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Critics say the Trump administration is trying to rewrite and whitewash history by removing and altering scores of signs on public landsJerry Bransford, a former US National Park Service (NPS) ranger, has always had a deep connection with the land he grew up on - and the land hundreds of feet below it. His great-great-grandfather, Materson Mat" Bransford, was one of the earliest explorers of Mammoth Cave in south-central Kentucky, the largest known cave system on the planet.But for decades, Mat wasn't paid for his work. Enslavers rented him out for $100 a year to a man who wanted to turn the site into a tourist attraction - what would later become Mammoth Cave national park. Continue reading...

Federal prosecutors to focus on issue despite court backing constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. Plus: Greek priest whose metal music has become cult smash

Birthright citizenship ruling only a surface level setback, with the court granting president's multiple power grabsThe symbolic and high profile defeats cannot obscure a more uncomfortable truth.The US supreme court - a vital cog in the US constitutional framers' vision of an intricate system of checks and balances aimed at reining in an excessively assertive president - has made Donald Trump stronger than ever, and shows little inclination to stop. Continue reading...

Two people were arrested after an apparent marriage proposal atop the Empire State Building's spire on Wednesday, having climbed well above the section open to the public. The pair were identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, Russian 'rooftoppers' known for carrying out similar stunts in cities including Los Angeles and Tianjin in China. Dressed in black and with their faces covered, they unfurled a large black banner bearing the words: 'When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.'It remains unclear how they reached the uppermost section of the building, which rises 1,454ft (443 metres) above midtown Manhattan. The New York police department said charges were pending and the investigation remained ongoing. CBS News later reported that the pair were facing charges including burglary, criminal trespass and reckless endangerment Continue reading...

More than 100 million people could be affected in week leading to 4 July, with increased risks of droughts and wildfiresMeteorologists are anticipating a tumultuous summer that could rank as one of the US's hottest ever.New data released on Tuesday showed the first six months of the year were the hottest ever measured for parts of eight western states. Continue reading...

As GLP-1s drive the current protein craze, a supplement once only taken by powerlifters is now so popular US producers are struggling to keep upFor generations, the Meives family made cheese. Tony Meives's grandfather, a Swiss immigrant, and his father both ran small cheese factories in Wisconsin, in the heart of America's dairyland. I worked in the cheese factory my whole life," Meives says. I have four world-class cheesemakers in my family." But when it came time to inherit the family business, Meives found there was more money in the industrial runoff that his grandfather would have once thrown away. Today, the 39-year-old bodybuilder and gym owner runs a company that sells whey protein powder, the watery byproduct of cheesemaking that was once considered waste. Twenty years ago, the only people who took whey were bodybuilders," he says. Over the past five years, the market has really opened up to each and every type of person you can probably think of."When Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, declared late last month, that the war on protein is over", he sounded a bit like one of those Japanese soldiers of second world war lore, who spent years bunkering in the jungles of south-east Asia, oblivious to the fact that hostilities had long ceased. Perhaps there was a time when advice leaned more towards a diet based around fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates - but by May 2026, the war on protein was surely over. Protein had won. Continue reading...

Democracies rarely last, but ours has. That alone is worth celebratingOne reason to celebrate America's national big birthday - our 250th on the Fourth of July - is to honor the unusual longevity of our democratic experiment. Democracies rarely last, but ours has. Even if we know its flawed history - the land grab and slaughter of the indigenous population; slavery; enduring racial, gender and economic inequalities - it's hard to fault the admirable, high-minded idealism of the Bill of Rights and the US constitution.I'm all for celebrating democracy. The bicentennial was fun. I lived outside a small rural town where there was a parade, a fife and drum corps, tricornered hats, flags and fireworks. Then president Gerald Ford had sponsored civil rights legislation. Roe v Wade was three years old. There were brilliant and honorable judges serving on the US supreme court. The Vietnam war had ended. Obviously there were problems: our growing military presence in Central America, the bankrupting and colonization of American inner cities, growing disparities. Even so, there was a hope in the air, a sense that things might be looking up. Continue reading...

