Trump's health secretary says AI used to identify potential fraud in Democratic-run statesThe Trump administration has paused more than $1bn in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, citing suspected fraud and noncompliance" - withholding of funding that follows a $243m pause in Medicaid payments to Minnesota earlier this year.If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate," said Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said at a press conference on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Fifa's gargantuan revenue influx from the tournament, with little left over for locals, will beget more exploitationYou do not, under any circumstance, have to hand it to Fifa.You do, however, have to acknowledge that the 2026 World Cup was successful in all of the ways it was intended to be successful. The soccer was interesting and competitive and dramatic, albeit mostly not great - not that this really a necessary ingredient for a compelling sporting product. People came and watched in overwhelming numbers. There was fun and folklore; underdog surprises; heroic storylines that might have been hackneyed had they been works of fiction. The whole thing made vast sums of money for its organizer. More money, by an order of billions, than even Fifa itself had projected, per the Guardian's reporting. Continue reading...
Once Republicans' favourite punchline, Joe Biden's son is now building an online following by trolling JD Vance, taunting Trump and embracing the absurdity of US politicsWhat sort of longshot candidate do we reckon is going to run for US president in 2028? The Rock? Kim Kardashian? Kermit the Frog? US politics has become so debased that being rich, famous and a natural-born citizen (sorry, Zohran Mamdani) now seem to be the only qualifications required for a job in the White House.Which is why you shouldn't entirely write off murmurings that Hunter Biden might be interested in following in his daddy's presidential footsteps. When asked by a Fox News reporter about Hunter's 2028 odds last month, Donald Trump suggested Joe Biden's prodigal son might do well". If other basket case[s]" in the Democratic party could do well, Trump added, then Hunter probably had a shot. Various analysts appear to agree. Could Hunter Biden run for office? Don't rule it out," a recent Times headline blared. The article quotes a Biden biographer saying: With a character like Hunter Biden in a populist, social media-driven political environment, you have to never say never." Continue reading...
Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton died during controlled detonation, bringing total of US personnel killed in war to 17The US military has identified an army soldier killed recently during a controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone in Iraq as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, of Fayetteville, North Carolina.According to a press release from the US defense department on Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old Swinton was supporting overseas contingency operations in Iraq - and he was killed in action during a controlled detonation of a downed One-Way Unmanned Aerial System" on Saturday at Erbil airbase in northern Iraq. Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsMore on the cost of living: new figures show that UK grocery inflation eased in the four weeks to 12th July to 2.6%, its lowest rate since December 2024.It marks the fifth consecutive month of slowing price rises, Worldpanel by Numerator found.Easing price rises will come as welcome news to shoppers, but the annual bill tells a fuller story. The average household spent 5,530 on groceries over the past twelve months to July, up 156 on the same period last year - a reminder that even as the rate of inflation cools, the cumulative cost of the weekly shop keeps climbing.L&VW agrees that there is an opportunity to enhance the way local government, regulators and Thames Water work together, granting greater public controls on critical business issues to improve delivery of complex, essential infrastructure projects, and demonstrate shared accountability.The consortium is willing to make significant new commitments to grant greater controls and oversight to ministers, implemented through a golden share'. Continue reading...
As the Latino population of North Carolina booms, opportunities abound - and Donal Gooch is capitalizing on changing nature of his home regionDonal Gooch is not pleased about the trash on his arena floor.Shit, it's pitiful," he says. Continue reading...
by Kat Lay, Global health correspondent on (#774NP)
The President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief has saved 26m lives globally, but slashing of funds and dismantling of USAID have forced clinics to shut in dozens of countriesNo part of the United States' anti-HIV programme has escaped unscathed from Donald Trump's funding cuts, despite pledges from the administration to protect care that saved lives around the world, a new report has found.Funding cuts to the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) have caused severe and devastating" disruption globally, with thousands of staff laid off and many clinics closed, according to research being presented next week at the 26th International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It warns that changes in US policy risk reversing progress in the fight against HIV/Aids. Continue reading...
US health officials say source of Upper East Side cluster has probably been eliminated after 76 people fell illAn outbreak of legionnaires' disease in New York City has claimed a fourth life, officials have said, as they again expressed confidence the source of the exposure had been eliminated.A statement from the city's health department on Monday said the outbreak, which was traced to cooling towers in buildings in Manhattan's Upper East Side, had sickened 76 people - with 53 discharged after hospital treatment, and 12 others managing their recovery at home. Continue reading...
