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Commissioner Gary Bettman and Panthers captain Matthew Tkachuk are on the US president's sports council. It's hardly a sign of social progressDiverse representation within inclusive environments is proven to advance innovation, creativity, and decision-making - all of which are critically important to the growth of the sport and our business," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wrote in his introduction to the NHL's first - and only, so far - diversity and inclusion report, which it released in 2022. Recognizing these facts, we are working to better understand and accelerate our engagement across all layers of diversity - including nationality, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion - and their nuances and intersections," Bettman continued.Last week, Bettman was named alongside NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, Florida Panthers' captain Matthew Tkachukx6x and various representatives of other sports as a member of Donald Trump's sports council. The council will be responsible for - among other things - playing an important role in restoring tradition to college athletics, including ... keeping men out of women's sports." Not what you'd call an opportunity for Bettman et al to gain a better understanding of the nuances of gender identity, by the sounds of it. Continue reading...

Self-help homilies seem out of place in this era of Starmer and Trump. In fact, applied to government, they can offer new solutions for global problemsIf there is one thing that has marked the first year of Keir Starmer's premiership, it is a propensity for control - whether it's managing his own party, cracking down on civil liberties and protest, or instilling fear and anxiety in marginalised groups. For a centre-left party, the authoritarian strain Starmer has shown isn't exactly in line with the change" from the Tories that was promised.Governments seek to control populations, politicians seek to control their parties: this is nothing new and has been explicitly promoted since Machiavelli's The Prince was published in 1532. When leaders understand holding power as an end in itself, and see the method as controlling those they have power over, they block themselves from being able to bring about real change, because not losing control" becomes more important than any change they seek to create. And attempting to tightly control outcomes is ill suited to an increasingly complex and unstable world.Fran Boait is a leadership coach, freelancer and writer Continue reading...

Mark Raymond Gibbon, in US on holiday, charged with attempted second-degree murder and batteryA British man has been charged by US police with the attempted murder of his daughter-in-law after allegedly trying to drown her in a swimming pool while on holiday, local authorities have said.Mark Raymond Gibbon, 62, of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, allegedly tried to drown the 33-year-old woman after they had an argument about his grandchildren in their rental home at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, Florida, on Sunday, the Polk county sheriff, Grady Judd, said on X. Continue reading...

We won't deepen our understanding of the Holocaust with vanity projects like Juergen Teller's misguided new workTo say that a picture speaks a thousand words might no longer ring true. As images proliferate at an unprecedented rate online, they risk losing their meaning, especially as AI poses a growing threat to the truth of what we see. We might ask why images of the relentless killing and devastation in Gaza, there for all to see, have not yet halted the slaughter of Palestinians.Into this situation comes Juergen Teller, enfant terrible" of 1990s fashion photography, who has produced a coffee-table book about the Nazis' concentration and extermination camp in Auschwitz. This goes some way beyond his usual remit. Teller is known for his knack for making pretty things look ugly, as a shorthand for authenticity", associated with the grunge aesthetic and so-called heroin chic", which made him the most in-demand fashion photographer of his era. Continue reading...

Ground stops were issued nationwide including at hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark and San FranciscoUnited Airlines has said a technology issue that led to the grounding of flights for a few hours and major delays across its network in the US has been resolved.While we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations," the airline said in a statement late on Wednesday. Continue reading...

President's plan expected to increase cost of electronics and household goods but US-produced chips to be exemptDonald Trump said he would impose a 100% tariff on foreign computer chips, likely raising the cost of electronics, autos, household appliances and other goods deemed essential for the digital age.We'll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors," Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge." Continue reading...

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Trump may meet Putin as early as next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, White House officials have said - key US politics stories from 6 August 2025US president Donald Trump may meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as early as next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, White House officials have said.The development comes as senior administration officials have also warned that serious impediments" remain to achieving a ceasefire. Continue reading...

