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Voters in Michigan, Missouri, Washington, Kansas and Virginia head to polls to select candidates who will appear on November ballots

Suspect had a prior conviction for reportedly shooting his father in Arizona, after he told his son to do the dishesAuthorities on Monday charged a man in Washington state with starting a wildfire that has consumed almost 4,000 acres and forced tens of thousands from their homes.Aaron Farinacci, 37, of Spokane, was arrested and charged with first-degree arson for setting the Old Trails fire, the largest of three devastating wildfires burning through the region. Continue reading...

After a bumpy confirmation hearing, Clayton replaces acting director Bill Pulte to head US intelligence agencies

Mount Vernon official is accused of driving getaway car after son allegedly opened fire outside Bronx courtA New York state police department fired its deputy commissioner on Tuesday after she allegedly acted as a getaway driver for her son in what is being investigated as an attempted murder.The city of Mount Vernon said in an Instagram post that it had terminated Jennifer Lackard, deputy police commissioner for safety, for conduct unrelated to her duties". Continue reading...

Investigators pin blame for Eaton fire, which killed 19 people and ruined thousands of homes, on electrical arcing events' at out-of-service towerThe deadly 2025 Eaton fire in the Los Angeles area was caused by equipment belonging to the utility company Southern California Edison, fire officials said in a report released on Tuesday.Los Angeles county fire officials found that the cause of the fire that killed 19 people and destroyed or damaged more than 9,000 homes and businesses was a tower that was not in service, according to the report. Continue reading...

DHS said pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret overstayed visa and arrested him at Dallas-Fort Worth airportAn instructor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore who only just received a teacher of the year" award has been arrested by federal immigration agents under the command of the Trump administration.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detained Berhanu Kibret, an instructor at the university's pharmacy school, at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in Texas, according to multiple news reports. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, confirmed Kibret's arrest, citing an expired visa - but it stopped short of providing a location. Continue reading...

Ohioans of Indian heritage will see one of their own take center stage in race for governor, but their support amid a rocky campaign is not a guaranteeAt the Hindu Temple of Dayton in south-west Ohio, there's no little pride for gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy - he and his parents have been coming here to pray for decades.On a quiet recent Tuesday afternoon, a priest lights incense sticks at the altar of the temple. Outside, a group of first-time visitors take a relaxed walk around the grounds. Continue reading...

Gianni Infantino's reign as Fifa president is in severe peril after the collapse of his plans to sell off parts of the World Cup to private investment. Many Concacaf countries are considering following Europe's lead by formally removing their support for the Fifa president, and there are widespread calls to remove him from his post. Lucy Hough speaks to columnist Jonathan Liew Continue reading...

Blanche, one of Trump's most trusted legal aides, confirmed in writing that $1.8bn slush fund for president's allies was deadThe US Senate judiciary committee voted along party lines to advance Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general after he confirmed in writing that a planned $1.8bn slush fund for Donald Trump's allies was dead. Experts say, however, that Trump could easily reverse the deal.His nomination will now proceed to the full Senate, where it will likely face intense skepticism from Democrats. Continue reading...

Judge puts hold on mask ban while allowing state law prohibiting cooperation between police and ICE to standA New York law banning US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from wearing face coverings and requiring that they wear visible identification has been put on hold by a federal judge. But a state law prohibiting cooperation between local police departments and ICE has been allowed to stand.The mask ruling comes after federal judges have blocked similar laws in California, Virginia and Pennsylvania that sought to ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces. They are still required to wear agency identification badges and badge numbers. Continue reading...

At Color Splash Out, LGBTQ+ kids can play, create and connect without judgment, especially in a state that passed seven anti-trans bills last year

Color Splash Out provides a safe space in a state that has targeted and demonized trans people

The vocal vaccine sceptic and wife of Trump's deputy chief of staff turned to the former US science adviser when she was worried about Covid. Now, she's claiming it was a cunning planYou should keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and Stephen and Katie Miller as far away from your general vicinity as humanly possible. Many people will not need to be told this. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, is famous for masterminding the first Trump administration's family separation policy and Muslim ban. His wife, Katie, is similarly enthusiastic about mass deportation and has reportedly said she didn't feel compassion for families separated at the border. Stephen met Katie when they were both working in government, but she has since left politics to start a podcast. Now she asks guests such as JD Vance important questions such as: is a hotdog a sandwich?While I may not need to inform you that the Millers are bad news, it seems Dr Anthony Fauci is only just getting the memo. The former top US government science adviser, who helped guide the country's Covid-19 response, was forced to appear at a US Senate committee hearing last week. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky framed the hearing as an investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Really, however, it was an opportunity for Republicans to harass Fauci, who is widely loathed among the Maga base. He has become such a target of vitriol that Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci before leaving office in case he was prosecuted by the Trump administration. Continue reading...

