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Joint patrols are being mounted to protect undersea cables from Russian sabotage: localised cooperation is our best hope for now

US lawmakers say action by UK authorities on matters arising from release of Epstein files compares unfavourably with a lack of accountability in the US

The president's announcement came after predecessor Barack Obama went viral last week for saying aliens are real'Donald Trump has announced he is directing the defense department and other agencies to release whatever files they have on the search for alien life.In a post on his social media platform, Trump said that he will ask the defense secretary and others to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs)." Continue reading...

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Avalanche in Sierra Nevada killed at least eight people, including six who frequently went on ski trips togetherSix of the eight people who died after a major avalanche swept through the Castle Peak area of the Sierra Nevada this week have been identified, according to multiple reports.The identified victims - Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar and Kate Vitt - were part of a close-knit group who frequently went on ski trips together, a spokesperson for the families told the San Francisco Chronicle. The women and their families cherished time together in the mountains", the spokesperson said. Continue reading...

Shawn DeRemer, husband of Lori Chavez-DeRemer, reportedly accused by at least two female staff membersThe husband of Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Donald Trump's labor secretary, has reportedly been barred from the labor department's headquarters in Washington after at least two female staff members accused him of sexually assaulting them, the New York Times, Politico and the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.The allegations against Shawn DeRemer come as Chavez-DeRemer is under fire over allegations of misconduct. Continue reading...

Experts say there are already sufficient US military assets in the Middle East to begin aerial bombing - key US politics stories from Thursday 19 February at a glanceDonald Trump has said it will be clear within probably 10 days" whether he can reach a nuclear deal with Iran, as the US military buildup in the Middle East intensifies.The US president, speaking at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington DC, insisted Iran could not have a nuclear weapon and emphasised that bad things will happen" if the country continued to threaten regional stability". Continue reading...

Visit was ostensibly to promote economy, but US president focused on repeated, unverified claims of voter fraudDonald Trump forcefully defended his tariffs on Thursday, claiming tariffs are my favorite word in the dictionary" and promoting their use to empower American manufacturing at an event in north-west Georgia.Without tariffs, this country would be in so much trouble right now," Trump said during his remarks at Coosa Steel Corporation, a steel-processing and distribution firm in Rome, Georgia. Continue reading...

Second carrier strike group heads for region as US waits for Iran to respond after talks in GenevaDonald Trump has said it will be clear within probably 10 days" whether he can reach a nuclear deal with Iran, as the US military buildup in the Middle East intensifies with the impending arrival of a second carrier strike group.The US president, speaking at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington DC, insisted Iran could not have a nuclear weapon and emphasised that bad things will happen" if the country continued to threaten regional stability". Continue reading...

WilmerHale to conduct review following new revelations about Leon Botstein's dealings with convicted sex offenderBard College's board of trustees has retained the outside law firm of WilmerHale to conduct an independent investigation into communications between Jeffrey Epstein and the college's longtime president Leon Botstein.WilmerHale will conduct an independent review" of the full scope of these communications", financial contributions connected to Epstein, and any related matters, the board said in an announcement on Thursday evening. Continue reading...

Virginia governor is seen as a model for the party to win back power in midterm electionsVirginia's governor Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response to Donald Trump's State of the Union address next week, elevating a pragmatic voice whose affordability-focused gubernatorial campaign is seen as a model for the party to win back power in the November midterm elections.The Democratic rebuttal will immediately follow Trump's address to Congress on 24 February. Spanberger, a former undercover CIA officer who served three terms in Congress, became Virginia's first female governor earlier this year, resoundingly winning an office previously held by a Republican. She won the race by a double-digit margin, campaigning on affordability and lowering costs for families.Shrai Popat contributed reporting Continue reading...

US citizen George Retes was held without access to family, an attorney, or information about the charges against himAn army veteran detained by federal immigration agents in southern California during his work commute in July has filed a lawsuit against the federal government.According to the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday with the help of the nonprofit law firm Institute for Justice, George Retes was held in a detention center for three days without access to his family, an attorney, or any information about the charges against him, in what the suit argues was an unconstitutional detention. Continue reading...

