US news | The Guardian

Democrat, in first interview since pre-dawn raid, denies immigration fraud and says I have a legal right to be a member of Congress'The Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar denied allegations of immigration fraud in a Wednesday appearance on MS Now, her first interview since federal agents raided her residence last week.Those in Donald Trump's orbit - cabinet officials and rightwing influencers alike - have promoted baseless theories about the Democratic congresswoman, accusing Omar of being in a sham marriage with her brother and fudging details of her immigration paperwork. Continue reading...

In this episode of Guardian Australia's US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad look at how Katie Zacharia broke the record for shortest tenure as White House press secretary. They then look at the pattern of how women in the Trump administration are treated when they're perceived to have made mistakes - versus how men seem to survive their missteps.They also look at how the US might be changing course on Russia's war on Ukraine. Are relations between the US president, Donald Trump, and the Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at their lowest point ever - and what happens if the US decides to take Russian president Vladimir Putin's side in this war? Continue reading...

Jury had found Meta misled consumers after Trump's 2016 presidential campaign obtained user data without consentA judge in New Mexico ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25bn on Wednesday after a jury found the company had misled consumers in a case arising from allegations that a political consulting firm involved in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent.Facebook's wrongdoing - over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public - goes to the heart of Facebook's core business practices," Judge Francis Mathew wrote in his order following the verdict. Continue reading...

Former speaker is latest target of mailings sent to various Congress members in the lead-up to the midterm electionsCalifornia representative Nancy Pelosi's office received a suspicious letter" on Wednesday in what appears to be the latest incident of ill-intentioned mailings targeted at US Congress members before the midterm elections.The offices of more than three dozen members of Congress across the political spectrum have received envelopes containing white powder in recent days. One lawmaker's office said preliminary tests indicated the powder was not hazardous. Continue reading...

With ICE arrests and detentions at their highest levels, immigration remains a key issue for voters less than two weeks before election day

JD Vance, the vice-president, criticized Republicans who have spoken out against a controversial campaign ad from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad features the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar. In a Tuesday statement, Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, said his sister is estranged from her mother, who had married a man that sexually abused Acton when she was 12. He said his mother, Donna Arthur, remained in the marriage after her husband was arrested and her children were taken away from her Continue reading...

Incumbent Mike Lawler is fending off a challenge from Democrat Cait Conley in state's 17th congressional district

New Mexico lawsuit claims in exchange for furthering Epstein's criminal project, his associates received generous salaries'The attorney general of New Mexico on Wednesday filed a civil lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's longtime attorney, Darren Indyke, and Epstein's longtime accountant, Richard Kahn, accusing them of having facilitated and concealed" Epstein's crimes, and is seeking to stop them from being paid by Epstein's estate while the litigation plays out.The lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the district of New Mexico, names Kahn and Indyke as defendants both in their individual capacity, and in their capacity as co-executors of Epstein's estate. The complaint also names Epstein's estate, and the 1953 Trust, which holds the estate's assets. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin ordered the release of former teacher Stephen Hubbard, who had spent more than four years in Russian jails on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. This came as Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Russian president in St Petersburg for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid increasingly close relations between Moscow and Washington.

As prices keep rising, more of the president's supporters are asking what happened to the economic good times he promisedIt is no great revelation that Donald Trump is enrichinghimself as president. He raked in $2.2bn in 2025, with his position and his personal interests frequently overlapping. Yet this week's poll finding that 34% of Republicans (and 66% of all American voters) think that he is using his position to make himself rich merits attention. Separately, voters in a Fox News poll last week put government corruption atthe top of their list of concerns - just ahead of inflation and high prices.Mr Trump pledged that people would be better off if they voted for him. The billionaires are; not the rest. He promised to lower the costs of groceries (they have risen again) and to cut the price of gasoline to below $2 a gallon. It's more than double that, thanks to his reckless and illegal war on Iran. Tariffs have bumped up the cost of living too. Incumbents will always struggle when the economy does. But the gulf between his own prosperity and the daily life of his base now looks less like an inspiration and more like an insult. Cash offers seem unlikely to help much. Continue reading...

Decision stands in contrast to recent trans rights actions from court that often sides with Trump administrationThe US supreme court went against Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday, refusing to allow the immediate enforcement of sweeping restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender individuals held in prisons and federal facilities.The decision marks an unusual victory for transgender rights before the nation's highest court, which has largely sided with the administration and other opponents of transgender rights in several major cases. Continue reading...

