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Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback calls failure to pay Briana Whatley money owed an oversight'A far-right Republican candidate in Florida's governor's race has been accused of stiffing a high school debate champion over the better part of $11,000 in scholarship money she won from a company he founded.Student Briana Whatley landed the awards as regional and national champion of Incubate Debate, a league-style competition set up by the candidate, James Fishback, to encourage youth to engage in political discourse. Continue reading...

Democrats say agreement - which clears way for Blanche's confirmation - makes promises president can easily reverseA compromise between Todd Blanche and two Republican senators that potentially cleared the way for Blanche's confirmation as attorney general is weak, Democrats and several experts said, as it makes promises Donald Trump can easily reverse.Blanche, the acting attorney general, posted two documents on Sunday evening showing he was withdrawing an 18 May order allowing for the creation of a $1.8bn weaponization fund and clarifying that broad tax immunity the justice department granted to Trump only applied retroactively to the president, his sons, and businesses. Continue reading...

Shares soar as yearly revenue up 93%, even as opposition grows to company's role in Trump immigration agendaIn a sea of companies reporting mixed financial results this quarter, Palantir stands out. Although Palantir was not immune to the AI jitters that caused industry-wide drops in share prices earlier this year, the AI and analytics company reported that its overall revenue grew 93% year over year to $1.94bn. That's well over the $1.8bn Wall Street expected Palantir to bring in for the second quarter.The glowing financials sparked a 10% surge in share prices in the immediate aftermath. Despite growing opposition to Palantir's work with various governments including the crucial role the company plays in the Trump administration's immigration agenda, Palantir's revenue from US government contracts grew 90% year over year to $809m. Continue reading...

North Carolina congressman's campaign rejects committee finding that Edwards engaged in sexual harassment'The US House of Representatives ethics committee on Monday recommended that Chuck Edwards, a Republican congressman, face censure after determining he fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment" by giving gifts and lavishing attention on two young female staffers.The bipartisan panel began investigating the second-term North Carolina congressman earlier this year, after receiving complaints about his conduct. In a report approved by Democratic and Republican committee members, they determined there was substantial reason to believe" Edwards broke House rules by singling out the two unidentified aides for special treatment that made them uncomfortable and harmed relations with other employees. Continue reading...

Coalition of 25 states asks US Court of International Trade to halt tariffs and declare them them unlawful

Trump disappointed' with US attorney amid reports he's considering removing her from her post

Threats come as questions surround death of Mississippi teenager, who was found dead after boat trip with friendsSeveral people with no apparent connection to the Nolan Wells case have been criminally charged with making threats amid questions surrounding the Mississippi teenager's death in July.The death of the 18-year-old Mississippi college freshman has drawn widespread attention since he was found dead following a boat trip to Horn Island, several miles off the Mississippi Gulf coast, with a group of friends. Continue reading...

Hundreds of structures damaged as firefighters battle to contain 15 major wildfires amid extreme heat and droughtFirefighters in Washington state are battling wildfires that have forced 60,000 people to flee and destroyed hundreds of buildings as drought and extreme heat fuel an extraordinary" fire season in the Pacific north-west.Fifteen major blazes are raging across the state, David Upthegrove, the head of Washington's department of natural resources, told reporters over the weekend. Continue reading...

Move comes after Blanche gives senators written assurance he will drop Trump's $1.8bn anti-weaponization fundTwo Republican senators who threatened to block Todd Blanche's bid to permanently become US attorney general announced they will advance his nomination after he said in writing that a planned $1.8bn slush fund for Donald Trump's allies was dead.The US Senate judiciary committee is due to vote on Tuesday on whether to approve the nomination of Blanche, who is already acting attorney general, and send it to the wider Senate for a vote. Continue reading...

In giving the head coach another World Cup cycle, US Soccer is tempting fate for negligible benefitMauricio Pochettino and US Soccer enjoyed their time together.Or, rather, they enshoyed it, as Pochettino would pronounce it in his thick Argentinian accent, which charmingly carries over when he speaks English. Continue reading...