Guardian review of US justice department files reveals Epstein interacted with six CBP officers. The officer investigated denied any knowledge of trafficking underage girlsFederal investigators examined Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who worked at the St Thomas airport to which Epstein regularly flew on his private planes before traveling by boat or helicopter to his private island, newly released documents reveal.As part of that investigation, which did not result in any charges, investigators also issued subpoenas related to three additional CBP officers working at the Cyril E King airport (STT) on St Thomas, documents show. The Guardian also identified two other CBP officers on St Thomas and in Florida who were in contact with Epstein, based on emails and text messages between Epstein, his staff and the officers. It does not appear the FBI ever investigated those two officers. Continue reading...

GB progress to men's curling final, USA beat Canada in overtime to win gold in women's ice hockey and the USA's Alysa Liu triumphs in figure skatingThe cross-country bit gets going at 1pm, and I'm looking forward to that. It's a scientific fact that here's no kind of race a human can devise that is uncompelling.In the Nordic, teams of two both have a go at ski jumping, and Germany have just leapt into the lead; they'll start the cross-country portion with no time penalty, because Austria have just completed this part of things, and only landed far enough for fifth. Norway are second, Japan third and Finland fourth. Continue reading...

Make America Safe Again' banner put up in striking symbol of president's control over top US law-enforcement agencyA large banner featuring Donald Trump's face was hung on the exterior of justice department headquarters on Thursday in a physical display of the president's efforts to exert power over the law enforcement agency that once investigated him.While Trump banners have been hung outside other agencies across Washington, the decision to place one on the storied justice department building amounted to a striking symbol of the erosion of the department's tradition of independence from White House control. Continue reading...

Hollywood scion and talent agent exchanged sexual emails with Epstein associateCasey Wasserman was born into Hollywood royalty, and for much of his life - until the release of the Epstein files brought his world crashing down - he appeared as formidable and untouchable as the entertainment industry moguls of old.He wasn't just the man charged with organizing the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles - a position he still holds, despite widespread calls for his resignation. He was a consummate power broker, someone who controlled the careers of prominent musicians, actors and athletes through the talent agency named after him, cultivated relationships in local and national politics, raised money for key election contests, endowed civic buildings and, through his family wealth, gave lavishly to social causes. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul backed away from allowing robotaxi services in smaller cities, though Waymo still plans to move ahead in New York CityNew York's governor, Kathy Hochul, has pulled her proposal to allow commercial robotaxi services in smaller cities outside New York City, a spokesperson for the governor said on Thursday.Based on conversations with stakeholders, including in the legislature, it was clear that the support was not there to advance this proposal," the spokesperson said. Continue reading...

US president vows multinational force and billions of dollars as autocrats and rightwing allies gather in DCThe US has proposed commanding a multinational force in postwar Gaza with troops from Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Morocco, as Donald Trump unveiled his ad-hoc Board of Peace in Washington to heavy international scrutiny.The US plan would require the full disarmament of Hamas and support from Israel, which has tempered expectations that the Trump-friendly committee stacked with autocrats and rightwing allies will be able to deliver on the vision of ending the conflict and rebuilding Gaza as a riviera". Continue reading...

Up to three times national average of metabolite produced by human use of drug was found in town's wastewaterTests on wastewater in an upscale Massachusetts ocean resort town have revealed unexpectedly high levels of cocaine - up to three times the national average.Officials in the town of Nantucket on the eponymous island off Cape Cod began testing its wastewater last summer to monitor high-risk substances and opioids in the community". Continue reading...

A new DHS memo details plan to allow federal immigration officers to detain legal refugees in the US indefinitelyThe Trump administration is moving to arrest thousands of people already legally admitted to the US as refugees and detain them indefinitely for aggressive rescreening", a report published on Thursday said.Under the new policy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that federal immigration officers can and should arrest anyone who has not yet obtained the right to permanent residence, a so-called green card, and subject them to interviews to assess their refugee claims while they are in custody, as first reported by the Washington Post. Continue reading...