Cameras reportedly set up near site for Trump's proposed arch, Arlington Memorial Bridge and reflecting poolThe US Park Police are spending $343,000 to lease mobile surveillance cameras from a company that also supplies Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), federal contract records show. The deal comes as Donald Trump has insisted that vandals damaged the reflecting pool, one of Washington's best-known landmarks - charges that have since been dismissed.The Department of the Interior, which oversees the Park Police, awarded the lease to the Utah-based company LiveView Technologies (LVT) on 14 September, on a fully obligated government contract that runs through the end of February. The records do not say how many camera trailers are covered. Continue reading...

Republican Neil Bush says he was deeply troubled' by Ken Paxton's conduct and enormously impressed' with Talarico

These graphics explain what the Democrats would need to do to flip the Senate and House of RepresentativesA turning point in Donald Trump's second term will soon arrive. On 3 November, voters across the US will decide whether to keep the president's Republican allies in control of Congress, or return Democrats to the majority.Many indicators of voter sentiment suggest the Democrats are favored to take back control of the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate. Winning either would be a significant victory for the party and give it the power to block Trump's legislative agenda and more aggressively investigate his administration. Continue reading...

Voters disapprove of Trump's handling of economy and cost of living, says poll in new low recorded by NY Times/SienaDonald Trump's approval rating sank to 36% just two weeks before the midterm elections, the lowest recorded in a poll by the New York Times/Siena College, with most respondents expressing frustration over his handling of the US economy, cost of living and Iran war.In an October survey of approximately 3,494 likely voters, 59% said they disapproved of Trump's handling of his job, and 52% said they planned to vote for the Democratic candidate in the upcoming election. Continue reading...

Liberal justice says recent decisions on redistricting and campaign finance have undermined democracy and polarized US even more

Flights to third countries where the detainees have no ties are scheduled as early as Wednesday, relatives detailRelatives of gravely ill detainees at two Florida immigration jails say authorities are about to deport their loved ones to unknown countries in Africa despite worsening medical conditions.Flights are scheduled as early as Wednesday, according to the families and the immigration advocacy group the Workers Circle, which has been monitoring conditions and speaking with detainees inside two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in south Florida. Continue reading...

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Lebanese officials were furious, claiming the city erased Gibran's identity. Yet there was a time when Arab immigrants in the US thought we were all Syrians'

A Washington referendum has drawn broad opposition from adults who work with queer and trans teensFor Kelsey Gellner, a Seattle-based pediatric nurse, a statewide proposal to bar trans girls from sports participation feels like a violation of her duty as a medical professional. The ballot initiative includes a requirement she calls invasive and extreme": all students who wish to compete on girls' teams would have to undergo genital exams.I tell my kids and patients that my No 1 job is to keep them safe," said Gellner, who is also a board member of the Washington State Nurses Association. I can say with confidence that girls do not want to have an unnecessary exam that creates an unsafe barrier." Continue reading...

President makes suggestion while announcing new program to reward tipsters who submit fraud allegationsDonald Trump suggested on Tuesday that he would serve as the arbitrator" of decisions in the justice department's new anti-fraud program that awards compensation to those who submit tips resulting in conviction or significant federal enforcement.While announcing the new program alongside JD Vance, the vice-president, who leads the White House's taskforce to eliminate fraud, the president told reporters he had a solution for situations where multiple people submit a tip for the same alleged fraud. Continue reading...

Coordination by Democratic officials overseeing elections includes Zoom calls and in-person tabletop exercisesDemocratic state attorneys general, other top state officials and civic groups have accelerated planning to thwart any federal meddling in the November midterm elections by Donald Trump as he continues his false charges of widespread voting fraud and veiled threats of interfering in the process.Since early this year, 24 Democratic attorneys general have expanded coordination with about a dozen Democratic secretaries of state and several civic groups using weekly Zoom calls and in-person tabletop exercises to strategize about countering any federal intervention in the elections. Continue reading...

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is spending $80m to help Democratic candidates, while Trump has promised Republicans $400m. Plus a vital investigation into justice in Louisiana

Against a backdrop of rising Islamophobia, Michigan Senate hopeful has challenged premise of repeated questions on Muslim Brotherhood, Israel and faithAs a candidate positioned at the center of what researchers say are the worst Islamophobic attacks seen since the aftermath of 9/11, many would expect Abdul El-Sayed to simply defend himself and move on.Instead, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan has repeatedly demanded those who question his positions on Israel, the Muslim Brotherhood and his faith, explain the premise of their inquiry. Rather than let others put his loyalties on trial, he has tried to put their assumptions on trial. Continue reading...

