Miran, set to continue as Federal Reserve governor until Jerome Powell successor is confirmed, to leave CEA postFederal Reserve governor Stephen Miran has resigned from his position as chair of the White House's council of economic advisers, fulfilling a pledge he made to the Senate as his assignment at the central bank becomes longer-lasting.Miran had been on unpaid leave from his CEA post since Donald Trump appointed him last year to fill an unexpected vacancy on the Fed's board of governors to a term that expired on 31 January. The arrangement drew the ire of Democratic senators, who said it would make a presidential puppet of the Fed's newest policymaker. Continue reading...
Trump's comments raise concerns about potential efforts to rig the November midterm elections - key US politics stories from Tuesday 3 February at a glanceDonald Trump suggested on a conservative podcast released on Monday that Republican state officials take over" and nationalize" elections in 15 states to protect the party from being voted out of office.Trump framed the issue as a means to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting. Claims that noncitizens are voting in numbers that can affect an election are a lie. But it raises concerns about potential efforts by the president to rig the November midterm elections. Continue reading...
Statement says Republican senator, 83, checked himself into local hospital and prognosis is positive'The Republican senator Mitch McConnell was admitted to a hospital on Monday night due to flu-like symptoms", his office said in a statement.In an abundance of caution, after experiencing flu-like symptoms over the weekend, Senator McConnell checked himself into a local hospital for evaluation last night," the statement reads. His prognosis is positive and he is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving." Continue reading...
Shahed-139 said to have approached USS Abraham Lincoln with unclear intent' in lead-up to expected US-Iran talks on Tehran's nuclear programmeThe US military says it shot down an Iranian drone that aggressively" approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier with unclear intent" when an F-35 fighter jet shot it down, US Central Command said on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Rights group says growing authoritarianism and abuses in US, Russia and China threaten global rules-based orderThe world is in a democratic recession" with almost three-quarters of the global population now living under autocratic rulers - levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new report.The system underpinning human rights was in peril", said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), with a growing authoritarian wave becoming the challenge of a generation", he said. Continue reading...
Appropriations measure will let Democrats negotiate with White House and GOP leaders over mass deportation effortsDonald Trump on Tuesday signed legislation to end a government shutdown hours after it was approved by the House of Representatives, as top Democrats warned they will block further funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) if their demands for restrictions on Trump's mass deportation campaign are not addressed.The Republican-controlled House approved the $1.2tn appropriations measure by a narrow 217-214 vote, with all but 21 Republicans voting in favor and all but 21 Democrats against. The president signed it later in the afternoon at the White House, bringing to an end the shutdown that began after midnight last Friday, which had halted many operations at departments including defense, health and human services, labor, and transportation. Continue reading...
Attorney general Letitia James says observers will monitor if Trump enforcement remains within bounds of the law'New York is creating a team of legal observers that will don purple vests to monitor and record the Trump administration's immigration enforcement officers as they seek to detain and deport migrants, the state's attorney general said on Tuesday.The announcement follows weeks of sometimes violent tumult in Minneapolis, where Donald Trump has deployed thousands of armed, masked agents as he tries to deport more migrants than any of his predecessors. Continue reading...
While most focused on competition issues, Josh Hawley accused Netflix of promoting trans content to childrenNetflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos faced tough questioning over whether the streamer is overwhelmingly woke" or killing competition on Tuesday afternoon during a congressional hearing focused on its pending acquisition of the film and streaming assets of Warner Bros Discovery.The hearing was conducted by the Senate subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer for Warner Bros Discovery, also testified in the packed Senate hearing room. Continue reading...
Immigration officials said agent shot two vicious gang members' in Portland, but records obtained by the Guardian reveal US prosecutor contradicted claimsImmediately after a US border patrol agent shot two people in Oregon last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the targets were vicious" gang members connected to a prior shooting and alleged they had attempted to run over" officers with their vehicle.In the weeks since, key parts of the federal government's narrative have fallen apart. Continue reading...
