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Opponents fear Elon Musk firm's plan to develop 18-mile strip of Pecan Island will badly damage fragile ecosystemPlans by Elon Musk's SpaceX to build a vast rocket launch site on a stretch of Louisiana's rapidly eroding coastline have stirred a backlash among some local opponents who fear it will badly damage the area's fragile ecosystem.A deal for SpaceX to take control of 130,000 acres of coastal Vermilion parish is reported to be close to being finalized, allowing the company to escalate its number of launches, including of its new Starship mega rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to deploy artificial intelligence datacenters in space, and while some experts have doubts about this, it has submitted regulatory filings to build a constellation of up to a million of them. Continue reading...

The challenger to Netanyahu is more of the same. His record makes that abundantly clearWestern media outlets cannot seem to get enough of Gadi Eisenkot.Israel's former military chief and the leader of the newly formed Yashar party has been embraced by the international press as he and his party take the lead in the polls in the run-up to October's elections.Mehdi Hasan is Guardian US columnist and the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo. Continue reading...

The practice of openly proclaiming to the world what you can't afford can lead to lower fees, reduced prices and better dealsAsk any small business owner what has challenged them the most over the past couple of years and you'll frequently hear about cashflow. It's no secret that costs have risen dramatically and finding places to save money isn't easy.If this describes your situation then I've got a solution to your problem. Ever hear of loud budgeting"? Of course you have! You've probably been doing it for years. Continue reading...

Hong, whose grassroots campaign has made her a frontrunner, aims for primary win after public skepticism from top Democrats and a last-minute shake-upAs Francesca Hong surged ahead in the final weeks of the chaotic Democratic primary to be Wisconsin's next governor, the democratic socialist has become the internet's main character.Donald Trump has mocked her old tweets, while major figures in her own party publicly questioned her ability to win a general election. The man she is vying to succeed even launched a late blitz in support of one of her rivals. Continue reading...

State confirms nine cases, including five deaths, from Vibrio vulnificus organism, which thrives in seawaterHealth officials in Louisiana are urging beachgoers to take precautions during a summertime surge in infections from a flesh-eating bacterium found in coastal waters.Louisiana has confirmed nine cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections this year, the state's health department said last week in a news release. All were hospitalized, and five died. During the same period over the previous decade, Louisiana reported an average of seven cases and one death. Continue reading...

Small skiff ran out of fuel off Alaska and was helped by cruise ship even though Meta CEO's vessel was closer

Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same.He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s. After a Reddit post he made about his discovery picked up traction, he started looking at other types of consumer goods - cookware, shoes, tools, clothing. Continue reading...

Israeli PM is insisting on a full Hamas disarmament before the deal can be implemented. Plus, what it feels like to get locked into an opera performance that lasts nearly 24 hours

Gabar Choli tells of how, for months, he was shackled, pinned and forcibly fed - and the physical and emotional scars the ordeal has leftIn June 2025, a sluggish and thin Gabar Choli, with sunken temples and bones visible under his skin, braced himself for the immigration detention center guards to charge into his cell once again.Choli was in a solitary confinement medical cell inside the Port Isabel service processing center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in south Texas where immigrants arrested in Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown are detained. Continue reading...

DoJ to give $300m for enforcement surges in four cities, as long as they abandon progressive ideologies on policingThe Trump administration is offering grants of tens of millions of dollars to cities across the US to create more Memphis-style enforcement surges - on the condition that they abandon progressive ideologies on policing.The US Department of Justice says it will announce up to four finalist cities which will split $300m in grant funding under a federal Model Cities" policing initiative (MCI) next month, setting the stage for some of the largest federal policing grants ever awarded to individual US cities. Continue reading...

It's easy to second-guess decisions made during the pandemic. That doesn't justify the Republicans' politicized responseLike the rest of us, Anthony Fauci is far from perfect. His influential guidance, as the country's top infectious-disease specialist during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, certainly didn't get everything right.A great deal about the deadly disease - where it came from, how it spread, how best to protect the public - was unknown, or was being learned midstream, during a crisis. Continue reading...