In Operation Trojan Horse', masked officers in unmarked vehicle arrest 16 people, despite court order halting raidsUS border patrol agents carried out a raid outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles on Wednesday, with officers jumping out of an unmarked rental truck and chasing and arresting more than a dozen people.Videos of the operation, and federal officials' statements boasting about the detentions, have raised questions about whether the US government was complying with a federal court order halting indiscriminate raids in the region due to evidence of racial profiling. That ruling, upheld last week by an appeals court, followed reports of Latino US citizens getting swept up in LA raids and accounts of undocumented people being targeted based on their appearance and whether they spoke Spanish. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Incident raises questions of exploitation of public services, but Secret Service says it was requested for safe navigation'JD Vance's team had the army corps of engineers take the unusual step of changing the outflow of a lake in Ohio to accommodate a recent boating excursion on a family holiday, the Guardian has learned.The request from the US Secret Service was made to support safe navigation" of the US vice-president's security detail for an August outing on the Little Miami River, according to a statement by the US army corps of engineers (USACE). Continue reading...

School is first public university whose funding is targeted by White House over allegations of civil rights violationsIn a sweeping escalation of its attacks on institutions of higher education, Trump administration has suspended $584m in federal funding for the University of California, Los Angeles - nearly double the amount that was previously expected, the school's chancellor announced on Wednesday.UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action. It represents an expansion of the administration's months-long campaign targeting largely private, Ivy League colleges. Continue reading...

Seven-time grand slam winner is back on the US circuit with aim of being the best she can be despite health strugglesStill haven't seen the Rolling Stones," says Venus Williams, smiling, as she reminisced about her unforgettable professional tennis debut at the age of 14 in Oakland, California, an occasion that justified years of hype surrounding her stratospheric potential. Her first ever professional tennis match took place next door to a Rolling Stones concert. Now, 31 years later, at 45 years old, Williams is still here.Three weeks after returning to professional tennis for the first time in 16 months with a straight sets singles victory over the then world No 35 Peyton Stearns at the Citi Open in Washington, which marked her as the second-oldest woman in history to win a WTA Tour-level singles match and also silenced criticisms about her enduring presence on the tour, Williams now takes her comeback to the Cincinnati Open. Continue reading...

Lawmakers had been sheltering in Illinois after denying Texas Republicans quorum for gerrymandering schemeTexas Democrats who left the state say they experienced a bomb threat at their Illinois hotel on Wednesday morning amid an ongoing clash with Texas Republicans over their effort to block a new congressional map from going into place.John Bucy III, a Democrat who represents Austin in the state legislature, confirmed the threat on X on Wednesday and said the lawmakers had been evacuated. This is what happens when Republican state leaders publicly call for us to be hunted down'. Texas Democrats won't be intimidated," he said. Continue reading...

Parts of base were on lockdown earlier, as base says all five victims are in stable condition and expected to recoverAn active-duty soldier opened fire at Fort Stewart military base in south-east Georgia on Wednesday, wounding five other soldiers before being taken into custody.All victims are in stable condition and expected to recover. Three of the soldiers required surgery, and two were transferred to Memorial Health University medical center in Savannah, the top-level trauma center for coastal Georgia. Continue reading...

Fallout goes beyond deaths and injuries, including lung damage and deaths caused by healthcare disruptionsNew research looking at the aftermath of some of the deadliest wildfires to have struck the US in recent years has shed light on the devastating effects the disasters have on human health, with impacts that extend far beyond the official death toll and injury counts.Three studies published this week examine the long-term fallout from the Maui and Los Angeles wildfires, including depression, suicide and overdose deaths, lung damage, and deaths caused by healthcare disruptions. Continue reading...

Men's pro competition plunged into further uncertainty with Miami Sharks' withdrawal after merger and NOLA exit last weekMajor League Rugby was reduced to eight teams on Wednesday by the withdrawal of the Miami Sharks, just a week after a founding team quit the competition and two California teams merged.Miami and MLR did not immediately comment but multiple league sources confirmed that the Sharks' withdrawal after two years in the league was finalized on Tuesday.Martin Pengelly writes on Substack at The National Maul, on rugby in the US. Continue reading...