The US president's celebration of the 1847 conquest draws fury from Mexican leaders over imperialist tone'A message from Donald Trump celebrating the 19th-century US invasion of its southern neighbour - and the subsequent loss of more than half its territory - has touched a historical nerve in Mexico, with some seeing it as a veiled threat for future incursions.Reacting to the US president's statement, which described the invasion as a legendary victory", Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's president, said during her morning news conference on Tuesday: We must always defend our sovereignty." Continue reading...
The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC celebrated the birth of a baby Asian elephant on Monday, its first in nearly 25 years.The female calf was born to her 12-year-old mother Nhi Linh and 44-year-old father Spike
President claims idea to nationalize' elections in 15 states before midterms is to prevent rare noncitizen votingDonald Trump suggested on a conservative podcast released on Monday that Republican state officials take over" and nationalize" elections in 15 states to protect the party from being voted out of office.Trump framed the issue as a means to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting. Claims that noncitizens are voting in numbers that can affect an election are a lie. But it raises concerns about potential efforts by the president to rig the November midterm elections. Continue reading...
Linda Stevenson found unresponsive on 28 December after police responded to domestic disputeThe ex-husband of former US first lady Jill Biden has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, officials said on Tuesday.William Stevenson, 77, was taken into custody on Monday and is facing a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Linda Stevenson, according to a grand jury indictment filed in Delaware. Continue reading...
Scheduling and financial impasses at Vancouver's World Cup stadium are leading down a road the league hasn't traveled in over a decadeOn the surface, Vancouver Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster's press conference last week would have felt familiar to almost any North American sports fan. Once again, a team was agitating for more money or a better stadium. Once again, local governments were at least partially to blame.Some of his comments, though, felt more alien, and raised a question that seemed unfathomable just a couple of months ago: are the Vancouver Whitecaps about to die? Continue reading...
Exclusive: Trump endorsed national intelligence director's sweeping review by sending her on Georgia raid last weekTulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is running her own review into the 2020 election with Donald Trump's approval, working separately from a justice department investigation even as she joined an FBI raid of an election center in Georgia last week.Her presence at the raid drew criticism from Democrats and former intelligence officials, who questioned why the country's top intelligence officer with no domestic law enforcement powers would appear at the scene of an FBI raid. Continue reading...
Springfield businesses are closing and families are making contingency plans for their childrenAround the same time that Springfield, Ohio, and its growing Haitian community made national headlines in September 2024, the New Diaspora Live radio station moved into a sleek new studio in a co-working building in the city's downtown.Haitian-Creole speakers from across the country called in, sharing tips with fellow listeners and discussing life in Springfield, the Rust Belt city of 60,000 people in western Ohio where thousands of Haitian immigrants had moved. Continue reading...
Trump administration is accusing protesters of domestic terrorism' but this brazen tactic is as old as the country itselfWhen federal immigration agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on 23 January, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, wasted no time claiming to the press, without credible evidence, that Pretti had been engaged in domestic terrorism". Though the administration seems to be trying to soften that initial response after fierce backlash, it's an accusation that members of the Trump administration have been leveling at wide swaths of people beyond Pretti - including Renee Nicole Good, another Minnesotan killed by ICE agents two and a half weeks prior, and Marimar Martinez, who survived being shot by ICE agents in Chicago in October - as part of an ongoing strategy to criminalize dissent.It's a claim Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents themselves have started to make directly in confrontations with citizens, seemingly to try and intimidate legal observers, sometimes known as ICE watchers. In one recent video from Portland, Maine, an ICE officer told an observer to stop recording him on her phone, and when she wouldn't, he took her information down and said, We have a nice little database ... and now you're considered a domestic terrorist." Continue reading...