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a house framer before he was killed by ICE agents. Countless other Latino builders in Texas live in fear of a similar fateEvery morning long before dawn, while America sleeps, legions of Texas construction workers grab their fluorescent vests and hard hats, sling ladders and tools into their trucks, and head down the highway for another day of grueling labour under the blistering sun.Elsewhere, before the first flush of daylight settles over Texas's concrete sprawl, a separate army gets on the move in a fleet of shiny unmarked SUVs. They hover at gas stations, prowl around bodegas, pounce on the highways. Continue reading...

From Roman-era political potboilers to stories of Catholic priests struggling to impose their authority, what could the reading list of vice-president JD Vance's wife be trying to tell us?Usha Vance, a very clever woman with dubious taste in men, likes to keep herself busy. While lesser mortals (me) waste their one wild and precious life watching Love Is Blind, the second lady has various self-improvement projects on the go. She's brushing up on her German! She's hosting a literacy podcast! She's rereading the classics! And, of course, she's juggling four young children and the demands of being the vice-president's spouse.How does she do it all? With the help of taxpayer dollars, I suspect. Easier to get some reading done when you're being helicoptered everywhere and, as JD Vance has boasted: People go to the grocery store for me." Continue reading...

As women's sprinting enters a golden era in the run-up to LA 2028, controversy surrounding a top coach threatens to overshadow the sport's biggest starsWhen Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas came second at the recent track and field World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, she tried her best to be diplomatic: I am an equal-opportunity doping hater," she said. If you are actively doping in sport, I do take issue with that. I'm not saying any names, no names are mentioned. But if you look at yourself and you think that's what you're doing, then so be it."Thomas then went out of her way to congratulate her compatriot Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who finished ahead of her that day, aware of the territory into which she was straying. Continue reading...

Philip Sullivan, who sought to rebuild his life after gambling addiction, convicted of stealing from real-estate employerA Florida man who stole more than $1m from his employer to bankroll a gambling problem - before becoming the director of his state's gambling addiction helpline in trying to make amends - was recently sentenced to nearly a decade in prison.Bay county, Florida, authorities charged Philip Sullivan in March 2024 with stealing $1.4m from the Panama City Beach real-estate company for which he was the chief financial officer, Royal American, as local news outlets WMBB and WJHG had previously reported. Continue reading...

In this episode of Guardian Australia's US politics podcast, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad look at how Katie Zacharia broke the record for shortest tenure as White House press secretary. They then examine the pattern of how women in the Trump administration are treated when they're perceived to have made mistakes - versus how men seem to survive their missteps.They also look at how the US might be changing course on Russia's war on Ukraine. Are relations between Donald Trump and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at their lowest point ever? And what happens if the US decides to take Vladimir Putin's side in the war?Read more:Enter the Zachbot: Trump's new press secretary malfunctions on podium debutAll the president's women: a familiar downward trajectory on Trump's team Continue reading...

Student told the university's police department that assault by two men occurred in August during a night of drinkingA sorority member at the University of Arizona has alleged she was sexually assaulted by two men at a fraternity house during a night of drinking in late August.The student told the university's police department that she consensually kissed one of the men at one point while at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on 26 August but doesn't remember agreeing to sex, according to search warrant records posted Monday night by KOLD-TV in Tucson. Continue reading...

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Vietnam veteran William Reaves executed by lethal injection despite letter from fellow veterans urging haltFlorida carried out its 18th execution of the year on Tuesday under Republican governor Ron DeSantis's aggressive use of the death penalty in his final term.William Reaves, 77, was pronounced dead at 6.12pm following a three-drug injection at Florida state prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of Indian River county deputy Richard Raczkowski. Continue reading...

Toforest Johnson's death penalty reduced to life in prison without parole over doubts about his convictionToforest Johnson, an Alabama death row inmate, will no longer face execution after the state's Republican governor commuted his sentence amid increasing doubts about his conviction.Kay Ivey, the Alabama governor, commuted Johnson's sentence to life in prison without parole in the 1995 murder of William Hardy, a Jefferson county deputy sheriff. Johnson has long maintained he is innocent, and several former public officials, as well the local district attorney, have argued he should receive a new trial. Continue reading...