House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemesDonald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the US's 250th anniversary celebration to enrich political allies, harvest voter data and promote Christian nationalist ideology, according to a congressional investigation released on Thursday.The interim report, From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday", outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF). Continue reading...

Everything you need to know (and more) about every squad member. Click on the player pictures for more information Continue reading...

Former public defender Sara Bennett spent 13 years photographing women convicted of homicide. She traces their lives in prison - and what happens as they re-enter the outside world Continue reading...

The versatile striker was dangerous in his time on the field on Wednesday, but that time was prematurely ended with a surprising ejectionThe day after the US supreme court upheld birthright citizenship, Folarin Balogun - a player who wouldn't have even been on the pitch if not for the longstanding, constitutional law - pushed the United States through to the World Cup last 16. Just two days short of his 25th birthday, Balogun scored the opening goal in the US's 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, his third of the tournament.Then, about 20 minutes later, Balogun was sent off, given a straight red card for what appeared to be inadvertent contact with Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovi. It was a shocking turn of events for the Monaco forward, who was among the US's best performers on Wednesday, as he has been for the entirety of the tournament. Continue reading...

Player guide | Golden Boot | BracketHello from San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, where as you might expect an extremely pro-USA crowd is filing in. There are certainly more than enough Bosnia and Herzegovina fans here to make some noise should they give them a reason. It's a beautiful day, sunny and cool in that special Bay Area way (unless you're in the famously hot upper decks here).Pre-pregame email ... Continue reading...

The US had their hands on their heads. Weston McKennie's face betrayed a look of total disbelief. Mauricio Pochettino waved his hands towards the sky, incredulous.Folarin Balogun had been sent off after a seemingly innocent collision with Bosnia and Herzegovina's Tarik Muharemovi that saw the US striker land a foot on his opponent's ankle. Just like that, the US's high-flying World Cup journey had the feel of impending doom. The temperature had soared on a previously cool, sunny evening at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. And it wouldn't fall until Malik Tillman had his say. Continue reading...

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Statement comes a day after report that three messages received in case were determined to be fakeThe FBI is investigating extortion demands related to Nancy Guthrie's disappearance that may potentially be legitimate", the agency said on Wednesday.The update comes a day after Reuters reported that kidnapping notes received in Guthrie's case were fake. Continue reading...

Bizarre 250th spectacle in North Dakota sees Trump take ride on red, white and blue train - and speak with hologram of 26th presidentThe sound of YMCA by the Village People booming through the badlands of North Dakota could only mean one thing: Donald Trump's 250th anniversary travelling circus had reached a remote corner of America more familiar with bison, wild horses and bighorn sheep.The US president visited Medora on Wednesday to dedicate a $450m library and museum honouring Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, in the region where he roamed as a cowboy and big-game hunter in the 1880s. Continue reading...

Mauricio Pochettino's side overcame a stubborn Bosnia and Herzegovina to book a place in the last 16. We look at the best action from San Francisco Bay Area Stadium Continue reading...

Pair also unfurled a large black banner displaying a message of peace on top of New York City landmarkTwo people were arrested following an apparent marriage proposal atop the Empire State Building's spire on Wednesday, after they climbed to the very pinnacle of the New York City landmark - well above the level open to the public.The two people were identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, two Russian rooftoppers" who have conducted similar stunts in other cities including Tianjin, China, and Los Angeles. They were both wearing black clothing and appeared to be masked as they unfurled a large, black banner at the top of the skyscraper with the words: When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace." Continue reading...

Prosecutors said members of the a gang targeted about 51 underage girls and women along LA's Figueroa corridorTen people accused of facilitating a sex-trafficking operation that targeted about 51 underage girls and women have been arrested as California authorities conducted their latest operation to curb trafficking along the Figueroa corridor in Los Angeles, according to a Wednesday news release.Prosecutors said on Wednesday that members and associates of the south Los Angeles-based gang the Hoovers acted as pimps, recruiting minors and women, some of whom were runaways or foster kids, with the false promise" of a better life or with violence into sex work between February 2021 and June 2026. Continue reading...

