As chief US diplomat, Rubio could do great good. His pandering and neglect are a disgrace we shouldn't ignoreViewed from the state department in Washington DC, the world is on fire - but record heatwaves are not to blame. The unresolved Iran war has badly burned Donald Trump. His military campaign conclusively failed, energy and food prices are still rising, and a Republican rout in November's midterm elections looms. Humiliatingly, Israel this week flatly rejected his latest Gaza peace proposals, days after Trump congratulated himself on a historic breakthrough". In Europe, Russia's attacks on Nato allies grow increasingly brazen, threatening a wider escalation. The Ukraine war, which Trump vowed to end, is now well into its fifth year, with civilians on both sides caught in the killing fields. And these are just the bigger firestorms. There are plenty more.Rarely has the need for effective, professional diplomacy been more pressing. So step forward Marco Rubio, US secretary of state and chief American diplomat. These are challenges that, if successfully tackled, could propel the 55-year-old son of Cuban immigrants and the former US senator for Florida into pole position in the 2028 Republican presidential nomination race. Here is a chance for Rubio to defy critics who dismiss him as a lickspittle and Trump dogsbody, and transform himself into respected global statesman. His boss mocked him as little Marco" and a loser" when they were election rivals in 2016. (Rubio called him a conman.) Now is Rubio's opportunity to go big, be brave and prove he's a winner. Continue reading...

National Weather Service reports that more than 11in of rain fell over a two-day period in some areasAt least five people are dead after devastating floods that swept through Indiana this week, officials said, as storms continued to batter the state on Saturday and first responders used boats to rescue more people from rising waters in neighborhoods along the White River in Indianapolis.The mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett, and other state officials implored residents in areas at risk of flooding to heed any evacuation warnings at a news conference. Continue reading...

US president credits himself with lowest drug prices in 60 years, when article says drop is more likely due to BidenThe White House flooded social media on Saturday with an image of Donald Trump showing off the recent Washington Post headline Prescription drug prices record sharpest drop in more than 60 years", but failed to mention that experts cited in the article actually attributed the price drop to Joe Biden, not Trump.On its official accounts, the White House triumphantly captioned the photograph of Trump: POV: you bring the receipts." Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, also shared it. Continue reading...

Police say Larry Montes struck a woman and a security guard after he disrupted Shabbat servicesA New York City man is facing hate crime charges after police say he assaulted a woman and a security team member while disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan - all in plain view of a live stream.The New York police department identified the suspect in the case as Larry Montes, 46, who was arrested after the episode at the synagogue. Montes was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, along with other alleged violations, police said. Continue reading...

About 1.6m dozen eggs from Texas recalled amid one of the largest recorded foodborne illness outbreaks in US historyA massive egg recall affecting nearly 1.6m dozen eggs has been elevated to the US Food and Drug Administration's highest-risk warning as officials investigate a salmonella outbreak that has sickened nearly 100 people.The FDA on 12 August reclassified the recall of nearly 1.6m dozen white and brown cage-free eggs over concerns they may be contaminated with salmonella. Continue reading...

Former VP sent fundraising appeal for Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign - with half of donations going to Harris's organizationAlaska US Senate candidate Mary Peltola has rejected the support of Kamala Harris, her fellow Democrat, after the 2024 presidential candidate sent out a seemingly unsolicited fundraising appeal on Peltola's behalf.Harris, who lost Alaska - typically a Republican-voting state - by 13 points during her unsuccessful White House run, on Wednesday sent an email from her political organization to supporters of Peltola, a former US House member. Continue reading...

Tyler Muehl, 18, could face a year in prison for kicking marine animal four times on La Jolla coastAn 18-year-old California man has admitted he kicked a sea lion in a video that went viral recently - while referring to himself by the name of an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitor - and has pleaded guilty to a federal crime.Tyler Muehl, of San Diego's La Jolla neighborhood, faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine after acknowledging in court on Thursday that he violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act's prohibition on harassment of wildlife, federal prosecutors said in a statement. Continue reading...

School said shooting involved multiple suspects' as campus was locked down and police responded to sceneMultiple people were injured in a shooting at Virginia State University (VSU), police said on Saturday morning, with several suspects still at large.The campus, about 20 miles (32km) south of Richmond, was temporarily put on lockdown as police released initial details about the shooting. Continue reading...