The World Cup left us with some surprising heroes. Kudos to pop's leader of the bland and his very public rebuke to hatred and divisionLong before the United States turned the World Cup final into an orgy of pop music and advertising, the signs were already there that this year's co-hosts should never have been allowed within a thousand miles of the tournament. The garish half-time show curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay seemed to reinforce that - but then came a moment of improbable genius.I was surprised. The last time America hosted, the problem wasn't commercial overkill so much as sheer shrugging apathy. I was in New York during USA '94. Apart from a few flapping banners outside the Nike store, you wouldn't have known one of the world's biggest sporting events was taking place. This, in hindsight, was a blessing. Football was allowed to football.Simon Price is a music journalist and author Continue reading...
Salah Sarsour, president of Wisconsin's largest mosque, said dehumanizing' treatment reminded him of time spent in Israeli military jailThe president of Wisconsin's largest mosque said he was subjected to dehumanizing" treatment during more than 80 days in federal immigration custody - treatment that reminded him of the time he spent in Israeli military prisons in occupied Palestine nearly four decades ago.It all brought back old memories of things that happened to me when I was tried in Palestine," said Salah Sarsour in his first interview since being released last month. The humiliation, the treatment by guards, the way they talk to people, the way they try to put people down." He said he lost more than 30lb while in immigration detention. Continue reading...
The city rallied behind Tamboli's despite online boycott calls, as frustration grows over the Trump administration's federal taskforce following multiple deathsYou can measure the disconnect between angry Internet commentariat and real life Memphis residents by the length of the wait for a table at Tamboli's Pasta & Pizza.In early July, Miles Tamboli, the owner of the midtown pizza spot, made a decision: he would not serve the national guard deployed to the city by the Trump administration, which the US president claimed would reduce the city's crime rate. Tamboli's video announcement came days after troops killed two city residents, bringing the total to four since the initiative started in September. Continue reading...
Officials sought identity of sources long before' reporters wrote about the president's Air Force One jet from QatarDonald Trump's administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, according to a motion unsealed Monday - an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters who wrote about the president's Air Force One jet from Qatar.The Trump administration's push to compel the identity of sources in the form of additional subpoenas comes at a time when the executive branch's relationship with the press is increasingly contentious. The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times over the weekend, were more expansive than previously known, the newspaper noted - and also covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question. Continue reading...
Yotam Moram, who helped lead Occupy Wall Street, discusses why power must be built through movements, not simply through elected officialsYotam Marom knows why the Occupy Wall Street movement fell apart 15 years ago. The New York-based organizer and author was a key participant in the nationwide constellation of encampments and rolling protests that brought tens of thousands of people into its fold. But the movement could not withstand police raids, evictions, a bitter winter and, as Marom sees it, an internal politics of powerlessness", which mistook a healthy distrust of institutional power for a failure to build a strong, coherent strategy for political change. Occupy splintered within a few short months and never seriously revived.As he recounts in his new book, For Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of Powerlessness, Marom has again and again seen similar dynamics weigh down social movements in his work as an organizer and facilitator. He founded the Wildfire Project, a training organization for grassroots groups, and has worked with organizations including the Sunrise Movement agitating against climate decimation, the abolitionist Dream Defenders fighting for racial justice, the Uncommitted movement to end Democratic party support for Israel's war crimes, tenants unions battling landlords, and more. Continue reading...
Democrats call for end to war's resumption amid widespread anxiety over casualties. Plus: Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddingham on finding stardom in her 50s Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning. Democrats have seized on the killing of three US troops in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to reverse his resumption of the war with Iran. Amid widespread anxiety over rising numbers of casualties, Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, accused the president of having frighteningly lost control of this war".Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after Trump last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June.How has Iran responded to continued US strikes? Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they had targeted US military sites, including air defence systems and a radar installation in Bahrain and Kuwait, while the crew of a tanker in the strait of Hormuz reported being struck by an unknown projectile. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan said they had activated defences to repel the attacks.How many people have been killed and injured in the war so far? The latest casualties brought the number of US service members killed since the start of the war on 28 February to at least 17. More than 1,700 Iranian civilians are estimated to have been killed. Nearly 100 US service members have been injured over the last two weeks of escalating strikes.What is happening with Lindsey Graham's Senate seat? Darline Graham, the South Carolina interim senator and sister of the late Lindsey Graham, said she plans to run for a full Senate term after Trump endorsed her last week. In an interview with Sean Hannity, Graham - who was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to finish the remainder of her brother's term - said she had made a decision. I'm in".Why are their fresh concerns about AI chatbots and elections? A European study, published by the civil liberties group Liberties and based on research during this year's Hungarian parliamentary elections, has concluded that AI chatbots provide inaccurate, inconsistent and unreliable guidance to voters asking which party they should back. Continue reading...