Coverage for gender-affirming care is no longer covered by federal plans, and workers must pay out of pocketUS federal employees and their families are joining a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration for blocking insurance coverage of gender-affirming healthcare.The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) and the DC-based law firm Correia & Puth filed the lawsuit on Monday morning against the federal office of personnel management (OPM), arguing that the prohibition violates Title VII, which protects against sex discrimination. Continue reading...

More than 60,000 people have been evacuated and at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures destroyed, authorities said. The Spokane Area fire, which contains three separate blazes, has not yet been contained Continue reading...

A new book, Homes for Our Time, by Philip Jodidio, showcases the quiet revolution in green residential architecture Continue reading...

Erica Fox left Lovers Point near Monterey in December alongside group of swimmers but never made it backA single, devastating shark bite was fatal for an ocean swimmer whose body was found on a California beach in December, a new autopsy report confirmed.Erica Fox, 55, drowned after that shark bite broke her pelvis and severed a major artery, according to the findings of the autopsy, which were first reported on by California's Monterey Herald newspaper. Continue reading...

The EU's panic and the lack of solidarity emboldens smugglers and the far right - and makes Spain even more vulnerableFor the European hard right and the White House, it seemed almost too good to be true: left-liberal Spain punished with a migration crisis of its own making.The histrionics came right on cue. As thousands of mainly Moroccan citizens streamed into the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the tip of north Africa, Spain's far-right party Vox decried a migrant invasion", blaming Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez's regularisation and leftist politics. The Trump administration did the same. A senior Israeli diplomat goaded Madrid over its colonial" territories while Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen area. Denmark and Finland backed Italy's move and, by the weekend, 22 EU leaders had penned a letter pointing an implicit finger at Madrid over its presumed failure to relentlessly combat illegal migration". Continue reading...

Raids on the Glass House Farms in California became a litmus test' for how much violence agents could inflict during Trump's deportation campaignOn a sunny morning last July, hundreds of heavily armed immigration agents in camouflage stormed a greenhouse complex in Camarillo, an hour north of Los Angeles. They came with face masks, guns, chemical munitions and armored tactical vehicles, blocking access along a road lined by produce fields.What unfolded next would irreversibly transform the lives of many there that day. Continue reading...

John Sayles's 1987 film, which dramatizes a 1920 labor conflict, shows how class solidarity can overcome prejudiceWhen John Sayles, a student at Williams College taking time off from his summer factory job, was hitchhiking during the summer of 1970 in West Virginia, it was often coal miners who picked him off the main interstate highways.At the time, miners were amid the wake of a contentious union election within the United Mine Workers of America. Fierce tensions had led to the murder of union reform candidate Joseph Yablonski and his wife in December 1969. Continue reading...

The Greeks learn at Troy that breaking the rules works, then carry the lesson home. Nolan's film shows how an exception becomes a habit of power

Shock and fury as Trump administration holds back Medicaid funding to states over alleged caregiving fraudBy now, when Shannon Rosa hears about cuts to Medicaid and misinformation from the Trump administration about disabled people and their families, her predominant feeling isn't fear or sadness.It's fury. Continue reading...

Thousands of budding US novelists enlist in courses each year, hoping to gain credentials that often influence who gets publishedThomas Pynchon was known to avoid the press and refuse interviews. There are only two official photographs of the Gravity's Rainbow author available publicly - one taken at high school, the other during his time in the navy. He is the embodiment of the American image of a great writer: a mysterious recluse who works in a turret alone.These days, the writerly lone wolf is more a myth than it is a reality. Most of today's celebrated authors are trained in the profession and their qualification is the MFA (master of fine arts). Percival Everett received his from Brown, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie studied at Johns Hopkins University, and Jhumpa Lahiri went to Boston. Great writers, now, are less rare animals discovered in the wild and more elite thoroughbreds, meticulously trained and set up for the race ahead. Continue reading...

On Tuesday, voters will choose between ex-congresswoman Cori Bush, or pro-Israel incumbent Wesley BellThe pastor of a historically Black church on St Louis's north side, Rodrick Burton has watched with bewilderment as the congressional race in his district has drawn national attention not about the bloodshed in his community, but rather in Gaza.As a pastor who's had eight members murdered, violence over there is terrible," Burton said of the conflict in the Middle East. Continue reading...

