrived at the South Waterfront facility on Saturday. Erin Hoover Barnett, a former OregonLive reporter who joined the protest, said she was about 100 yards (91 metres) from the building when what looked like two guys with rocket launchers" started dousing the crowd with gas. Continue reading...

Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez are both officers with Customs and Border Protection, ProPublica reportsGovernment documents have identified the two federal officers who fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis as Jesus Ochoa, a border patrol agent, and Raymundo Gutierrez, an officer with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to ProPublica.According to those records, Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, were the agents who fired their weapons during the confrontation last weekend that resulted in Pretti's death. The shooting sparked widespread demonstrations and renewed demands for criminal inquiries into federal immigration enforcement actions. Immediately following Pretti's killing, the Trump administration repeatedly pushed false claims about the shooting. Continue reading...

US president announces efforts being made to strike a deal having earlier threatened to stop island importing oilWashington is negotiating with Havana's leadership to strike a deal, Donald Trump has said, days after threatening Cuba's reeling economy with a virtual oil blockade.Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time but now it doesn't have Venezuela to prop it up. So we're talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday. Continue reading...

Funds, paid to former security guard Matthew Ammel, were from former US senator's campaign committee in OctoberA man identified in court filings as having an affair with former senator Kyrsten Sinema received almost $9,000 from Sinema's former campaign committee in October, according to newly filed documents. The filings come just weeks after the man's estranged wife accused Sinema of wrecking their marriage.According to a report from Notus, which cites a newly filed Federal Election Commission (FEC) document, the recipient was Matthew J Ammel, who worked as a security guard for Sinema. He was paid $1,815.91 on 15 October and $7,136.14 on 31 October in payments listed as payroll", according to a filing submitted on Saturday by Sinema for Arizona. Continue reading...

Melania, however, cost quite more than a typical documentary, at $40m to make and $35m to promote.Amazon's Melania Trump documentary has reportedly beaten box office expectations and recorded the strongest start of any documentary in over a decade, taking $7m at the US box office during its lavishly-promoted opening weekend. But it also cost quite more than a typical documentary, at $40m to make and $35m to promote.And Amazon - which recently cut 16,000 corporate jobs - has been hit with criticism that making the documentary about the first lady, and paying so highly for it, was little more than a ploy to curry favor with her husband, Donald Trump, during his second presidency. Continue reading...

Boy and his father back in Minneapolis after being detained by ICE and held in immigration facility for more than a weekA five-year-old boy and his father were back in Minneapolis on Sunday after being released from a Texas immigration detention center where they were held for more than a week, according to US House representative Joaquin Castro.Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack. Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam," Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, said in a post on X. We won't stop until all children and families are home." Continue reading...

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Deputy US attorney general says victims want to be made whole' but that doesn't mean we can just create evidence'The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration's Epstein files release, told ABC News on Sunday that prosecutors' review of the Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking case is over".Separately, in comments to CNN about Epstein, Blanche said that victims want to be made whole" after surviving the scheme attributed to the late convicted sex offender and which led to a 20-year prison sentence for Maxwell beginning in 2022. Continue reading...

Wilson found fame in the seminal 1970s sitcom and then went on to become a minister in the 1980sDemond Wilson, who found fame in the 1970s playing Lamont on Sanford and Son and went on to become a minister, has died. He was 79.Mark Goldman, a publicist for Wilson, confirmed to the Associated Press that he died following complications from cancer on Friday. Continue reading...

Speaker Mike Johnson is convinced' the impasse over homeland security funding will be resolved by TuesdayThe ongoing partial US government shutdown is expected to continue into early next week, with no reopening likely before Tuesday, if what federal officials on both sides of the country's political aisle are saying is any indication.House Democrats have so far said they are refusing to guarantee the votes needed to speed passage of a funding measure that would restore government operations. Continue reading...

Bovino allegedly denied promoting two border patrol officials because of their race, according to several reportsRecently demoted border patrol official Gregory Bovino, who served as the face of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in several US cities, was compared to a Confederate general in an email sent to him by a colleague in 2018, according to multiple reports.A border patrol agent who was later promoted to a senior role in New Orleans sent the email in question as well as a number of Confederacy-related images after Bovino canceled a job listing and installed that same agent - a white officer - in the listed role by bypassing the agency's standard career-advancement process. Continue reading...