Gathering reportedly to include Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Susan Wiles to discuss strategy for dealing with scandalJD Vance will reportedly host a meeting on Wednesday evening at his residence with a handful of senior Trump administration officials to discuss their strategy for dealing with the ongoing scandal surrounding the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The vice-president's gathering, first detailed by CNN, is reportedly set to include the attorney general, Pam Bondi; the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche; the FBI director, Kash Patel; and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Continue reading...

US president cites youth crime in call to strip the capital of local rule, despite declining violence and local oppositionDonald Trump is threatening to strip Washington DC of its local governance and place the US capital under direct federal control, citing what he described as rampant youth crime following an alleged assault on a federal employee who worked for the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge).In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president said he would federalize" the city if local authorities failed to address crime, specifically calling for minors as young as 14 to be prosecuted as adults. Continue reading...

Jesse Calhoun, indicted last year after three bodies found in 2023, charged over death of Kristin Smith in November 2022A man accused of killing three women in the Portland area and dumping their bodies has been indicted on a fourth murder charge.A grand jury has indicted Jesse Calhoun in the November 2022 death of 22-year-old Kristin Smith, the Multnomah county district attorney, Nathan Vasquez, said on Tuesday. The new indictment, which comes roughly two and a half years after Smith's remains were found, adds one count each of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse to Calhoun's case. Continue reading...

Incineration of $9.7m of contraceptives to lead to 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions, IPPF saysA decision by the US government to incinerate more than $9.7m (7.3m) of contraceptives is projected to result in 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions in five African countries.More than three-quarters of the contraceptives (77%) were destined for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali, according to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), an NGO global healthcare provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive rights. Continue reading...

President repeats threat to bring in levies within next week or so' in attempt to get companies to move production to USShares in European pharmaceutical companies have sunk to a four-month low, after Donald Trump repeated his threats to introduce tariffs on drug imports within the next week or so".Europe's STOXX Healthcare index slid by 2.8% on Wednesday, falling to its lowest level since mid-April, shortly after the US president's initial liberation day" tariff announcements. Continue reading...

The Republican senator and vocal abortion foe supported Trump's baseless claims of fraud during the 2020 electionThe Republican senator Marsha Blackburn announced on Wednesday she will run for governor of Tennessee.A staunch ally of Donald Trump who represents a state he carried by nearly 30 percentage points, Blackburn would become the first female governor in Tennessee's history if she wins next year. The vocal abortion foe supported Trump's baseless claims of fraud during the 2020 election, and was considered one of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives during 16 years representing a district in middle Tennessee. Continue reading...

Report from senator Jon Ossoff's office found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since Trump's inaugurationA new report has found hundreds of reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centers.The alleged abuses uncovered include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food and water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and child separation. Continue reading...

US president has been unusually reticent about plans to punish Russia if it does not agree to end Ukraine war

Amid a year of hardships, thousands flock to Pasadena for kitty adoptions, crocheted beds and community at CatConIt's been a difficult year in southern California, with deadly wildfires, immigration raids that have that left communities in fear and thousands of soldiers deployed to Los Angeles. In downtown Pasadena over the weekend, though, the region received a badly needed dose of joy.On Saturday and Sunday, thousands of cat lovers flocked to the city for a weekend dedicated to all things feline. Inside the city convention center, there were 200 kittens waiting to be adopted and hundreds of vendors selling everything a cat lover could dream of: treats, charmingly kitschy tees, crocheted beds and medieval period-inspired portraits of regal cats. Continue reading...

In a 2019 case, John Roberts said federal courts shouldn't intervene in such matters. Trump's team is taking advantageWith Texas Republicans rushing to fulfil Donald Trump's wish to gerrymander to the max, many Americans are no doubt wondering why there isn't some referee to stop this hyperpartisan race to the bottom that is poisoning our democracy. The supreme court should be the referee that puts a halt to this ugly, undemocratic mess, but in a shortsighted, 5-4 ruling in 2019, the court's conservative majority essentially told state legislatures that anything goes when it comes to gerrymandering. Their message was: no matter how extreme the gerrymandering, we'll look the other way.Writing the majority opinion in that case, Rucho v Common Cause, chief justice John Roberts declared that gerrymandering was a political matter that federal courts shouldn't intervene in (unless it involves racial discrimination). Many legal experts said the conservative justices were defaulting on the court's responsibility to prevent absurdly unfair, undemocratic elections, where the fix is in even before people vote. In a prescient dissent, justice Elena Kagan warned that the huge permission slip the court was giving to gerrymandering would encourage a politics of polarization and dysfunction" and might irreparably damage our system of government".Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues Continue reading...