Letter comes after FBI executed criminal search warrant to seize almost 700 boxes of 2020 election documentationGeorgia's Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, this morning, inquiring into the presence of Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, at the scene last week of an FBI seizure of Fulton county election records from 2020.The letter from Senator Raphael Warnock and representatives Lucy McBath and Nikema Williams asks whether the Trump administration is investigating a legitimate foreign intelligence nexus, which would legally require immediate congressional briefing". The group requested a briefing from the Department of Justice concerning this activity and its related investigation by February 13, 2026". Continue reading...
I'm sorry, but this is not just a political scandal. Time to refocus on the horrific mistreatment of women and girls, and the role of these ghoulsLike a lot of women, I do vaguely care about the latest political implosion of Peter Mandelson - but I think we're all massively more obsessed with the fact that there really was a network of incredibly famous and powerful men trying to help a known ex-con minimise and wave away his underage sex crimes. Amirite, ladies? Sure, I'm crying my eyes out about some Gordon Brown adviser having his asset-sale memo forwarded in 2009 ... but at the same time I'm a whole lot more concerned about the actual Sex Bilderberg. Which, even now, our eyes seem to keep being conveniently dragged away from. Can we refocus?We are, naturally, talking about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Since the latest lot dropped, I've been collating the emails from extremely famous men who actively sought to help the since-deceased underage sex trafficker trivialise his crimes in the years after his jail release in 2009. Richard Branson, Noam Chomsky, Steve Bannon, Mandelson, Andrew (obviously) - all of these men offer strategic advice, or media training, or chummy solidarity. Or, in the case of Chomsky, all of the above plus a drive-by on the notion of female victimhood. According to text signed under his first name that Epstein sent to a lawyer and publicist in February 2019, months after the Miami Herald had run an explosive series of articles laying out the scale of Epstein's serial underage sexual abuse and the perversion of justice that covered it up, Chomsky sneered at the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women". Wow. Never mind Manufacturing Consent - have a read of Not Giving A Shit About Consent. I thought Chomsky cared about power and exploitative elites? Still, nice photo of him laughing it up with Steve Bannon. Continue reading...
Former CNN anchor faces charges over coverage of an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.Don Lemon says about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him overnight on 30 January, even though the former CNN anchor's attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.Lemon on Monday told ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement wouldn't have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he had been allowed to surrender to authorities. Continue reading...
So-called reactionary centrist' pundits proclaimed that there was a global vibe shift' in favor of the right. They were wrongRecent exercises in taking stock after one year of Trump 2.0 - for many an eternity of terrifying news and political traumas - tended to leave something out: the fact that, a mere 12 months ago, plenty of pundits (and politicians, for that matter) were instructing us to accept that a global vibe shift" in favor of the right had taken place. And that, in the face of what supposedly felt" like a landslide, resistance was pointless and cringe".Well, it doesn't feel like that today. But understanding why observers not generally in the pro-Trump propaganda business rushed to portray the spirit of the age as effectively far-right is important. A way of thinking occasionally dubbed reactionary centrism" plays an important role; it could yet again become influential in hindering or at least holding up post-Trump radical reforms which US democracy desperately requires.Jan-Werner Muller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...
by Written by Rhana Natour, photography by Amir Hamja on (#739X4)
A burgeoning set of Muslim creatives and intellectuals are thriving amid the backdrop of Zohran Mamdani's rise. We ask 18 of them about this historic moment in New York City lifeAgainst the backdrop of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral rise is a dynamic scene of Muslim creatives and intellectuals who are helping usher in a new era for New York City. Their prominence represents a rebuke of the ugly Islamophobia that defined the period following 9/11, and is in many ways an outcrop of the mass movement for Palestinian rights forged over the last two years. We ask 18 Muslim New Yorkers to discuss their work and what this moment means.