The US vice-president's most recent memoir may be widely read in Middletown, Ohio, but no one seems to be talking about itNearly two months since JD Vance's most recent memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, was released, and following sales of 64,000 copies in its first week, Vance's hometown of Middletown, Ohio, has had time to take it in.At the town library, administrators say there has been interest in the book among the wider public. Continue reading...

AOC's remarks about past excesses have been ripped out of context. Progressives shouldn't get roped into this sideshowThere is probably no word that has been more used and abused in the last decade than woke". It has been rendered completely meaningless, but it refuses to die. Indeed, it has now taken on new life: in the past week, there's been a flurry of headlines about Woke 1.0" or Woke One". If you haven't seen the phrase pop up in your newsfeed yet, it will soon.So what is this cursed phrase? There's no official definition, but the term is largely being used to refer to the period between 2018 and 2021 when social justice language was at its peak in mainstream culture. Certain progressives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have started to use Woke 1" disparagingly, as a way to distance themselves from that period and signal that they stand for a new form of left-leaning politics that is more palatable to centrist Democrats. Woke 2", I suppose.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Prosecutors pointed to internet searches made on the family computer in the months before the killings to make their caseProsecutors revived a theory in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial case this week, suggesting she had faked a suicide attempt after allegedly strangling her three children.While prosecutors have been arguing that Clancy acted intentionally and should be held criminally responsible, her defense has said she suffered from postpartum psychosis. Continue reading...

Prolonged deployment is coupled with reports of water shortages, plumbing issues and attempts to jump overboard

Defense argues New York cannot try Mangione over same act or offense as federal case - the killing of Brian ThompsonLuigi Mangione's plea to federal stalking charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's death has spurred questions about the fate of the separate Manhattan murder case against him, with experts saying New York's double-jeopardy law could derail that trial.Mangione pleaded guilty to one count of interstate stalking resulting in death, and one count of cyberstalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death, in connection with the 4 December 2024 shooting outside a Midtown hotel. Both charges carry a potential maximum life sentence. Continue reading...

In Wisconsin, voters weigh candidates who backed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and those who want to expand itGoing door to door in western Wisconsin, Bill Hogseth tells strangers about the seizures he has multiple times a week.Hogseth, the co-executive director and lead organizer of the nonpartisan group GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin (Groww), tells them about waking up in an ambulance, and the impact of the seizures on his ability to drive and work. Usually standing on their doorsteps, he asks to hear their stories too - about ambulance rides, hospital bills, broken bones. Continue reading...

US tax policy deprives the government of revenue and overwhelmingly serves the interests of the richAfter the House passed its version of Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last year - the one that paired a $5tn-plus tax cut with $1tn-plus of cuts from food stamps and Medicaid - the House speaker, Mike Johnson, explained that this is not giving tax cuts to the millionaires". The beneficiaries, he said, were small business owners" that provide the jobs in every community in America".Johnson was playing to the myth of the modest, sturdy Main Street job creator. It is an appealing story. It's also the most consequential piece of BS distorting American policy that deprives the government of tax revenue, stunts American capitalism, twists regulations, thwarts competition and overwhelmingly serves millionaires' interests. Continue reading...

Massachusetts beaches have become a hotspot for mass stranding of sea turtles', so an annual rescue effort has grownSea turtle #471 gasped audibly, as veterinarian Kathy Tuxbury palpated the surgical scar on the animal's left flipper.The turtle - lovingly renamed Lucky" by the huge network of conservationists, interns and volunteers working to save its life - is one of the last patients of the year at the New England Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital, waiting to be returned to the ocean. Continue reading...

Despite the recent hearings in Congress, we seem to be even further from the goal of understanding Covid-19's origin's than we have ever beenAs a microbiologist and infectious disease clinician, it has been tough to watch the recent devolution of public discourse on Covid-19 origins. It has been especially difficult for me to read the comments of Anthony Fauci about the origins debate in his now-public diary. And it has been painful to watch the televised spectacle hosted by the US senator Rand Paul on 29 July involving a hostile interrogation of Fauci.Despite many early pleas, including my own, for a dispassionate, objective assessment of what we know, don't know and need to know about Covid-19 origins, we seem to be even further from this goal now than we have ever been - plagued by politicization, polarization and illogical thinking.David Relman is a professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford University. He was an inaugural member of the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Continue reading...