My generation is struggling to find safety in our human relationships. AI companionship is filling the gapThere are parts of myself I only share with my AI," Jerome told me. Your AI?" I asked.He was 27, three months out of a breakup, and entirely aware that his AI relationship was, as the psychotherapist Esther Perel put it, a business product". Still, he confided in it more than he ever had his friends. I mention Jermoe because, in the four years I've been reporting on gen Z, I have watched my peers become him, one by one. We are the first generation of digital natives and the last generation to have experienced human-to-human intimacy exclusively. Now the attention economy's younger sister, the intimacy economy, has monetized the connection and affection that make us feel human. Continue reading...
The midsummer party in Vegas is a showcase for the next wave of NBA talent. Our correspondent in the desert empties her notebookThe hype heading into this year's draft was tremendous, and through the small sample size of 10 or so days in the Las Vegas summer heat, this year's class has lived up to its billing. Continue reading...
Christopher Popps, 54, arrested in Michigan on second-degree murder charge in death of Patrick DearthA Michigan man suspected of having murdered a co-worker in Alaska in 1993 was arrested recently after he called in what he intended to be an anonymous tip revealing where had hidden the victim's long missing body, according to investigators.Christopher Popps, 54, faces charges of second-degree murder in the death of Patrick Dearth, Alaska state police said in a statement detailing the latest developments in a case that had remained unsolved for more than three decades. Continue reading...
Prosecutors seeking to try musician, born David Anthony Burke, for murder over death of Celeste Rivas HernandezSinger-songwriter D4vd is set to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday as prosecutors aim to prove sufficient evidence exists for him to stand trial for the murder and sexual abuse of a minor, Celeste Rivas Hernandez.The preliminary hearing is expected to conclude on Thursday. The proceeding follows several delays in the case, in part due to the voluminous amount of investigatory evidence. Continue reading...
Turmoil likely as Trump officials say Canada unfairly discriminated against US autos, alcohol and dairy productsDonald Trump is imposing 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods in response to the country retaliating against previous US tariffs, the White House announced Monday, declaring Canada has unfairly discriminated against American cars, alcohol and dairy products.The tariffs will hit a wide range of products, the White House said, including wine, hockey sticks and cement. They also include goods previously protected from import taxes under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement. Continue reading...
Bertha could bring heavy rain on US Gulf coast, with its center located 110 miles south of Panama City, FloridaTropical Storm Bertha formed Monday evening in the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle as it drifts erratically toward populated coastal areas, bringing a threat of heavy rain, storm surge and damaging wind gusts.Meanwhile, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto formed far from Mexico's Baja California peninsula and posed no threat to land Monday night. Continue reading...
United staffer told customer you don't act like at a citizen' during incident over wait time at San Francisco airportUnited Airlines is looking into" a viral video showing a United Airlines employee threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Mexican American man at San Francisco international Airport last week.The scene erupted after Julio Varela of San Ramon grew upset at United Airlines staff for taking a long time to correct an error his family made when entering his daughter's name to buy a ticket for flight to Canada, according to NBC News. Continue reading...
Rescue crews find two women, pronounced dead at hospital, and the bodies of three men after motorist calls 911Five people have died in a river in Ohio after several of them went into the water to help another person who was struggling to swim, authorities said Monday.A motorist called 911 after spotting a frightened child who had been with the group and was running on a nearby road, Delaware county sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said at a news conference on Monday. Continue reading...
President accused of having lost control of this war' as deaths of trio in Iranian military strikes fuel rising concernDemocrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties.Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after he last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June. Continue reading...