There are profound rewards of handwritten correspondence in our digital ageI sent my first postcard, as a six-year old, to Olympian Mary Lou Retton, who returned an autographed black and white photo of herself in a wide smile and chic haircut. GOOD LUCK USA 84" it said.There followed four relatively fallow decades for me as a postcard sender or receiver until last year, when I became enchanted by the infinite possibilities available in four by six inches. Continue reading...

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull tells a public inquiry that the Aukus deal with the US and UK will probably result in no submarines at all for Australia. He says the US's capacity for building submarines has remained stubbornly laggard, and that it is prevented by its own legislation from selling any submarines to Australia if that would 'degrade' its own fleet. It currently needs to nearly double its submarine production rate, from 1.2 to 2.3 a year Continue reading...

Americans want someone on their side in the fight against vested interests - that means politicians like the Michigan primary winner and Zohran MamdaniAbdul El-Sayed's win in the Michigan Senate primary was a historic breakthrough. Not only because he is a Muslim son of immigrants who broke with almost every single tenet of establishment Democratic party politics. But because he has wiped that complacent sneer at progressive wins off the faces of centrist gatekeepers. Zohran Mamdani? Relax, he's just a mayor. And it's New York City. Outside urban and liberal corridors, there is nothing to worry about. Now El-Sayed has won the Democratic party's nomination in a swing state that is also on the list of presidential nomination states.There is a lot to be excited about. Not only within the US, but for observers abroad hopeful for the emergence of a truly revolutionary left that is able to weather powerful and well-funded adversaries and prevail. The money raised to defeat El-Sayed was staggering. He was outspent by more than nine to one. It was the most expensive Democratic congressional primary ever. A roll call of cartoon bad guys, such as Chevron and Philip Morris, funded his opponent, Haley Stevens, to the tune of over $60m. Of that funding, nearly half came from a Super Pac backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). Continue reading...

Scharf, who helped president win approval for $400m ballroom, to replace David Warrington on 1 SeptemberDonald Trump announced on Sunday that Will Scharf, the staff secretary who helped secure approval for the $400m White House ballroom project, will become White House counsel and assistant to the president.Effective 1 September, Scharf will replace David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Warrington formerly served as a personal counsel and a lawyer for Trump's 2024 campaign. Continue reading...

US congresswoman to share journey online as she criticizes Trump administration's attacks on reproductive careAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life," Ocasio-Cortez said. Continue reading...

Small cruise ship rescued skiff in south-east Alaska even though Meta billionaire's $300m megayacht was closerMark Zuckerberg has faced questions over why a small cruise ship in south-east Alaska rescued a stranded skiff and its crew when his 387ft superyacht had been closer.The Silicon Valley billionaire's yacht, worth a reported $300m, is said to have repeatedly" declined to assist when a nearby boat called for help last week. Continue reading...

Levels at reservoir along Arizona-Nevada border dipped below previous record set in 2022, amid water crisis in westLake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, the latest sign of a deepening water crisis in the American west.Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4ft (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to federal data. That's just below the record set on 28 July 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation. Continue reading...

Michigan nominee, who spoke to Obama after primary win, vows to fight inequality as president makes billions off you'Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, embraced Donald Trump's suggestion that the two represent VERY DIFFERENT" versions of the US, pledging to fight inequality while the president is making billions of dollars off of you".In a Saturday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself and the first lady, Melania Trump, beside a photo of El-Sayed, who is Muslim, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab. Two VERY DIFFERENT America's [sic]," read the caption. Continue reading...

Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during Covid are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communitiesMiquette Thompson's home in rural Mendocino county has been covered in smoke all week. There are the nearby Feliz and Woodside fires in northern California, which have burned more than 1,000 acres, as well as the wildfires devastating Oregon and Washington that are sending smoke their way, too.It's become not unusual," she said of walking outside and seeing a hazy sky. Continue reading...