Exclusive: court records reviewed by the Guardian show medical procedures included force-feeding, intravenous forced hydration and involuntary blood drawsHomeland security officials under the Trump administration have quietly attempted to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in US immigrant detention to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, a Guardian investigation has found.In 2025 and 2026, officials had definitely performed the procedures on at least three detained immigrants and likely subjected two more to the forced treatment - widely considered torture by human rights groups. The other five people gave in and broke their hunger strike at the last minute as force-feeding procedures loomed.One Kurdish asylum seeker and hunger striker detained at the privately-run Port Isabel service processing center in Los Fresnos, south Texas, was subjected to force-feeding for nearly eight months, according to a series of filings in the southern district of Texas federal court, beginning in May 2025 and ending only when he was deported.Another hunger striker at the same facility was subjected to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, for nearly six months between September 2025 and March 2026, filings in the same court show.Someone detained at the Krome service processing center in Miami, a privately-run ICE jail, was subjected to forced medical procedures for nearly three months, filings in the southern district of Florida federal court show. DHS seemingly began the forced practices three days before Trump's 2025 inauguration for a second term, then continued.Two other hunger strikers, one at the Northwest ICE processing center in Washington state and another inside the Montgomery processing center on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, were likely subjected to forced medical procedures, according to filings in the western district of Washington and in the southern district of Texas federal courts.In at least five cases, hunger strikers detained in Texas, Arizona and Florida, ended their hunger strike right before officials began with the forced medical procedures, filings in the southern district of Texas, district of Arizona and southern district of Florida federal courts show.The forced procedures were performed inside the detention centers.In six cases reviewed by the Guardian, detained immigrants did not have any legal representation during the court proceedings granting the involuntary medical procedures.DHS and ICE have conducted these procedures throughout the years, regardless of which presidential administration is in power. In 2024, under Joe Biden, the Guardian found that DHS attempted to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in ICE detention to forced medical treatment. It definitely proceeded with at least two people, and likely subjected at least four more people to them. However, since the return of Trump to the White House and the dramatic increase in immigration arrests and detention , medical experts and advocates worry more hunger strikes will occur and strikers will be subjected to the practices.Look out for Force-fed by ICE parts two and three in the coming days Continue reading...

The president's methods, from flooding the zone' with scandals to prioritizing loyalty over competence, could ultimately weaken rather than strengthen himThe pattern is by now all too familiar: with every power grab Trump tries - from a fraudulent speech about voter fraud to appeals to his supreme court to let him rig the midterms - a debate kicks off about whether these moves are signs of strength or of desperation. Maybe we keep getting caught in this debate because the question is badly posed. So much of what is distinctive about Trump's governance during his second term can serve the consolidation of an autocratic regime and at the same time create particular vulnerabilities for the regime. We have to become better at identifying these weaknesses, as opposed to being shell-shocked by Trump's brazenness every single time.Aspiring autocrats operate differently in the 21st century; in previous eras, they had little hesitation about unleashing violence and committing massive human rights violations. Today, they try to fool both domestic and international audiences into thinking that democracy and the rule of law still exist. The recently deposed Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban was a master of this technique; he spent many years performing what he called the peacock dance" to convince the European Commission (and chancellor Angela Merkel) that he wasn't creating a kleptocratic autocracy.Jan-Werner Muller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...

After visits by US ambassador Mike Huckabee to the nearby Israeli settlement of Shilo, Palestinian Americans in Turmus Ayya have witnessed a terrifying rise in attacksNo man's land in Turmus Ayya lies where the US flags end and the Israeli flags begin. It is a few hundred metres of soil scorched by molotov cocktails where Israeli settlers have placed a boulder to tell the Palestinian villagers: this is our land now.On one side of that boulder are the white-stoned mansions where the Palestinian residents of Turmus Ayya live. About 80% of them are US citizens, members of the diaspora in New York, Chicago and Paterson, New Jersey, who return for the summers and bring their children here to experience Palestinian culture and learn Arabic. Many call themselves proud American patriots and fly the stars and stripes from their balconies. Continue reading...