Tween jewellery retailer is hit by a slowdown in consumer spending and the switch to online shoppingThe tween jewellery and ear-piercing retailer Claire's has declared bankruptcy in the US for the second time in seven years amid a slowdown in consumer spending and the switch to online shopping.The US accessories retailer, which has more than 2,700 stores in 17 countries including the UK and France, said in papers filed with a court in Delaware that it had debts of between $1bn and $10bn. Continue reading...

In the second of a three-part special report, the remarkable' number of deaths of people in custody at the Cibola correctional center

We would like to hear from new and returning students on how they are approaching the new academic yearHarvard University is in court against the Trump administration, fighting federal attempts to end international student enrolment at the university and challenging the federal freeze on research funds.In May, international students at Harvard were ordered to transfer schools or lose their legal status. While that order was swiftly blocked by a judge, it is one of a series of events creating uncertainty on campuses across the US. Continue reading...

As a child, an activist, and secretary of labor, I've seen the harm bullies cause. Yet I can see what led to Trump's riseI was born on 24 June 1946, 10 days after the birth of Donald John Trump, 12 days before the birth of George Walker Bush, and 56 days before the birth of William Jefferson Blythe III, whose name was later changed to Bill Clinton.I did not become president. but among my earliest memories is my grandmother, Minnie Reich, telling me that I would become president. I think she was trying to reassure herself that despite my being a runt, fully a head shorter than other little boys, I'd make her proud. Continue reading...

The Guardian joins a Jordanian military airdrop for a rare chance to observe a landscape devastated by Israel's offensive. Plus, travels in Trump's Florida

Decades after its passage, the revolutionary law continues to face threats and attempts to pervert its purposeFacing images of violent white mobs defending racial segregation, the condemnation of the world and of its own citizens, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, a law meant to end the hypocrisy of a democratic country that denied Black people the power of their vote.Sixty years later, race remains at the center of American politics. Cases before the US supreme court, and a platoon of Texas legislators fleeing the state to prevent redistricting, demonstrate how the Voting Rights Act - and its erosion - remains on the frontline of the political battlefield. Continue reading...

Fall in operating profits also due to losses on electric car sales in US but drop is less than manufacturer estimated

The 1965 law, a rare and profound act of consensus, has been hollowed out. We cannot forget the power Dr King saw in the right to voteIn a moment when we should be celebrating one of the most important pieces of legislation in American history, we are in fact at a worse place as a nation than when it was passed. Those of us fighting to protect the right to vote find ourselves against a movement that doesn't want to take us back to 1965. They want to create an America that more closely resembles the one of 1865.Sixty years ago, in a rare and profound act of consensus, Congress passed a law to end the centuries-old rigging of American democracy. Yet today the system is as rigged as ever, with the battered Voting Rights Act on life support.Rev Al Sharpton is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and radio talkshow host Continue reading...

MLS and Liga MX's joint venture that Lionel Messi helped propel seems to have stalled out, despite fixed issuesIt feels like a fever dream, at this point.In the summer of 2023, Lionel Messi positioned himself over a free kick wearing the pink-and-white colors of Major League Soccer's Inter Miami. Messi's move to the United States had been long-rumored but often dismissed as wild speculation. The league was still a backwater compared to many in Europe and its clubs simply didn't have the financial muscle of others vying for the Argentine's services. Continue reading...

Company, which has reported 37% drop in profits, says switch would not present value for shareholdersThe FTSE 100 miner Glencore has decided to retain its stock market listing in London, rejecting calls for it to move to the US in a boost for the London Stock Exchange.The Swiss-headquartered company said that shifting its listing away to a rival bourse such as New York would not present value for its shareholders, after carrying out a formal review of its options. Continue reading...