Parents and grandparents charged as police say case in Hamden not human trafficking but intra-family situation'Sixteen children were rescued from a dilapidated home in rural Ohio after being confined to just one room in deplorable conditions" for much of the past four years, authorities said on Wednesday.The children, who officials said are from the same family and were living in squalor with human waste all around, ranged in age from one and a half to 18 and included boys and girls. Some of them were unable to speak and one - an 18-year-old who was developmentally disabled - could not even spell her name. Continue reading...

Ruling marks second time that Trump's plan to restrict mail ballots across the US has suffered a setback in courtA federal judge blocked a proposed restriction on mail-in voting across the US, challenging a crackdown on elections ordered by Donald Trump.Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US district court for the District of Columbia ruled that a US Postal Service (USPS) plan to deny ballots to voters in states that do not turn over their voter rolls to the federal government should not proceed. Continue reading...

This term, the US supreme court handed down decisions on issues ranging from voting rights to immigration and birthright citizenship, reshaping life for millions of people. Kai Wright speaks with Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for the Nation, about how the court got all its power in the first place, and why Mystal thinks court reforms to reign in that power aren't just constitutional - they're necessary. Continue reading...

Surging membership and pro-Palestinian activism reshape debate on how campaigning movement governs in officeInside a Brooklyn industrial garage turned underground event venue, local leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America urged hundreds of mostly young people last month to avoid complacency. Sure, New York City had a socialist representative in the US Congress, and just elected a socialist mayor. But they had so much more to do.If we only elect Zohran, we only elect AOC, our project will have been a failure," Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the city's DSA chapter, told the assembled crowd. Our ambitions are so much higher than just a position in government. We want to transform the world." Continue reading...

Todd Blanche to target tourists and migrants despite such births accounting for less than 1% of US babies born yearlyA day after the supreme court upheld the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, acting attorney general Todd Blanche has said federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers will focus on combating so-called birth tourism" - the process of tourists, temporary visitors and undocumented immigrants traveling to the US and giving birth.There's other things that DHS can do, and the federal government can do in the visa process, and the application process, to try to minimize or limit the opportunity of folks coming here not to visit, and not to do what they're saying they're doing on the tourist visa, but just to have a baby that can then be a US citizen," Blanche told reporters. Continue reading...

We'd like to find out how Americans feel about Donald Trump's $2.2bn earnings since returning to the White HouseDonald Trump has earned more than $1bn from his crypto businesses since returning to the White House, according to recent financial disclosures.According to a 927-page document released on Tuesday by the US Office of Government Ethics, in all the US president made more than $2.2bn last year, benefiting from a vast global network of businesses and investments. Continue reading...

Judge hands down 50-year sentence to defendant Ines Soto, whose wife Elizabeth was sentenced to same prison termSeven more people were sentenced to prison Wednesday over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center that wounded a police officer and has left many protesters facing decades behind bars.All but one of the defendants sentenced in Fort Worth courtrooms pleaded guilty to charges related to the shooting outside the Prairieland detention center near Dallas last July 4. They each were sentenced to between nearly two and 15 years in prison. Continue reading...

Supreme court rulings, and revelations of the president's enrichment since his return to office, show that he has turned back the clockDonald Trump is not known for his reverence for the US constitution. But in his second term, he is doubling down on his claim from the first: that the text grants him the right to do whatever I want as president".This is, to put it mildly, an extremely unusual interpretation of article 2. But it is the thread that draws together the headlines dominating recent days: a spate of supreme court rulings, mostly to his benefit, and the revelation that he has raked in $2bn since returning to office, half of it from cryptocurrencies.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Trump and Republican states are reviving this archaic death penalty method, and lawyers say for one man killed by gunfire, the process went very wrong. Guardian US reporter Sam Levin breaks down how we got here and speaks to advocates raising alarms

Attendance at the Great American State Fair is sparse and the heat is extreme, but at least you can pay $25 for a pretzel

President Trump cashed in on more than $2bn from crypto and other businesses ventures last year.As the US races to become the selfdeclared crypto capital of the world', the president and his family have turned digital tokens, meme coins and merchandise into an unprecedented revenue stream.But just how rich can a sitting US president get? Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian reporter Aisha Down Continue reading...