State resolutions are under-utilized right now and could be a significant mobilizing factor for the Democratic partyThe Democrats hold in their hands constitutional means yet unused to check the Trump regime's ruthless attempt to impose a police state. That the Democrats thus far have failed to create this oppositional political center of gravity may be because the method has been lost to history, not wielded effectively for 113 years. Focused on the ICE outrages, however, this political instrument can be revived in the 16 states where the Democrats control the governorships and both chambers of the state legislatures, as well as introduced in states with mixed power.Before the enactment of the 17th amendment in 1913, state legislators and not the voters selected US senators and regarded them frequently as their agents. It was a common practice for legislatures to send what were called orders of instruction" urging senators and sometimes members of the House of Representatives to take a particular stand on important issues. The orders were not binding, but had significant force given the power of legislatures and political parties to decide who would hold Senate seats. These resolutions were variously called instructions, petitions and memorials.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to the Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist
Advocates call for further disclosures after Trump's justice department released more than 3m files last weekThe release of about 3m Jeffrey Epstein investigative files has failed to quell outrage over justice department officials' handling of these disclosures, with advocates claiming potentially millions of documents are still being withheld.Donald Trump's Department of Justice was required to disclose all investigative files by 19 December under The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA). While the justice department did release some documents on that date, last week's disclosure came nearly six weeks after this deadline. Continue reading...
Outcome of meeting uncertain as erratic, temperamental' presidents could be either confrontational' or amicableOne month ago, a White House meeting between Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, would have been unthinkable.The US raid on Caracas to capture the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, brought already heated relations between them to a boil, with Trump warning the leftist Colombian leader could be next", claiming Petro was a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States". Continue reading...
The last time the Seahawks and Patriots met in a Super Bowl, a dramatic interception by an undrafted rookie changed the history of both franchisesWhen the New England Patriots faced off against the Denver Broncos in this season's AFC championship, Malcolm Butler was at home in Houston. He had considered attending the game in Denver or watching on TV in a No 21 Patriots jersey, which he wore in Foxboro for four seasons through the mid-to-late 2010s, but feared he might jinx the outcome. In the end, it was just him and his nerves for company.Just as Butler was feeling somewhat at peace with that setup, and the Patriots' prospects, a bad omen intruded: His wifi glitched, delaying the broadcast as the Patriots clung on to a three-point lead in the fourth-quarter. I was lagging bad," Butler tells the Guardian. But I did get the wifi back working. And as soon as I did my phone was ringing like crazy, so I knew something was going right. It's crazy that we're back." Continue reading...
Met police assessing reports of alleged misconduct in public office after government information apparently sharedPeter Mandelson is facing a possible police investigation into his alleged leak of market-sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein at the height of the financial crisis.New disclosures from the Epstein files appear to show Mandelson sent a string of emails to the late sex offender containing confidential information that the government was receiving to deal with the global crash while he was business secretary under Gordon Brown.A confidential UK government document outlining 20bn in asset sales.Mandelson claiming he was trying hard" to change government policy on bankers' bonuses.An imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.A suggestion that the JPMorgan boss mildly threaten" the chancellor. Continue reading...
US president makes further claims of antisemitism against Ivy League school amid wider dispute with higher eduction institutionsDonald Trump has announced that his administration is seeking $1bn in damages from Harvard University, the latest step in a long-running battle with the university over allegations of antisemitism.In a Truth Social post late on Monday, Trump accused the Ivy League school of being strongly antisemitic", adding that Harvard president Alan Garber has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America itself". Continue reading...
Other countries are expected to join Project Vault, which US president said would ensure that US businesses are never harmed by any shortage'Donald Trump has announced the creation of a critical mineral reserve worth nearly $12bn, a stockpile that could counter China's ability to use its dominance of the hard-to-process metals as leverage in trade talks.Today we're launching what will be known as Project Vault to ensure that American businesses and workers are never harmed by any shortage," Trump said at the White House on Monday. Continue reading...
President threatens to sue comedian over joke about Epstein island - key US politics stories from Monday 2 February at a glanceSouth African comedian Trevor Noah told a joke as he hosted the Grammy awards on Sunday.The former Daily Show host said the song of the year award was a Grammy that every artist wants - almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein's island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton". Continue reading...