Emails suggest Sarah Ferguson and former Prince Andrew contacted disgraced financier during his house arrestThe more than 3m Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice include emails from accounts labelled The Duke" and The Invisible Man" as well as from Sarah", and references to Fergie", suggesting they are from the former Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.They appear to reveal the two were in contact with Epstein immediately after the end of his house arrest in August 2010, and Mountbatten-Windsor's visit to the US that December. Continue reading...

But effort fell short of state surgeon general's promise to end Florida's immunization mandates altogetherRepublicans advanced a bill in the Florida legislature this week to weaken vaccine protections for children, but it fell well short of state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo's promise made last year to end immunization mandates.The proposed new law, introduced by Jacksonville state senator Clay Yarborough, and which narrowly passed the chamber's health policy committee on Monday in a 6-4 vote, seeks only to expand exemptions for parents who do not want their school-age children vaccinated. Continue reading...

Seven in 10 residents who were forced to leave have not returned, with many living in temporary housing in other cities or even countriesEsmeralda Rodas sits on the ground in front of what was once the front door of her home, haunted by memories of her previous life. She remembers jumping for joy in 1989, when her husband, Hector Rodas, presented her with the Altadena house as a birthday gift.It was small, Esmeralda says, but it was her castle - with windows overlooking purple mountains that, one night last January, glowed ominously red with wildfires which razed many homes on her street. Continue reading...

Taylor Rehmet's win adds to Democrats' record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycleDemocrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that Donald Trump won by 17 points when he clinched a second presidency in 2024.Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, easily defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in the Fort Worth-area district. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet had a comfortable lead of more than 14 percentage points. Continue reading...

ICE's killing of Renee Good has revealed how the state will only defend those who uphold a white racial order. A 1915 film points to the origins of this social pactIn the hours after the 7 January fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother of three, gut-wrenching footage of her killing was released, discrediting initial claims from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the Department of Justice that she was shot in self-defense. As a response to the public outcry, the Trump administration and a chorus of conservative public figures unleashed a litany of dehumanizing and defamatory remarks about Good, a beloved wife, neighbor and dental assistant, in ways that were unduly callous.The Fox News host Jesse Watters derided Good's queer identity, and mocked her as a self-proclaimed poet from Colorado with pronouns in her bio". The homeland security secretary Kristi Noem vilified Good as a domestic terrorist who weaponized" her vehicle in an attempt to run over officers - a patently false comment. Laura Loomer, a personal adviser to the president, posted to social media, She deserved it ... I'm shocked her lesbian girlfriend wasn't shot with her." JD Vance lobbed the biting accusation that the victim was a deranged leftist", before adding that it's a tragedy of her own making". Donald Trump justified the shooting, telling reporters that at a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement". And on 17 January, the justice department announced a criminal investigation into claims tying her grieving widow, Becca Good, to unnamed activist groups" (six federal prosecutors resigned in objection to the investigation). Continue reading...

The administration's efforts show the lengths to which Trump is willing to go to lay the groundwork for 2026While the nation's attention was focused on the ICE invasion of Minneapolis, another part of Trump's authoritarian state apparatus was in action more than a thousand miles away. On Wednesday 28 January, the FBI carried out a stunning raid at the central election facility in Fulton county, Georgia.Its purpose: to seize ballots cast in the 2020 election. Such an action is unprecedented.Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty Continue reading...

Move is dramatic departure for advisory group under Kirk Milhoan, who says he doesn't like the term established science'All vaccine recommendations are being reconsidered by the US's vaccines committee, according to its top adviser, who in recent interviews slammed vaccination requirements for attending school and said vaccines should be taken on the advice of an individual's doctor.The stance from Kirk Milhoan, chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), represents a dramatic departure for the group tasked with making US vaccine recommendations for decades, signaling an increasingly hostile approach from the Trump administration to routine vaccines. Continue reading...

Country is already suffering acute fuel shortage; experts say complete cutoff will be catastrophic' to its infrastructureIt's just gone midday on Linea, one of the main roads through Havana's Vedado neighbourhood, and Javier Pena and Ysil Ribas have been waiting since 6am outside a petrol station. They're passing the time fixing a leak on Ribas's 1955 gold and white Mercury.A tanker has pulled up on the forecourt in front of them, and so the queue behind is growing fast. Although this station only takes US dollars, at a cost far out of reach of most Cubans, Pena says it's their only choice. There is no gas in the national pesos," he says, shrugging. Continue reading...