The US president flies to North Dakota on first trip aboard Qatar-gifted 747-8, as critics raise corruption concerns

Potus pocketed over $2.2bn last year - but with an algae-filled reflecting pool and his State Fair a fiasco, what price happiness?From certain angles, it might appear as if President Trump is having a tough month. He messed up the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which he blamed on acts of vandalism no one has been able to stand up. The supreme court rejected both his bid to appeal against the $5m (3.8m) civil judgment against him for defaming and sexually abusing E Jean Carroll, and his executive order to end birthright citizenship. And the war with Iran keeps rumbling on. And yet, after Trump's mandatory financial disclosure report was released on Tuesday, headlines drew attention to the fact the president made more than $2.2bn in revenue in 2025 - more than three times what he pulled in the year before his inauguration. Contrary to appearances, perhaps everything is going exactly to plan.It is always a question with Trump as to how much the wealth he has accrued in his second term in office is the spoils of strategy rather than the lucky result of his scattergun but industrial-scale hustle. Looking at the numbers in his financial report, one is reminded that before he became president, Trump piloted a series of failed businesses - six of which declared bankruptcy - and gave every indication of being a lousy businessman. It's often pointed out that if Trump had simply invested the vast inheritance left to him by Fred Trump, his father, in a standard tracker fund, he would've made more money than through his lacklustre business career, and there's nothing to suggest this was likely to change.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Trump administration is requiring borrowers to choose new options after Biden-era plan ruled unconstitutionalMore than 7 million Americans will be forced to change their student loan repayment plan beginning on Wednesday, as the Save plan officially ends. The termination of the Biden-era initiative, which was launched in 2023, coincides with a larger overhaul of the US student loan repayment system.The seismic changes to the student debt landscape are the results of the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025 and a March 2026 federal court ruling that the Save plan, an income-driven repayment program created with the goal of cutting undergraduate loans in half, was unconstitutional. Continue reading...

US president raked in more than $1bn from crypto - an industry he has sought to deregulate - and a total of $2.2bn last year, files reveal

Lower costs in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio raise questions about whether Republican strongholds will shiftWhile it's regarded as a quiet, safe place, many would agree that there's not much to Greene county, Ohio.It's a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities east of Dayton, Ohio's sixth largest city, with Greene county much like the rest of the midwest: a mix of strip malls, corn fields and an interstate connecting Columbus with Cincinnati. Continue reading...

Economic squeeze and anti-immigration raids have hit Hispanic communities, prompting people to shop online and reuse oil

Move follows supreme court refusal to hear Trump's appeal of civil case verdict in sexual abuse and defamation caseThe New York journalist E Jean Carroll asked a judge on Tuesday to mandate that Donald Trump pay her the $5m she is owed from a jury verdict that found the US president liable for sexually abusing her in the 1990s and defaming her after she publicly described in 2019 being attacked by him in a city department store.Lawyers for Carroll filed papers in a federal court in Manhattan one day after the US supreme court refused to hear Trump's appeal of the civil case verdict in 2023. Continue reading...

President made more than $1bn from crypto businesses last year while federal government oversaw regulation. Plus, giant seal causes havoc in Tasmania - but locals love him

In Wednesday's last-32 match, the US team have more than just a chance to win against Bosnia and Herzegovina. They're playing to win over their countryIt took Mauricio Pochettino a little while to understand that he had accepted an innately vibes-based job.If club soccer boils down to managers exerting control and fitting their players into an intricate system, buttressed by cutting-edge tactics, ultra-modern analytics and first-in-class sports science, international soccer demands a different job entirely. And it tends to take long-time club coaches who are managing in the international game for the first time a bit to catch on to the difference. Continue reading...