US and Japanese governments confirm they carried out a rare joint intervention late last week

The president's pretext of stopping forced labour is only a ruse - he is trying to grab a share of global trade for the USHere he goes again. The US President, Donald Trump, is increasing and decreasing tariffs willy-nilly, violating international agreements that he himself signed and almost surely violating federal law. The only difference this time is that he has a new pretext for abusing tariffs: stopping forced labour.Of course, the administration is right that too little is being done about forced labour. But its stated concern is a ruse. With the new tariffs closely tracking the ones that Trump imposed on the basis of trade balances, are we supposed to believe that bilateral trade deficits just so happen to be highly correlated with the use of forced labour? Continue reading...

Todd Blanche issues formal order terminating measure widely derided as a slush fund', in move that could clear path for his nomination as attorney generalActing US attorney general Todd Blanche issued a formal order late on Sunday terminating Donald Trump's $1.8bn anti-weaponization fund" to compensate his political allies, a move that follows weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination to become attorney general.While Blanche has repeatedly said publicly that the fund was dead, the justice department had resisted formally confirming that in writing. That had drawn concern from lawmakers that it could be revived in some form, especially after Trump expressed continued support for the idea. Continue reading...

Twin Falls police chief believes Chad Williams, 24, was alone in Saturday attack that killed three peopleAuthorities say the man accused of opening fire at a fast-food restaurant in Idaho is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, as investigators say quick action by an off-duty law enforcement officer and an armed bystander helped prevent even more bloodshed.Speaking on Sunday, Matthew Hicks, the Twin Falls police chief, said investigators are confident 24-year-old Chad Williams carried out Saturday's attack alone. Continue reading...

Health secretary, longtime vaccination skeptic, spent years boosting misinformation about vaccines including MMRRobert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, on Sunday told American parents that they should get their children vaccinated against measles, as the surge in infections has reached numbers not seen in the past 35 years.Kennedy, a leading vaccination skeptic who has spent years amplifying misinformation about vaccines, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), made his call in the course of a contentious interview with CNN's State of the Union on Sunday morning. Continue reading...

Toledo police say Ohio Democrat is active and alert after two-vehicle hit-and-run collision on SundayMarcy Kaptur is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries after a car crash in Toledo, Ohio, on Sunday, the Democratic US representative's office said.Kaptur, 80, was a passenger in the vehicle and on her way to church, her office said. Toledo police did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment. Continue reading...

US president claims delay is also in response to requests from Iran and other countries in the regionDonald Trump has said he cancelled planned military strikes against Iran on the basis of rapidly" reaching a deal on its nuclear programme and the full reopening of the strait of Hormuz.The US president paused the strikes in expectation of a breakthrough and in response to requests from Iran and other countries in the region, he claimed on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. Continue reading...

Senator Bernie Moreno says congressman and former son-in-law should step down after ex-wife's allegationsRepublican senator Bernie Moreno on Sunday publicly called for Representative Max Miller, his ex son-in-law, to step down from Congress amid allegations of domestic and child abuse.As recently as Friday, the Ohio senator had avoided giving his opinion directly on accusations made by his daughter, Emily Moreno, against the congressman. Continue reading...

Donald Trump may reject the negotiations, but he cannot veto a global effort to make multinational companies answer to governmentsGovernments are told that public services must shrink because money is tight. Yet a new Tax Justice Network report says that countries could capture an extra $500bn a year without raising corporate tax rates. The answer is to tax multinational profits where real economic activity happens - known as unitary taxation. No new profit is created. Revenue simply shifts from tax havens where profits are booked" to the countries where workers produce and customers spend.Making that principle a global tax standard depends on UN talks opening in New York on Monday. Modelled on the UN climate regime, a fiscal framework convention would create the governing body and procedures, with protocols providing detailed rules. The UN wants agreement by late 2027. Donald Trump's US walked out last year and urged others to follow. None did. Continue reading...