Carlos Alcaraz came from a set down to beat Novak Djokovic in four becoming, at 22 years and eight months, the youngest man to achieve a career grand slamOur players are ready to come out. This is going to be special.I keep saying it, but it bears repetition: we're at the start of a golden age in women's tennis. Sabalenka, Rybakina, Gauff, Swiatek and Osaka at their peaks, Anisimova coming, Andreeva getting there, then Mboko, Baptiste and Jovic on the match; ooooh yeah. Continue reading...

In Trump's first term, activists focused on lobbying and voting. Now tactics are shifting to nonviolent civil disobedienceOn 24 January, Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents while he was helping another civilian in Minneapolis who had been knocked to the ground - just weeks after an ICE agent killed Renee Good. In response to this second killing of a Minnesotan, demonstrations spread across the United States to protest the Trump administration and its ultra-violent immigration enforcement tactics.Minneapolis has been in a state of sustained protest. Its general strike on 23 January mobilized tens of thousands of Minnesotans to participate in an economic blackout and march in the streets. Solidarity protests, strikes and marches also took place across the country, including the Free America Walkout, which involved more than 900 local actions across all 50 states on the anniversary of Donald Trump's second inauguration. Continue reading...

Networks created after police killed George Floyd were reactivated to challenge Trump's mass deportation policyCory never expected he'd spend hours each day driving around after immigration agents, videotaping their moves. The south Minneapolis resident is not the type of person to do this", he said.The dangers of what he's doing, even after the killings of two observers, largely stay out of his mind when he's watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents - even when he's gotten hit with pepper spray. In quieter moments, it occurs to him that agents likely know where he lives. Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old whom agents killed while he was filming them, 100% could have been me", Cory said. Continue reading...

Tranche of government-held files filled with ham-fisted redactions' and expose survivors' identities, say attorneysSurvivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation have reacted to the voluminous - and possibly last - tranche of government-held investigative documents with calls for further accountability for the scheme's alleged clients.It is without question that a significant piece of Epstein and [his convicted associate Ghislaine] Maxwell's vast sex trafficking operation was to provide young women and girls to other wealthy and powerful individuals," said Sigrid McCawley, a partner with Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm representing survivors of the scheme. Continue reading...

The Doomsday Clock is ticking ever more loudly as arms-control mechanisms fail and leaders become more reckless. The time to be alarmed is nowKeir Starmer's tentative pivot to the Dragon Throne has played well in Beijing, though not in Trumpland. That's partly because, like other needy western leaders, Britain's prime minister did not dwell on awkward subjects such as human rights abuses, the Jimmy Lai travesty, spying and Taiwan. But in talks with President Xi Jinping, one vital issue was avoided altogether and should not have been: China's dangerous, unexplained, secretive and rapid buildup of nuclear weapons.More than the climate crisis, global hunger, Kaiser Trump's Prussian militarism and the ever prevalent threat of pandemic disease, the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the most immediate, existential threat to humanity. Last week, the Doomsday Clock advanced to 85 seconds to midnight - closer to Armageddon than ever before. Nuclear and other global risks are escalating fast and in unprecedented ways," warned the clock-watchers, via the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Continue reading...

Louisiana governor says the shooting in Clinton is absolutely horrific and unacceptable'Five people, including a six-year-old child, have been wounded in a shooting during a parade in Louisiana, sending people in the crowd fleeing for cover, authorities say.The shooting occurred shortly after the midday start of the Mardi Gras in the Country parade in Clinton, East Feliciana sheriff Jeff Travis told reporters. Continue reading...

Kristi Noem's department told to under no circumstances' get involved with protests in cities led by Democrats unless they ask for help - key US politics stories from 31 January at a glanceDonald Trump has instructed the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, not to intervene in protests occurring in cities led by Democrats unless local authorities ask for federal help amid mounting criticism of his administration's immigration crackdown.On his social media site, Trump posted that under no circumstances are we going to participate in various poorly run Democrat Cities with regard to their Protests and/or Riots unless, and until, they ask us for help". Continue reading...