The Guardian has reviewed figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since Trump's inaugurationDonald Trump campaigned on a platform of mass deportation. Since he took office, his administration has reshaped immigration enforcement across the country. The Guardian, using data published every two weeks by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is tracking the number of people the administration has arrested, detained and deported. Continue reading...
Interim senator appointed after Lindsey Graham's death endorsed by Trump for the Good of our Nation'Darline Graham, the South Carolina interim senator and sister of the late Lindsey Graham, said she plans to run for a full Senate term after Donald Trump endorsed her last week.In an interview with Sean Hannity that will air in full on Monday, Graham - who was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to finish the remainder of her brother's term - said she had made a decision". Continue reading...
Israeli prime minister is subject of an arrest warrant issued by international criminal court over alleged war crimes in GazaDonald Trump has said Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will not be arrested" if he visits the US.His comments came days after Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, said he was exploring whether his administration could arrest Netanyahu if he visits the city during the UN general assembly in September. Continue reading...
A team of firefighters saved the pup from the water in a mission that utilized boats, trucks and a droneFirefighters rescued a small dog that had been missing for weeks after finding it swimming into the San Francisco Bay.The dog had gone missing over the Fourth of July weekend, according to the Menlo Park fire protection district. But someone called 911 on 16 July to say they had seen a dog enter the bay near the Dumbarton Bridge in East Palo Alto. Continue reading...
Troy Jackson is likely to be Democratic nominee after Platner ended Senate bid amid sexual assault allegationsTroy Jackson - a logger, longtime legislator and former president of the Maine senate - is now poised to become the Democratic nominee in Maine's US Senate race. His rise comes after the party's previous nominee, Graham Platner, abruptly ended his campaign earlier this month following allegations of sexual assault from a former partner.Platner's withdrawal set off a frantic scramble inside the Maine Democratic party. Several contenders filed paperwork to be considered at a 25 July special convention of 601 delegates tasked with selecting a new nominee. But over the weekend, Jackson's serious challengers dropped out one after another, clearing a swift and unobstructed path for him. Jackson, who lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary earlier this year, is now the presumptive choice. Continue reading...
HHS failed to respond to Foia request following claims of fraud against Somali childcare providers and DemocratsCivil rights groups have sued the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after the agency failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the Trump administration's restrictions on federal childcare and family assistance following claims of fraud against Somali childcare providers and Democratic state officials.The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, the ACLU of Colorado, the National Women's Law Center and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, are seeking correspondence between federal officials and far right social media influencer Nick Shirley. Continue reading...
Petulant reaction to a justified two-stroke penalty at the Open illustrates why the American is happier on the LIV tourThe potential for stigma was laid bare close to the conclusion of Saturday at the Open Championship. Bryson, ya cheat," a lone voice bellowed from the stand adjacent to Royal Birkdale's 18th green. This is an environment in which being unfaithful to one's spouse would be seen as preferable to breaching the sacred rules of a sacred game.By Sunday the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, was riding to the defence of Bryson DeChambeau. I've known him for a long time and he's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater," Scheffler said. Except in this case, nuance is required. No one in authority has actually accused DeChambeau of cheating for the incident which incurred a two-stroke penalty. The R&A's executive director of governance stipulated that DeChambeau's action when breaching the rules during round two was accidental". Continue reading...
US president says $400m plane will be maxed out' with appropriate protections but doesn't give further detailsDonald Trump acknowledged on Sunday that the Boeing jet given to him by Qatar cannot match the defensive armor of a true presidential aircraft, telling reporters it will soon be grounded and maxed out" with the protections it was never built with.The admission came as Trump touched down in Washington on the jet, fresh off a trip to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he handed the World Cup trophy to Spain alongside Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, after the tournament's climactic final. Continue reading...
Experts warn election denialism could bubble up again in November, despite truce in bitter power struggleNearly six years later, Donald Trump remains fixated on his 2020 election defeat.That year, Republican officials in Maricopa county - Arizona's largest county and one of the most competitive election battlegrounds in the country - resisted Trump's efforts to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the state, enduring threats, harassment and enormous pressure from the defeated president. Continue reading...