The predictions market is planning to allow betting on clinical trial results and regulatory decisions as our family fights for his survivalMy son is 12 years old. No matter how many Legos we get him, he will only build robotic mechs. He draws haunting pictures in pen and ink but refuses to take an art class. He was devastated to learn that Chuck E Cheese is phasing out its animatronics. His guidance counselor says he's so kind, he's really hard to say no to. He sneezes when he steps out into the sunlight. And he also has a very aggressive tumor growing inches below his heart.Further, if Kalshi has its way, you could soon be able to bet on health treatments that could be essential to his survival.Joshua Pederson is professor of humanities at Boston University and the author of Sin Sick: Moral Injury in War and Literature Continue reading...

Kevin Warsh would rather stay out of the fray - and thus devalue the Fed's credibility as an economic stewardIt must feel strange to argue that government action is inevitably counter-productive - illegitimate even - when the government is you.For the last half century, the Republican party has been comfortable with the contradiction. It's framed in that clever quote from Ronald Reagan's 1981 inaugural: Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Solutions, in this view, are delivered by free, unencumbered markets.Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack Continue reading...

This crude lack of thought is influencing crucial budget decisions on HIV programmes, which were cut by 25% worldwide in 2025At the end of July, thousands of scientists, advocates and policymakers gathered at Aids 2026, the 26th International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, to advance the global HIV response. But during one high-profile session, a jarring moment threatened to derail our focus: a slide presented by a senior US state department official displayed a map of Africa with country names glaringly scrambled and mislabelled.While the mistake apparently occurred due to an over-reliance on AI tools, it carried a painful symbolic weight for many of us. It reinforced a longstanding frustration: that too many political leaders treat Africa as a monolithic abstraction rather than a continent of 54 distinct sovereign nations. Continue reading...

US president takes aim at profits as oil companies worldwide benefit from US-Iran conflict. Plus, can you tell if someone is secretly filming you with Meta's glasses?

On Tuesday, a human rights commission will hold an extraordinary hearing over the administration's alleged attacks on protesters, journalists and othersWe are constitutional law, civil rights, and human rights scholars and practitioners who have spent decades litigating government abuse cases in the United States. Despite the US legal system's flaws, our work - from securing a record civil settlement for George Floyd's family to holding Bolivia's ex-president accountable in US federal court for the massacre of Indigenous protesters - has demonstrated that US courts can reign in state power and provide a path to accountability. But this pathway is narrowing.As Donald Trump attacks the courts, weaponizes the Department of Justice, and targets attorneys who challenge his administration, we have been forced to seek justice beyond our borders. Continue reading...

Lockheed P-38 Lightning nicknamed Marge' and flown by Richard Bong crashed in 1944 over what is now Papua New GuineaA wingtip of a downed fighter jet once flown by second world war ace pilot Richard Bong has been taken to his home state of Wisconsin from Papua New Guinea, where it crashed more than 80 years earlier.The piece of the plane named after the pilot's girlfriend, Marge Vattendahl, underwent a remarkable journey by air, land and sea before its procurement by the Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin. Continue reading...

Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life's great joysFar beyond the fires raging across Europe and North America, the smoke, dangerous to breathe, hangs in the air, dimming the view, changing the very color of sunlight into something grimly unsettling.An estimated 20,000 are said to have died in the extreme heat in Europe earlier this year, and heat is climate change's quiet killer, compared to the dramatic violence of death by fire or flood. In eastern Washington, 600 homes have just burned down, and in both Europe and North America, firefighters have died in the effort to contain the climate-fueled firestorms. Continue reading...

Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, was arrested in New Jersey in June, and died after a medical emergency', agency saidAn immigrant being held at a New Jersey ICE detention center died on 1 August, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, is the 22nd person to die in ICE custody this year, according to agency data.Lopez-Cornejo, who is originally from El Salvador and first came to the US in 2006, was arrested by ICE agents in Plainfield, New Jersey, on 18 June and sent to Delaney Hall detention facility to await deportation. Less than two months later he suffered an unspecified medical emergency", and was later pronounced dead by University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, ICE said. Continue reading...

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Residents and farmers say contractors have tapped border aquifers that threaten water supply for those nearbyConstruction crews building a border wall in New Mexico were ordered to stop drilling new wells after ranchers said that pumping groundwater to produce concrete could threaten their livestock amid a severe drought.The order comes as crews across the southern border race to complete one of Donald Trump's highest domestic priorities - barriers that span four states and received over $46bn in federal funding. Controversies have sprouted up in Texas and California, and border-town residents and environmentalists have reported a wide variety of issues with construction. Continue reading...

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...