Latest Epstein file release shows 2003 emails between Casey Wasserman and the convicted sex traffickerCasey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, said on Saturday that he deeply regrets" emails from 2003 between him and Ghislaine Maxwell that appeared in the latest collection of government files released Friday on Jeffrey Epstein.Among the exchanges included one from Wasserman telling Maxwell I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?" Continue reading...

Brandon Johnson gives police clear procedure' to follow if they witness or get reports of agents involved in illegal activityChicago's mayor Brandon Johnson has ordered Chicago police to investigate and document alleged illegal activity by federal immigration (ICE) agents in the city, a move that will escalate tensions over jurisdiction between local and federal authorities.The executive order, titled ICE on Notice, gives Chicago police clear procedure" to follow if they witness or receive reports of ICE agents involved in illegal activity and refer evidence of potential violations to city prosecutors. Continue reading...

Justice department on Friday released 3m pages and lawmakers accuse it of not releasing roughly 50% of recordsSurvivors, lawmakers and watchdog groups accused Donald Trump's justice department of withholding records it is legally required to release following the disclosure of millions of files from the investigation into the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The justice department on Friday released 3m pages of documents from its investigation into the millionaire financier's sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with wealthy and powerful figures, including Trump and former president Bill Clinton. The release was an effort to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and, according to US deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, includes more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, all subject to extensive redactions". Continue reading...

Less than two weeks before convicted abuser was found dead, lawyers met with Manhattan federal prosecutorsLess than two weeks before Jeffrey Epstein's death in jail, his lawyers and Manhattan federal prosecutors met and discussed his potential cooperation, several documents within a cache of newly released investigative files state.On July 29, 2019, FBI and [prosecutors] met with Epstein's attorneys, who, in very general terms, discussed the possibility of a resolution of the case, and the possibility of the defendant's cooperation," an FBI document titled Epstein Investigation Summary & Timeline" statement. Continue reading...

Federal immigration operation has resulted in government agents killing two people, sparking weeks of protestsA federal judge has denied a request by Minnesota's state government to end the federal immigration operation in Minneapolis that has resulted in government agents killing two people, sparking weeks of protests.The state, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, had lodged a lawsuit after the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent this month, demanding an end to the Trump administration's Operation Metro Surge in the city. Continue reading...

Bovino, recently demoted, used the term chosen people' in sarcastic way as attorney Daniel Rosen observed ShabbatRecently demoted border patrol official Gregory Bovino reportedly made mocking and sarcastic remarks about the Jewish faith of Minnesota's US attorney, Daniel Rosen, during a phone call with prosecutors in the state earlier in January.According to the New York Times, Bovino mocked Rosen for observing Shabbat, a weekly day of rest that begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday - and used the term chosen people" in a sarcastic way during a phone call with the lawyers on 12 January. Continue reading...

Newly released files reveal how the paedophile tried to leverage his relationship with the former Duchess of York

The killings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti have inspired people across the US to document federal agents' activities in their communitiesOn Monday night, nearly 80,000 people hopped on a video call to learn how to observe ICE", a non-violent and constitutionally protected practice of documenting federal immigration agents' activities in public. Some wrote in the chat where they were from: Arkansas, Texas, Michigan, Florida and many other corners of the country. Others typed why this was important to them: calling for ICE out" of their communities and demanding the abolition of the agency itself. The fact we're all here gives me hope we'll come out the other side," wrote one participant. Within 24 hours, another 200,000 people had watched the recording on YouTube.The rising interest in ICE observing came two days after Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent and less than three weeks after an agent killed Renee Good. Continue reading...

Federal prosecutors had identified 6 million files that were potentially responsive' to the law, but only released 3.5. Why?The justice department released a trove of 3.5m files related to the dead financier and pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, with deputy attorney general Todd Blanche declaring that the release would likely be the last major declassification of files relating to Epstein. Federal prosecutors had identified 6 million files that were potentially responsive" to the law, meaning that there are millions of files that have still not been released.The release marked a belated and partial compliance with a bill passed by Congress late last year, which had mandated that all government documents pertaining to Epstein and the various law enforcement investigations into his sexual abuse of girls be made public by 19 December 2025. Continue reading...