Recent comments by AOC have reignited a fiery debate about wokeism'. But what are we really talking about?Full confession: I am one of those who have come to think that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can essentially do no wrong. At times when I most fear for the future of our country, I watch her videos and am consoled and cheered by her clarity, her honesty, her intelligence, her simple common sense. So I was a little surprised to hear that on a recent interview on ABC This Week, she quoted a political ally as having remarked: Woke 1.0 was crazy."What surprised me was not that she called for some moderation of the radical positions - the call to defund the police and the military, for example - that have, at times, been an aspect of progressive politics. But I was frankly a little unnerved to hear her use the word woke".Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her latest book is Five Weeks in the Country Continue reading...

As ESPN cuts expert voices and rewards viral argument, fans who want to understand basketball are building a smarter conversation elsewhereAfter the Phoenix Suns dumped the Golden State Warriors out of last season's play-in, Stephen A Smith settled behind the First Take desk to explain why Steve Kerr might have coached his last game. Midway through the burial, he claimed the Warriors hadn't been to the playoffs since that championship in 2022" - a four-year drought in his telling - before grumbling that Golden State could pay someone far less than $17m a year to miss the postseason.Cool. Except the drought never happened. Golden State reached the conference semi-finals in 2023 and again in 2025. ESPN anchor Shae Cornette, who had command of the basic facts, tried to smuggle that inconvenient reality into the discussion. It went nowhere. Apparently, nobody on an ESPN set is permitted to correct the franchise star". Only weeks earlier, Smith had been inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame for his work in media. Continue reading...

The 1996 US women's Olympic team enter the Hall of Fame on Saturday after giving momentum to the WNBA and re-launching an era of American dominanceFor the US women's basketball team, the 1996 Olympics weren't just about winning gold in front of their home crowd.It was about the future of women's basketball in America. The US women were knocked out of the 1992 Olympics in the semi-finals by the Commonwealth of Independent States - a stunning and embarrassing defeat. Heading into the 1996 Games, which were held in Atlanta, turning around the program was a top priority not just for USA Basketball, but the NBA as well, which was looking to start a women's league that would become the WNBA. Continue reading...

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Torero print, one of 30 known to exist signed by Picasso, was stolen from Bill DeLind's gallery in 2018Bill DeLind thought the Picasso print that was stolen from his Milwaukee gallery in 2018 was gone forever. But then police called last week and asked him to look at an artwork that a local landlord found while cleaning out a vacant apartment.DeLind immediately recognized the stolen Torero print, one of 30 known to exist signed by Picasso. Continue reading...

Suspected gunman fled the scene, prompting a manhunt, before he and another individual were found deceasedA mass shooting on Friday has left six people dead, including the suspected gunman, in Missaukee county, a rural area of northern Michigan, according to state police. Another person is in critical condition at a local hospital.Michigan state police identified the suspected gunman as 39-year-old Chad Hickman in a statement posted on social media. Continue reading...

President said nine months at sea not nearly long enough' even as families call for attention to mental health crisisDonald Trump has downplayed concerns about US sailors enduring a record-setting deployment of nearly nine months onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Friday, saying the deployment was not nearly long enough" as concerns mount over mental health and supply issues onboard the aircraft carrier.The US president made the comments during a brief exchange with reporters before flying to New York for an event highlighting falling violent crime rates across the US. Continue reading...

Seriousness of remark made in New York on Friday, and whether it signaled new policy position, not clearDonald Trump has threatened to declare the strait of Hormuz as a territory of the United States" as his administration struggles to conclude the war with Iran.During a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, on Friday, the US president said he would pretty soon" designate the waterway - a crucial chokepoint for global trade, through which about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil supplies typically pass - a US territory. Continue reading...

Heavy machinery seen operating in famous Santa Elena Canyon amid outcry over new wall infrastructure in beloved Texas parkBulldozers have begun plowing up ground at the mouth of Big Bend national park's famed Santa Elena Canyon as part of the Trump administration's multibillion-dollar smart wall" expansion on the US-Mexico border, according to new footage taken by activists who have been monitoring the site.Tensions have run high since the Trump administration announced plans to erect new border security infrastructure in the roughly 500-mile Big Bend region of south-west Texas, which includes the Lone Star State's largest and most-visited national park. Continue reading...