We can honor my mentor and the late civil rights icon by becoming the America we've never yet beenBefore 5am on Tuesday, Jesse Jackson Jr called to tell me his father and my friend, the Rev Jesse Louis Jackson, had died at 84 years old. I shared a prayer with the family and listened to Jesse Jr talk about how he had heard his father breathe his last breath in the middle of the night. When he called his mother to the room, he told me, she reached toward his father and said: A mighty lion has fallen."In Africa's savannas, the lion is respected because he has a power that all the other animals recognize, even if they do not understand it. The responses to Jackson's death have proven him to be a lion in this sense - remembered with respect by people from every walk of life, even those who did not understand him. Though Donald Trump has built a political career by opposing almost every policy Jackson worked for in public life, he recalled Jackson as a force of nature". Trump recognized his power, even if he didn't understand it. Anyone who wants to help reconstruct the America that Jackson worked for should take time to understand the source of this mighty lion's strength. Continue reading...

Tehran may claim it will not negotiate under duress, but that is precisely what it is being required to doAlthough much attention will be given to the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington, it is the arsenal of war" that Donald Trump has assembled in the Middle East, and what it implies for the stately pace of Washington's negotiations with Iran, that deserves more.The well-connected Axios reporter Barak Ravid is hated in Iran - one news site on Thursday described him as a one-man psychological war operation against Tehran. But he is widely read, as was his report that the US viewed the talks in Geneva on Tuesday as a nothing burger", and that a full-scale attack on Iran was far closer than most Americans realised. The story led to a spike in oil prices and front-page pieces in US newspapers saying Trump's military preparations would be complete by the weekend, although . Continue reading...

RFK Jr ally Jay Bhattacharya was named acting director of the CDC and will be fourth leader in a year to head agencyJay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was named the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday, making him the fourth leader in a year at the embattled agency in an unprecedented move that further consolidates power among a small group of men at the helm of US health agencies.He's been an ineffectual health leader whose attention will be further fractured, and as a close ally to Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine critic. Bhattacharya may sign off on further changes to the vaccine schedule, observers said. Continue reading...

Racism allegations in Portugal overshadowed another fine result in the Arctic and the holders being pushed by their Ligue 1 rivalsNothing should divert attention away from what happened after Vinicius Junior's goal for Real Madrid in their 1-0 victory at Benfica on Tuesday. It would be frivolous to do so. The Brazilian scored one of the finest goals of a career marked by spectacular strikes, but this week's Champions League action will be remembered for the regrettable flashpoint that followed. Continue reading...

Cesar Vasquez, who has supported families of undocumented immigrants since age 14, has become a community lifeline - and a known ICE targetWhile most 18-year-olds worry about college papers and spring break plans, Cesar Vasquez drives through coastal California farm towns scanning for unmarked SUVs before dawn. He flips down his driver's seat visor to look at a taped list of license plates he has already identified as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles, and jots down a few new ones he suspects could be. His phone buzzes constantly - tips from neighbors, text chains from volunteers alerting to ICE activity - all in an attempt to keep his community safe from being swept up in federal agents' widening dragnet.This is what organizing looks like for this son of undocumented immigrants. In his home town of Santa Maria, a small farming town on California's central coast where over 80% of farm workers are undocumented, Vasquez has become both a crucial community lifeline and a known target of federal immigration enforcement. Continue reading...

The homeland security department is reportedly seeking information on critical social media accounts. Look no furtherThe New York Times reports that the Department of Homeland Security has sent Google, Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) and other media corporations subpoenas for the names on accounts that criticize ICE enforcement. The department wants to identify Americans who oppose what it's doing.I'll save them time.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 Continue reading...