Manuel Hernandez charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment after boat overturned in New York harborThe captain of a boat that capsized in the New York harbor on Saturday evening has been charged following the deaths of a 27-year-old woman and her five-month-old daughter.Manuel Hernandez, 46, was arrested and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment in the early hours of Sunday morning, a New York police department spokesperson told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Rage-baiting efforts of Trump accounts silenced after posts such as a video linking her Red album to RepublicansSome of Taylor Swift's songs have been removed from videos posted on social media by Donald Trump's campaign and the White House, silencing efforts to mock the pop star.A video posted 3 August featuring the US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, watching fireworks was posted this month on TikTok with Swift's song August. Continue reading...

Case, who has represented island state's first district in US Congress since 2019, beat state senator Jarrett KeohokaloleThe moderate Democratic representative Ed Case has seen off a progressive challenge to retain his party's nomination for the US House of Representatives election in Hawaii's first congressional district.Case, who has represented the district in Washington DC since 2019, prevailed in Saturday's primary over Jarrett Keohokalole, the state senator. Continue reading...

Jurors hear from host of medical experts as defence says postpartum psychosis caused young mother to kill childrenIt's been called America's saddest murder trial" and last week jurors in the Lindsay Clancy case listened to mental health professionals, counsellors, psychiatrists, and medication experts explain the circumstances in which the young mother killed her three children.It has been a spectacle that has gripped America, not least because Clancy's legal defense has been supported by her now divorced husband.In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978 Continue reading...

Chuck Schumer and other senators took part in exercises in which legal experts laid out election disruption scenariosIn a Washington DC conference room last month, some of the most senior Democrats in the US Senate gathered to plan for a prospect that only recently would have felt more akin to science fiction: they started to wargame democracy.Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, and senators including Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner, Elissa Slotkin and Raphael Warnock were among those in the room as a team of legal experts offered scenarios. Continue reading...

Lawyers for man accused of killing healthcare CEO Brian Thompson raise red flags about limits on reportersWeeks before Luigi Mangione faces a jury over the killing of the UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson, the hugely anticipated proceedings already have potential to reach trial-of-the-century status.Intense global interest in Mangione's case is unfolding against a media landscape where news consumers expect minute-by-minute updates, a mise-en-scene now made all the more complicated by social media influencers who managed to get press credentials and often flock to major US criminal cases in search of clicks and money. Continue reading...

New research shows that a class gap on the left threatens any winning coalition - but there are ways to address itDebates on the left are typically framed as a division between moderates and progressives, with the two sides wrestling over how best to form a governing coalition. Yet, in many ways, this divide obscures a much bigger fault line: the class divide. The fact is, many of the Democratic party's ideological factions consist almost exclusively of college-educated professionals. As a result, the priorities of this class tend to dominate the party's appeals. The priorities of working-class voters, meanwhile, are an afterthought.A new report from Jared Abbott, the director of the Center for Working Class Politics, and Joan Williams, author of Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back, looks at ways to bridge the yawning class divide that threatens the possibility of forming a winning coalition. Continue reading...

Gerson Turcios was 17 when he fled violence in Honduras to build a new life in the US. Six years later, he was mowing lawns in his home town of Rhinebeck when immigration officers took him. Within hours, friends, neighbours and local celebrities sprang into action. Could they stop his deportation?Gerson Turcios didn't recognise the menstanding next to a couple of dark SUVs outside his house one July afternoon last year. He figured they were lost and approached to see if he could help. A slim 23-year-old with short dark hair and big brown eyes, Turcios had just finished work mowing lawns in the pretty town of Rhinebeck, in New York's Hudson Valley. The men asked if he knew someone called Jimmy - he did, but Jimmy hadn't lived in the small, white weatherboard house with Turcios, his brother and his brother's girlfriend for a while.The men noted Turcios's accent and asked where he was from. Turcios didn't answer, so one took out his phone and snapped a photograph. The next thing Turcios knew, he was in handcuffs in the back of one of the SUVs and on his way to an ICE processing centre in Newburgh, New York, then on to a detention centre. Continue reading...