Michael Boren requested more aircraft for 7-acre Cabin Creek fire, some of which were diverted from other firesMichael Boren, the US undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment who oversees the US Forest Service, reportedly pressed agency staff last month to deploy more aircraft to a 7-acre (2.8-hectare) fire that was burning near his Idaho ranch, according to a Washington Post report on Friday.The Cabin Creek fire in Idaho began on about 12 July as a result of an unattended campfire, and spread across several acres in Idaho's Sawtooth national forest. By 15 July, the forest service said that the fire was 100% contained. Continue reading...

Suspect faces two felony charges after memorial filled with bubbles and spray-paint reading Clean hands Dirty $'A woman was arrested on Friday morning in connection with the vandalization of the National World War Two Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC, the capital's federal prosecutor announced.Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, announced mid-morning that a suspect was in custody and had been charged with federal crimes. Continue reading...

Administration asks justices to keep appeals court decision to halt work on hold while it prepares a full appeal

Storm expected to strengthen to hurricane as state of emergency declared amid danger of life-threatening' floodsTropical Storm Lala is set to hit Hawaii's Big Island with hurricane force in a matter of hours, bringing dangerous winds, heavy rainfall and high surf in a sign of what a strengthening super" El Nino in the Pacific may bring.The tropical storm is currently about 420 miles (675km) south-east of Hilo on the archipelago's largest island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said in its latest advisory, packing winds of 60mph (97km/h). Lala is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island. Continue reading...

Wildfires rage in Europe and the US, an earthquake rocks Colombia, Russian strikes in Ukraine and a solar eclipse - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

Facility also had no air conditioning for two days amid extreme heat, according to one of the people detainedPeople detained at an overcrowded federal immigration camp in Mississippi were sickened by a mystery gas leak, then denied medical care when they complained of headaches and other symptoms, it has been alleged.A lengthy power outage at Adams county detention center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility run by the private operator CoreCivic, also left it without air conditioning for two days this week, according to one detainee who contacted the Guardian through his family. Continue reading...

The FBI from the 1950s to the 1970s tried to infiltrate and discredit leftist organizations. Trump seems to be repeating that sordid practiceIt is bad enough that the Trump administration blocked a federal criminal investigation when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed Renee Good as she was turning her car away from him in Minneapolis the past January. Just before the shooting, Good and her partner had been observing and protesting against ICE officers.Instead, it turns out the administration has been investigating progressive and even mainstream groups that have been involved in protests against Donald Trump's sweeping deportations, according to newly released government documents. Continue reading...

The pattern in the US and Britain is clear. They serve up stunt after stunt to mask incompetence and the betrayal of all those who trusted themIt's a shame Nigel Farage ducked the announcement of his victory in the Clacton byelection, which confirmed his return as MP for the seat he had needlessly resigned from just a few weeks earlier. You'd have thought he would have loved it. It was the culmination of a stunt, an exercise in politics as performance. It was a display animated by - and seeking to inflame - grievance, a million miles away from the hard, grinding work of tackling the problems that underlie those grievances. It was an attempt to deflect scrutiny, distract attention and evade responsibility. It was, in other words, everything nationalist populists like him excel at. Indeed, the only thing.Reform UK said Farage stayed away because Essex police had warned of a credible threat" to his security, a claim swiftly denied by Essex police. (Add a flexible approach to the truth to that list of nationalist populists' talents.) Still, it was a slightly odd claim to make. Recall Farage's favoured explanation - there are others - for the undeclared 5m gift he received from the Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, which prompted the very parliamentary investigation that so riled the Reform leader he felt compelled to quit his seat and seek a preemptive not guilty verdict from the people of Clacton: namely, that he needed the money to pay for private, enhanced security. It seems 5m was not quite enough to ensure the lucky recipient would be safe standing next to a man dressed as a bin.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

Biological parents given custody of child born in Texas amid dispute over surrogate mother's claim of abortion requestA two-day-old baby with a rare heart defect at the center of a complex surrogacy dispute in Texas has been handed over to the parents' custody and is receiving care, lawyers for the parents said on Friday.The baby has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a defect that requires surgeries to correct. The baby was born on Wednesday to surrogate mother McKenna West of Alaska after she reportedly refused requests to get an abortion from the biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California - requests they deny making. Continue reading...