Advocates describe this moment as both a crisis and an opening to reimagine the promises of freedom and democracyThis Fourth of July marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence promised liberty and equality for all - even as it excluded most of the people living on the land it claimed to liberate.For many Americans, the semiquincentennial is less a celebration than a reckoning. The country arrives at this milestone amid sustained attacks on voting rights, civil rights and democratic institutions - challenges that organizers say are taking the country back generations. It's a moment that activists and advocates describe as both a crisis and an opening to reimagine the promises of freedom and democracy. Continue reading...

Gen Z conservative women may be fewer in numbers than their male counterparts, but they are no less consequentialOn the steps of the US supreme court on Tuesday, a group of women celebrated. They cheered and held up signs with phrases like Girls' Sports for Girls Only" and Truth, Fairness, Biological Reality". Penny Young Nance, the CEO of Concerned Women for America, told the gathering that after a decade of these conservative women's activism: The court agrees with us that a man cannot be a woman".The decision will affect the law across the country," she said. We will have a better opportunity to protect young women." Continue reading...

The success of democratic socialists has led to an establishment backlash, fueling divisions over how to respondA recent chair of the Democratic National Committee apparently wants democratic socialists to get out of his party. If you hate the Democratic Party, then please don't run for our nomination," Jaime Harrison tweeted on election day last week, shortly before results showed that three of those socialists had won Democratic primaries for Congress in deep-blue New York City. He didn't identify his targets, but the implication was clear.Harrison's call for self-expulsion was the bizarre opposite of a welcome mat: Don't use our resources. Don't rely on our volunteers. Don't use our infrastructure. Don't ask Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign." The tweet turned reality on its head. Socialist candidates have been winning because they inspired multitudes of people to volunteer and provide what's needed to win. Continue reading...

First of major coverage losses expected as a result of the One Big Beautiful' bill signed into law one year agoNearly 500,000 moderate-income New Yorkers will be dumped from their health insurance plans on 1 July - the first of major coverage losses expected as a result of HR 1, the Republican-led law signed almost exactly one year ago.The law, sometimes called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act," slashed government health spending by $911bn nationally in favor of permanent tax breaks for higher-income families and border security. Continue reading...

The 41-year-old says he intends to continue his career after his departure from the Lakers. There are several intriguing options to considerIt's official: LeBron James will not finish his career as a Los Angeles Laker. The talking heads are in a gnashing froth. ESPN's Shams Charania has become the first human being in recorded history to somehow get less than zero sleep over a 24-hour period. Steph Curry is widening his eyes. Bronny James is secretly relishing the chance to forge his own identity as he says I'll miss you, Dad." James hasn't been the best player in the league for more than half a decade, but at 41 he remains the most decorated and the one who commands the most coverage. So let's indulge in a time-honored tradition one last time: wild speculation over where the King will play next season. Continue reading...

The short answer is that there's nothing to disclose. But that doesn't mean we won't make contact with extraterrestrial lifeEven before Stephen Spielberg's latest film, Disclosure Day, began unspooling at local multiplexes, the internet was debating whether we would ever experience a real-life disclosure day - when the US government admits that it's aware of aliens here on Earth, a secret it has supposedly kept since the 1940s.That would be dramatic news. But don't hold your breath. Continue reading...

Richard Trahant fined $400,000 over apparent violation of order in case of priest who admitted sexual misconductThe US supreme court has rejected an appeal from an attorney who was fined $400,000 after taking steps to get an abusive Roman Catholic priest removed as chaplain of a high school campus.In a notice on Monday, the supreme court's justices indicated without explanation that they would not take up the case of Richard Trahant, whose clients include dozens of people victimized by a clergy abuse scandal that drove New Orleans' Catholic archdiocese into federal bankruptcy court. Continue reading...

Twenty-nine-year-old beat representative Diana DeGette in deep-blue Denver districtThe democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseated long-serving US representative Diana DeGette in Colorado's primary elections held on Tuesday, the latest in a string of high-profile victories for the party's insurgent left.The Associated Press reported that Kiros had defeated DeGette for the Democratic nomination in the deep-blue first congressional district centered on Denver. Kiros's triumph came a week after New York voters unseated two Democratic congressional incumbents and replaced a third who was retiring with candidates who had campaigned on standing up to Israel amid accusations that it was carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Continue reading...