Our new book tracks the growth over nearly eight decades, of the most powerful foreign policy lobby in US historyIn 1948, with war raging in Palestine, Harry Truman found himself trapped.On one side were Zionist lobbyists and the president's domestic political advisers, who were urging him to support the establishment of a Jewish state in as much of Palestine as possible. On the other were his top foreign policy and national security officials, led by the secretary of state, George C Marshall. Their unanimous recommendation was to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, which they believed would trigger war in the Middle East and endanger the future of US relations with the Arab and Muslim world. Continue reading...

The president's minions have trawled the statutes to restore roadblocks to trade. The invocation of Smoot-Hawley looks especially dangerousDonald Trump may have found the killer weapon to punish countries at will: by imposing tariffs on their exports to the United States.The president has been looking for a new tool since February, when the supreme court struck down tariffs he slapped on virtually all of America's trading partners based on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, on the spurious grounds that the US faced a variety of national emergencies. It's become a parlor game among policy wonks to predict what new legal justification he would deploy to replace them.Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack Continue reading...

Convicted killer seeks to withdraw guilty plea and go to trial - but that could put death penalty sentence back in playCould Bryan Kohberger, convicted 13 months ago of the murders of four University of Idaho students, now find himself on death row? That's one potential outcome of a perplexing petition he filed last week in which he claimed he was misled by his defense attorneys into pleading guilty.A new trial could grant the wishes of family members who hoped to see the 31-year doctoral criminology student convicted by a jury in open court and sentenced to death. Or is Kohberger simply following the example of many mass murderers in attempting to gain control of the narrative and extend the suffering of his victims' families? Continue reading...

Tariffs are annoying and disruptive, but this round is less impactful - and business owners are taking them in their strideRebounding from his defeat at the supreme court in February, Donald Trump has recently announced a new round of tariffs, invoking sections of various trade acts to levy amounts on industries and countries based on reasons ranging from forced labor" to excess capacity".And how are small and medium-sized businesses in the US reacting? One word: snoozefest. Continue reading...

Food costs have soared but existing businesses fear unfair competition and programs elsewhere yielded mixed resultsCarlos Collado, a Dominican immigrant who owns five independent grocery stores in the Bronx and Manhattan, has succeeded over the last three decades despite obstacles that he blames on local and state governance.His stores have faced an increase in shoplifting, he said. The city has provided tax benefits to big corporations that opened grocery stores and took business away from his. Continue reading...

The president has blundered into a forever war' with Iran he can't win, but refuses to end. Such hubris has a long historyIt's five years this month since the chaotic retreat of US forces from Kabul. The Nato-backed invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, launched after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC, is now widely regarded as a failure. It cost the lives of more than 2,400 US and 450 British troops, and tens of thousands of civilians (the exact number is unknown). Although al-Qaida terrorists were routed, their Taliban hosts reimposed repressive, misogynistic Islamist rule after regaining power in 2021. Afghanistan became a byword for ill-considered western interventionism and nation-building. It was the archetypal forever war", a phrase first coined during Vietnam.If this cautionary tale had any lasting value, it was as a deterrent to politicians and generals tempted to rashly embark on open-ended conflicts without just cause, defined, achievable aims, and an exit strategy. Dismayingly, the forever war lesson had to be learned all over again in Iraq, which the US and UK invaded in 2003 and departed, having caused huge harm for scant benefit, in 2011. Never again!" was the passionate cry at the time and since. And yet, it seems, the same disastrous pattern is now repeating after Donald Trump's incomprehensibly foolish decision to attack Iran. A war he termed a little excursion" is entering its sixth month and has been escalating rapidly. It, too, has a forever feel. Continue reading...

We joined a recent bus tour of 30 judges, lawyers and advocates fighting not for any partisan aim, but for the rule of law itselfLast October, US lawyers, judges and rule-of-law advocates traveled to Warsaw as guests of the Carter Center. Neither of us was among them. But when our colleagues returned, their stories inspired us.They told us about judges and lawyers across central Europe who had been surveilled, smeared, prosecuted and sometimes jailed for standing between political power and courts meant to remain independent. Continue reading...

Three people were killed and seven more injured, some critically, in a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in southern Idaho on Saturday afternoon. The Twin Falls police chief, Matthew Hicks, said on Saturday that police were working to determine the shooter's identity and motive, and interviewing witnesses