Anti-Defamation League post decries shylock' slur but does not explain that president used it at Kansas rally on MondayThe Anti-Defamation League (ADL) denounced the use of the term shylock" as antisemitic on Tuesday, without explaining that the slur had been used a day earlier by Donald Trump in a speech in Kansas.Trump used the slur during a Monday night rally in support of Republican senator Roger Marshall, who is locked in a closer-than-expected re-election fight against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton. Marshall, a doctor, as been criticized for filing lawsuits against more than 700 patients with outstanding bills, leading to 18 of them being arrested. Continue reading...

Billionaire ex-mayor of New York City is focusing funds on House races to help Democrats retake majority in midterms

Kennedy taught in New York public schools and advocated for disability rights after suffering severe spinal cord injuryKyle Kennedy, the granddaughter of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, has died at the age of 42.Kyle, the daughter of Michael Kennedy, who died in 1997, and Victoria Gifford Kennedy, passed away peacefully" on 21 September at her home in Westwood, Massachusetts, according to her obituary published by Burke Funeral Homes. Continue reading...

Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932 - does Adam Hamilton have the courage, brain and heart to cause an extraordinary upset?Just two years after Donald Trump won Kansas by 16 points in his fight to regain the White House, Republicans in the state are scrambling to retain their dominance. The battle for one of its two seats in the US Senate is too close to call, setting the stage for a potentially extraordinary upset.Some recent polls even put Democrat Adam Hamilton on course for a historic victory. Kansans have not sent a representative of the party to the US Senate since 1932. Continue reading...

The statement revealed in court papers raises questions about the reliability of the list of 20,000 people in CaliforniaThe justice department's list of suspected non-citizens in California includes a high percentage" of people born in the United States, Los Angeles election officials said on Tuesday.The statement, made in court papers, raises further questions about the reliability of a list of 20,000 people the justice department provided to election officials in Los Angeles last week. The department sent the county and California secretary of state the list last week and gave them a 48-hour deadline to segregate ballots cast from anyone on the list unless they could verify their citizenship. California election officials refused and the Department of Justice sued them on Thursday. Continue reading...

Voters' emphatic rejection of separation strengthens Mark Carney's energy strategy in the face of a US trade war and threatsCanadians are proving to be a voice of sanity. In roundly rejecting the idea of separating from Canada, voters in the oil- and gas-rich province of Alberta sensibly backed the nation-building strategy of the prime minister, Mark Carney. He has put Alberta at the centre of his plan to make Canada an energy superpower that is much less dependent on the United States".Donald Trump's trade war and threats last week to make Canada the 51st US state were a fillip for Mr Carney in Alberta, a landlocked western province where Liberal prime ministers have historically been unpopular. The stakes were high: a successful separatist campaign would have handed Mr Trump leverage over Canada's resource belt. The result instead lets Mr Carney cast Alberta's mineral wealth as a national asset, rather than allow separatists to define it as a regional grievance.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...

GOP lawmakers threaten to pull support for president's agenda after Russia diesel deal and sanctions pause

Much of Donald Trump's unpopularity in polls stems from dissatisfaction over the economy and war on Iran

Videos show shark launching several feet from water as a group of friends pose for photos along Marina state beachA great white shark put on a spectacular display for California beachgoers over the weekend, leaping from the water off Marina state beach and photobombing visitors.Videos circulating online show a great white shark launching several feet out of the water in the background as a group of friends pose for photos along the beach. Continue reading...

Mitchell Fairbarn found guilty of animal cruelty after prosecutors say he hurt and frightened the 27-year-old birdA Canadian man was convicted of animal cruelty charges on Monday for snatching a flamingo named Peachy from its enclosure at an iconic Las Vegas hotel.Prosecutors said it was a malicious prank while a lawyer for the tourist insisted it was drunken foolishness not meant to harm the bird. Continue reading...

Coyote euthanized after reportedly roaming Atwater Village comfortably for months and attacking one-year-old boyOne Los Angeles neighborhood has been at war over a wild coyote, and over the weekend it all came to a head.For months, the animal had been roaming the trendy Atwater Village, showing up in broad daylight, sleeping in back yards and approaching residents. At least one person had reportedly fed the coyote and others affectionately nicknamed it Wiley. But some residents feared the creature had become dangerously too cozy. Continue reading...