Up to 350,000 Haitians legally live and work in the US due to being granted temporary protected statusA federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from stripping temporary protected status from up to 350,000 Haitians, a status that allows them to legally live and work in the United States amid the turmoil in their homeland.Judge Ana Reyes issued a temporary stay that prevents Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, from implementing her decision to remove the status known as TPS, which was scheduled to expire on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Donald Trump hit out at Trevor Noah over a joke about the US president and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at the 2026 Grammys. 'I think he's terrible. I think he did a terrible job at the Grammys,' Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting. In a social media post, Trump earlier threatened to sue Noah
Prosecutors say other man was lured to Brendan Banfield's house as a fall guy in scheme to get rid of Banfield's wifeA Virginia man having an affair with the family's Brazilian au pair was found guilty Monday of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy.Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of 24 February 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too. Continue reading...
Couple say they love their daughter immeasurably but have a moral obligation to try to find child's biological parentsA couple is suing a Florida fertility clinic after learning that they were implanted with the wrong embryo, and are going public with their attempts to find their child's biological parents.Tiffany Score and Steven Mills have filed a lawsuit against IVF Life Inc, which operates as the Fertility Center of Orlando, and its lead physician, Dr Milton McNichol. The suit, which was initially filed under pseudonyms to protect their family's privacy, states that three viable embryos were created with Score's eggs and Mills's sperm, and an embryo was successfully implanted in April 2025. Continue reading...
Lawyers discussed possibility of Epstein's cooperation with prosecutors - and more names surfaced in new documentsA new trove of about 3m files related to the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released on Friday, offering new details about his network and interactions with wealthy and powerful figures and the federal investigations into his crimes.The release follows legislation passed in November by US lawmakers that mandated the disclosure of all Epstein-related documents. Continue reading...
Several documents and media' may have inadvertently exposed sensitive information of victims, drawing outcryThe justice department said on Monday it had taken down several thousand documents and media" that may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information since it began releasing the latest batch of documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on Friday.It blamed the release of sensitive information that drew an outcry from victims and their lawyers on mistakes that were technical or human error". Continue reading...
Ron Johnson says he does not have a problem' with key demand made by Democrats blocking agency's fundingThe homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said that all federal agents in Minneapolis will immediately begin wearing body cameras and that the program will be expanded nationwide as funding is available".The announcement on Monday comes after Republican senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin suggested, in a concession that could pave the way to an agreement on Capitol Hill to fund the much criticized agency, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could wear body cameras on immigration patrols. Continue reading...
Judge is considering a temporary order after agents used teargas on protesters during a weekend demonstrationA judge is considering temporarily restricting federal officers' ability to use of force during protests in Portland, Oregon, after agents used teargas on a crowd that included children during a protest over the weekend.Thousands of protesters gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on Saturday in what Keith Wilson, the city's mayor, described as a peaceful demonstration where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat and posed no danger" to federal agents. Continue reading...
Action could begin next week in some of state's largest districts including San Diego, San Francisco and LACalifornia is facing the prospect of massive teacher strikes across the state as conflicts over working conditions, pay and special education staffing reach a boiling point.The strikes, which could begin as soon as next week, have been approved by thousands of educators - affecting schools in some of the state's largest districts including San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Continue reading...
Lawmakers are working to create a state-level version of the act as the US high court decides on latest voting rights caseOn Martin Luther King Jr Day this year, hundreds of Mississippians gathered on the steps of the state capitol building in support of protecting voting rights in the state. The Mississippi house representative Zakiya Summers and state senator Johnny DuPree, both Democrats, introduced legislation that would create a state-level version of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The move comes after years of the supreme court weakening protections formerly guaranteed by the act, and aims to prohibit the dilution of minority voters in the state.The legislation would create a Mississippi voting rights commission, which would require certain jurisdictions to obtain pre-clearance approval from said commission for any changes to election policy or practice. It would also establish protections for people with limited English proficiency along with additional measures. Continue reading...
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