As Todd Blanche, Erica Schwartz and Jay Clayton face the Senate, a fundamental disconnect becomes clearThere's been a lot of discussion in America this week about the meaning of integrity.You didn't hear the word used directly; it was alluded to indirectly - in wondering whether Lindsey Graham was an immoral opportunist or clever pragmatist; in suspecting Todd Blanche of being more loyal to Trump than to the nation; in distrusting Erica Schwartz, Trump's latest pick to lead the CDC, when she said she'll never compromise on the science; in doubting Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, will tell Trump anything he doesn't want to hear.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK Continue reading...
by Patrick Sisson with photographs by Thalia Juarez on (#773RP)
More than 3,000 solar panels power Jack's Solar Garden, cool the land and help it turn a profitThe Guardian receives support for visual climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. The Guardian's coverage is editorially independent Continue reading...
A tourist's death has boosted animal advocates' drive to end a trade supporters say provides jobs and treats horses wellNew York city's council chamber was packed, the debate wide-ranging and heated, but lacked one component - a talking horse. Many of the 200 people packed into the debating hall last week felt only they could speak for the interests of the equine species.In one passionate camp, stable hands and drivers who attend to 160 horses that draw 68 carriages in the park, a business, they say, that has been operating since Central Park was created in 1858. On the other, a vigorous gathering of animal rights advocates who voiced that the carriage horse industry was a representation of man's broad subjugation of animals. Continue reading...
OMB proposal would upend entire grant-making system - and put vast sums into hands of political appointeesIt was a late Friday afternoon in Boston when Harvard School of Public Health professor Nancy Krieger, a social epidemiologist, received an email that would reshape the next year of her life.It was from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - her nearly $1m grant to study how discrimination affects population health was canceled. Continue reading...
Jake Johnson grew up relying on government assistance. Now he's running for Tim Waltz's old seat in CongressHigh school math teacher Jake Johnson easily recalls the role government assistance played for his family in Stewartville, Minnesota, when he was growing up.His father was a garbage collector and his mother read meters for the local gas company. They relied on food stamps for groceries and Medicaid for healthcare. When it was time for Johnson to go to college, Pell grants and Stafford loans helped him pay the bill. Continue reading...
More than 100 Democratic lawmakers voted against arms for Israel. They're listening to the people - their bosses are behindThe Democratic party is in dire need of a mutiny.Top leaders at the party's helm are unprepared to navigate the political sea change about Israel. Last week, nearly half of House Democrats voted to block $3.3bn in weaponry and other aid to that country. A recent New York Times poll found that 74% of Democratic voters opposed providing additional economic and military support to Israel, including large majorities in all age groups".Norman Solomon is the director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book is The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy Continue reading...
Sergio Furnari said he thought the lifesize sculpture - which no one commissioned - would raise millions' of dollarsA New York sculptor has been left furious after spending $100,000 of his own money to build a lifesize statue of Charlie Kirk, only to find that no one wants to buy it.Sergio Furnari, originally from Italy, had hoped the statue of the deceased far-right activist, which he intends to display in Times Square, would raise millions" of dollars. Instead, he said he has been inundated by messages from people saying they intend to urinate on the sculpture. Continue reading...
Senator says Trump revisiting failed run against Biden distracts from important things' such as Iran warRather than continue fixating on the 2020 election defeat that ended his first presidency, Donald Trump could instead do something positive", including resolving the US war in Iran, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman said in an interview on Sunday.I don't know why the president is dragging up all this stuff," Fetterman remarked on CNN's State of the Union, three days after Trump dedicated a televised, primetime address to claims about Chinese meddling in the 2020 White House race that he lost to Joe Biden. You're the president. Do something positive - and you are talking about 2020; that's been settled over six years ago. Continue reading...
Ferran Torres' extra-time goal gave Spain a deserved victory over a negative Argentina in New JerseyYou can also follow the build up on our news blog, which contains photographtic proof that things are livening up in NYCOne of the big questions for those of us in the UK is how to watch the final," writes David Wall. For all that has been made about ITV's coverage with their New York studio and one of two excellent pundits, I think their coverage has been less than the sum of its parts, as usual. They've not had people other than the commentators in the stadiums so all that studio showed was that it was quite windy in New York sometimes. Continue reading...
Our photographer has been at Royal Birkdale for the Open. Here are some of his best shots as Ryan Fox claimed his first major with a birdie at the final hole Continue reading...
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