Officials did not identify the pilots but said they were employed by Helicopter Transport Services, which was contracted by US Forest ServiceTwo helicopter pilots who crashed while they were fighting a wildfire in Utah have died, officials confirmed Saturday. The pilots were killed when their Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter went down Friday morning, according to the Sevier County Sheriff.The helicopter was among those fighting a fire in the Fishlake National Forest. The crash ignited a new fire that spread to connect with the existing blaze, which has now scorched nearly 174 square miles (nearly 451skm). Continue reading...

Weather system tied to warming sea surface expected to intensify in fall and winter, persisting until early spring 2027El Nino, a recurring climate phenomenon marked by above-average sea surface temperatures, when changes in wind patterns allow warmer water to spread across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, could spell a wet winter for portions of the western and south-eastern US, climate models show. Coastal areas may be at elevated risk of flooding, experts warn.Climate scientists predict this year's super" El Nino, a label assigned when sea surface temperatures climb by at least 2C, will be the strongest of the century. The weather system is expected to intensify in the fall and winter, persisting until early spring 2027, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...

Joe Biden's prostate cancer is reportedly debilitating', even as ex-president continues to speak out on public issuesFormer US president Joe Biden's prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him pain, even as he continues to speak out on public issues, his son Hunter said in an interview.In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC broadcast late on Friday, Hunter Biden grew emotional as he discussed his father's condition, describing it as very sad to watch. Continue reading...

Senate minority leader condemns Republicans after Donald Trump's former defense lawyer confirmed by 50 votes to 49 early on Saturday morning. This blog is now closed.Joe Biden's prostate cancer has spread throughout his body, causing the former president great pain, his son Hunter Biden said during an interview broadcast Friday.The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further," Hunter Biden said in a sit-down with the BBC. It's very painful and it's very debilitating in many respects." Continue reading...

State's attorney general says scammers have made off with more than $100m in past two yearsScammers in New York have been using gold bars to steal money from victims, primarily older adults, and made off with more than $100m over the past two years, the state's attorney general announced on Friday.The scheme starts with victims receiving a fake pop-up message that states their computer or financial account has been compromised, the press release stated. The message includes a phone number to call, and when people do, the scammers convince the victims to provide remote access to their computers, which allows them to access their financial information or online bank accounts. Continue reading...

Dr Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients - why is he working in the death chamber?Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years' experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing.It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Continue reading...

City on track to record fewest reported rat sightings since pandemic as Mamdani's containerization' program brings bins to boroughsIs New York finally winning its war on rats? Or are New Yorkers' vermin neighbors merely adapting to changing circumstances and, at least in some neighborhoods, staying out of sight?With an estimated one rat for every three people, New York's long-running rat war is in a period of uneasy detente. Continue reading...

Four-year-old Taras, who now resides at a Minnesota sanctuary, was diagnosed with an often fatal infectionA lion that escaped the war in Ukraine after being found as a four-month-old cub inside a duffel bag at Odesa railway station is facing an even greater battle for survival in his new home in Minnesota from a rare and often fatal fungal disease.Taras, his two sisters Lesya and Stefania, and an unrelated, slightly older cub from Kyiv named Prada, were brought to the US in November 2022 by the Wildcat Sanctuary, a secluded private reserve near Sandstone, Minnesota, that arranged their rescue with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Continue reading...

Major win for president as former personal lawyer wins approval despite outcry over $1.8bn slush fundThe US Senate voted to narrowly confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in a major win for Donald Trump, who will now have his one-time personal attorney sitting atop the nation's law enforcement apparatus.Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the deciding vote in Blanche's favor after two other Republicans - Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska - voted against him. Every Democrat rejected Blanche's nomination as the Republican-led Senate voted 50-49. Continue reading...