Initially, we did not know that Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq had cerebral palsy. But his medical details do not diminish his suffering, or that of other children in GazaBetween April and mid-July this year, more than 20,000 children in Gaza were admitted to hospital for treatment for acute malnutrition, 3,000 of whom were severely malnourished, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative whose members include UN agencies such as the World Health Organization, World Food Programme and Unicef, as well as NGOs and research institutes.Over this period, and in the weeks since, the Guardian has published many images of hungry children, among them at least 20 shown in an emaciated condition. (It does so working to an editorial code that gives special protection to children, publishing on matters that may intrude into their welfare only when there is a strong public interest to do so.) But one photograph, which appeared on the homepage of the website on 23 July and on the front of the print edition the next day, prompted fierce controversy.Elisabeth Ribbans is the Guardian's global readers' editor

Nearly 50 years ago, my son and his wife were tortured and killed and their baby was taken by the military regime. Two decades later, I found her - but hundreds of grandchildren are still missingArgentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship tortured, killed and disappeared" an estimated 30,000 people - political opponents, students, artists, union leaders: anyone it deemed a threat. Hundreds of babies were also taken, either imprisoned with their parents, or given to military families. The Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo have fought for almost 50 years to find these grandchildren. Buscarita Roa is one of two surviving active members.As Argentina's military sank its claws into our country, our young people, the ones with ideas, started disappearing. They were taken from the streets, from their homes, from work. Continue reading...

With its woeful trade deal, Europe prostrated itself before the president. We need a leader who will tell him where to shove itWho remembers the spate of introduction videos" that emerged during the first Trump administration - a series of tongue-in-cheek clips about European countries to introduce them to Donald Trump? The viral video trend was sparked by the Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach, who ended his segment on the Netherlands with: We totally understand it's going to be America first, but can we just say the Netherlands second?" It seems that Europe's leaders remember the videos all too well; that they internalised the caustic message a little bit too much.Afraid of rocking the boat during its trade negotiations with Trump, the EU decided to pre-emptively sink itself. Instead of strategic autonomy, it will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on American weapons; in place of future climate goals, it will pour hundreds of billions into US natural gas; instead of a mutual tariff reduction, it will take a huge unilateral hit to EU exporters; instead of self-respect, humiliating prostration.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Is the US in a new gilded age of inequality? On a 400-mile journey from a triumphant conservative youth summit to a hastily constructed immigration detention centre, the answer became clearer ...

Governor files emergency petition with state supreme court to remove representative Gene Wu from office

The Gifford fire has spread through Los Padres forest, prompting evacuations and injuring at least three peopleA huge wildfire tearing through California's Los Padres national forest is threatening hundreds of homes and structures, after injuring at least three people in the days before.The Gifford fire has already scorched nearly 84,000 acres (34,000 hectares) in coastal Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, north of Los Angeles, and was still burning out of control on Tuesday evening, according to fire officials. It is 9% contained. Continue reading...

Midwest state, like Florida, has partnered with Ice and will add more beds at its Miami correctional facilityUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) is expanding its detention capacity by 1,000 beds in Indiana through a partnership with the midwest state's prison system, federal officials announced on Tuesday.Ice will be housing detainees at the Miami correctional center, a prison run by the Indiana department of corrections. The move is part of the US government's rapid expansion of immigration jails after Donald Trump's sweeping spending bill allotted roughly $170bn to Ice, an extraordinary sum making the agency the most heavily funded law enforcement department within the federal government. Continue reading...

Texas senator asks FBI to aid law enforcement in locating and arresting Democrats who left the state to forestall redistricting vote. Key US politics stories from Tuesday 5 August 2025A day after Texas Democrat lawmakers fled the state in an effort to halt Republican efforts to redraw their congressional map, Donald Trump said that his party was entitled to the five more seats they could pick up if the updated maps pass through the state's congress.We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats," Trump said. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats." Continue reading...