We would like to hear from Americans about how they see the legacy of September 11, 25 years onWe would like to hear from Americans about how they see the legacy of 9/11. Now, 25 years later, how do you see the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the country and day-to-day life?If you're having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here. Continue reading...

Monkey bars, gawky teenagers and a presidential cameo - all given a prime-time showcase by ABC - combined for the most leaden hour of America's 250th birthday summerCulturally, it's been a tough few months for Donald Trump. The UFC night he held at the White House for his birthday got lost amid the froth and excitement of the World Cup. The Great American State Fair on the Washington DC National Mall was a dud. The president's jokes at the White House Correspondents' Dinner all bombed. Could the Patriot Games, a nationwide competition to find the American schoolchildren most adept at traversing a set of monkey bars, help rescue the summer?Last night we got our answer: no. A one-hour prime-time special brought us the best of the Patriot Games, and in a crowded field it managed to offer some of the most leaden TV of the American semiquincentennial. Freedom 250, the White House-backed non-profit that hosted the UFC fight at the White House and the Great American State Fair, produced the event, and put up the $125,000 in college scholarship winnings that went to each winner on the boys' and girls' side of the competition. The final round of the Games actually took place earlier this week, at a sports training facility outside Cleveland, Ohio. Last night we just got the best bits, and judging by what that amounted to, we should all be thankful we never had to endure the other bits. This was Trumpworld's answer to the Hunger Games, but it's unlikely there will be much clamor for a sequel. The patriots may be hungry for more, but the rest of us? Eh. Continue reading...

Move will be one of first large-scale foreign investments in country since US ousted leader Nicolas Maduro in JanuaryBP has answered Donald Trump's call for oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela's fossil fuel industry with new plans to develop a large offshore gasfield.BP will partner with two oil firms with close links to the Trump administration to develop the second phase of the Loran gasfield, in one of the first large-scale foreign investments in Venezuela since the US ousted its leader Nicolas Maduro in January. Continue reading...

The progressive candidate won a Democratic congressional primary after boldly staking positions on voting rights, datacenters and the US war machine

Attending a Nick Jonas show with my kids was an invitation to collective effervescence'. We need these shared experiences now more than everThree years ago, I agreed to accompany my children to a Nick Jonas concert. The appeal of the Jonas Brothers, and in this case only one of them, was unfamiliar territory.The concert happened to land on a particularly inconvenient day. As I sprinted out of the hospital, my mind was filled with the what if's" and should haves" about our work that day. Continue reading...

Undercover agents infiltrated meetings, private chats and local events. Plus Wile E Coyote returns to the big screen

When Air Force One took off from Turkey after July's Nato summit, almost everyone believed Donald Trump was on board ... but he wasn't. Jonathan Freedland talks to Tara Setmayer of the Seneca Project about why the White House felt the need to come up with such an elaborate lie to protect the president Continue reading...

Ben Crump and Rev Al Sharpton, also present at National Association of Black Journalists, demanded truth' and transparency' in Wells' caseOn Thursday morning, the parents of Nolan Wells, Christine Wells-Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, along with Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney, and Rev Al Sharpton, the famed civil rights activist, spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Atlanta. Wells was an 18-year-old college student who was found dead on 6 July after a boating trip with friends, and his death captured national attention.Wells went missing on 4 July and a photo of the teen, who was Black, and his three friends on the trip, who were white, went viral. Social media users have speculated that Wells's disappearance, death and the perceived lack of urgency in the county's investigation into what happened to the teen are because of his race. Continue reading...

The press secretary's communication style made her eminently qualified for a role in this administrationKaroline Leavitt, 28, is leaving her demanding job as Donald Trump's press secretary to spend more time with her two young children and her 60-year-old husband. According to a post by Trump On Truth Social, Leavitt will be departing her role at the end of the month and will serve as one of Trump's top outside advisors".In other words: the official version of events is that Leavitt is resigning on her own terms for family reasons and not because Trump's approval ratings are at record lows and she's a rat fleeing a sinking ship. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Companies that kept policies did just as well financially, even after Trump's executive order, as those that didn'tConservative backlash was supposed to put an end to the diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) movement as companies were warned go woke, go broke".In January 2025, Donald Trump delivered a death knell, ending DEI within the federal government with executive orders and threatening to target companies that still supported it. Companies including Google, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's and Walmart that had embraced DEI years earlier fell into line and announced an end to their policies. Continue reading...