An exchange between Dr Erica Schwartz and Senator Josh Hawley during her confirmation hearing is alarmingRobert F Kennedy Jr's new cooking show isn't the only big news out of the public health world this week. On Wednesday, Dr Erica Schwartz was confirmed by the US Senate as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), making her the first Black woman to hold the position. This is the first time in almost a year that the agency has had a permanent leader; the previous director, Susan Monarez, only lasted 29 days before she was ousted for butting heads with RFK about US vaccine policies. Translation: she was a little too keen on following accepted science for the Trump administration.So is Schwartz an RFK-approved vaccine skeptic who thinks you can cure cancer by praying to trees? Surprisingly: no. Schwartz, who served as deputy surgeon general during Trump's first term, actually has government experience and a public health background. During her confirmation hearing in July, she walked a careful tightrope when asked about her stance towards vaccines. Schwartz said she will never betray the science" but also dodged questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Tech companies offer eye-movement trackers, personalized podcasts and optimized nap predictions'. Who actually needs this?What job in our world is less lucrative than being a parent? A Hollywood internship? Volunteering at a soup kitchen? Professional writer? Parenting is the only job you have to pay money to do. Lots of money. Lodging, clothes, food, school, Pokemon cards - it really adds up. And it's getting worse. According to the tech industry, I have to strap my drooling offspring to a computer in order to ensure the baby's survival.Parents are being offered life-altering advancements in artificial intelligence that purport to make this taxing endeavor a tiny bit easier. OpenAI is suggesting its latest products can make child-rearing more efficient: its boss, Sam Altman, suggests generating a podcast about your kid's life that you can listen to in the morning on the way to school. How entertaining would a podcast that talks about one kid's soccer game that afternoon, one kid's upcoming birthday, some news, etc" actually be? Jimmy needs to work on his dribbling." Great. I think he knows already. He's not going to be the next Messi, so how about we switch back to music? Continue reading...

Ever the strategist, the Chinese leader is taking the offensive, both abroad and at home. That's bad news for global order, and minorities in his countryImagine what would happen if a British prime minister in London told the Scots they could not have their own parliament, national football team or fly the saltire. Or if the Welsh were told their language and poetry were banned and must no longer be taught in schools. The ensuing uproar would probably destroy the United Kingdom. Yet that's exactly what Xi Jinping, China's communist emperor, is telling the roughly 125 million members of the 55 ethnic and religious minorities who together comprise about 9% of the country's (majority Han Chinese) population.Xi claims his sinicisation policy, embodied in a new ethnic unity" law, will boost national identity and integration and, by expanding compulsory use of the Mandarin language, improve life and work prospects. Minorities should hug tightly like pomegranate seeds" to build a strong, united China, he says. But Tibetans, Mongolians, Uyghurs and others who value their separate language and customs fiercely object to what they see as forced assimilation into a conformist, intolerant monoculture dominated by the Communist party's tunnel vision. For them, it's ethnic cleansing by another name.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Documents published on US embassy's website prompt claims of attempt to export Maga propaganda to UKThe US embassy in London is offering grants of up to half a million dollars for new public education" programmes in what has been criticised as interference in British domestic politics.Using language that the pro-Trump Maga movement has sought to appropriate, a funding notice identifies a goal of fostering a national conversation" about shared civilizational values" underpinning US-UK ties. Priority will go to applicants aiming to celebrate freedom of speech" and limited government". Continue reading...

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Rescuers not yet able to reach scene of crash near Richfield in central Utah, prompting fears for two missing peopleA firefighting Sikorsky S64 helicopter with two individuals onboard crashed on Friday morning in a remote area of central Utah, according to federal aviation authorities.The US Forest Service initially declined to comment on the condition of the helicopter's passengers, asking the public for patience while we focus on response efforts" in a statement. Continue reading...