Police assessing if Mountbatten-Windsor shared sensitive information with Jeffrey Epstein. Plus: how plastic production has doubledGood morning.Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.What other information has the force shared? Thames Valley police previously said they were reviewing allegations that a woman was trafficked to the UK by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with Andrew.This is a developing story: follow the latest updates.What is the ISF? According to the UN, which authorized the creation of a temporary force, the ISF will be tasked with securing Gaza's border and maintaining peace within the area. It's also supposed to protect civilians, and train and support vetted Palestinian police forces".What about in case of renewed war? It's unclear what the ISF's rules of engagement would be if there was combat, renewed bombing by Israel, or Hamas attacks.What other news is there from Gaza? A Lancet study has found that the death toll in the first 16 months of the war in Gaza was far higher than reported. Continue reading...

The US president's relentless self-aggrandizement spree continues amid hypocrisy and shifting explanationsAs a real estate developer, Donald Trump built his empire on ostentatious displays of wealth, substantial tax breaks - and lots of free publicity. As president, he has deployed the power of the state to expand his personal brand, adding his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the US Institute of Peace, a class of new navy warships, and even investment accounts for millions of children.Trump is now eyeing yet more grandiose targets in his self-aggrandizement spree. He wants Congress to rename New York's Penn Station and Washington Dulles international airport in his honor. But there's a catch: Trump reportedly told Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, that he would unfreeze billions of dollars in federal funding for a major infrastructure project in the north-east - if Schumer supported renaming the two sites.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University Continue reading...

MLS stakeholders want to turn the interest in this summer's North American World Cup into rocket fuel' for the league. Are those realistic expectations?In 1998, a full eight years before Major League Soccer debuted, it got its first World Cup bump".Fifa had just awarded the 1994 World Cup to the United States, but there was a stipulation. The US could host the tournament, but only if there was a competitive club league in place by the time it rolled around, something that hadn't been true since the North American Soccer League collapsed in 1985. Tournament organisers missed that 1994 deadline, but two years later, MLS became a reality. Thirty years on, it is still here. Continue reading...

There's a basketball renaissance emerging at Columbia, and Megan Griffith's women are leading itI've been going to Columbia basketball games since I was an undergraduate in the 1960s. As a junior, I did some play-by-play for WKCR, the student-run radio station. There was a time long ago when I went to almost every Lions home game. I'm talking about the men. There wasn't a women's basketball team until 1984. For the past few decades, I've watched the men play once a year.When I enrolled at Columbia in September 1963, the Lions' home games were played in University Hall - an antiquated gym with structural columns that impeded fans' views and looked as though it had been built during the Age of Pericles. Columbia had suffered through six straight losing seasons. Two more followed.Thomas Hauser's email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. The audio version of his memoir - My Mother And Me - was recently released. The reading is by Hauser's good friend, Jim Lampley. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing's highest honor - induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Continue reading...

Exclusive: approximately 350-acre compound planned as base for multinational force, according to records reviewed by the GuardianThe Trump administration is planning to build a 5,000-person military base in Gaza, sprawling more than 350 acres, according to Board of Peace contracting records reviewed by the Guardian.The site is envisioned as a military operating base for a future International Stabilization Force (ISF), planned as a multinational military force composed of pledged troops. The ISF is part of the newly created Board of Peace which is meant to govern Gaza. The Board of Peace is chaired by Donald Trump and led in part by his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Continue reading...

In a fiery speech in Los Angeles, the Vermont senator criticizes grotesque' levels of economic inequalityBillionaires are treading on very, very thin ice," Bernie Sanders warned on Wednesday during a fiery speech in Los Angeles, imploring California voters to fight grotesque" levels of economic inequality by approving a proposed tax on the state's richest residents.The Vermont senator railed against the greed", arrogance" and moral turpitude" of the nation's ruling class", calling it fairly disgusting" that some ultra-wealthy tech leaders have fled California - or are threatening to do so, if the proposed wealth tax becomes law. Continue reading...

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder pulls out of India's AI Impact Summit to ensure the focus' remains on event's key priorities'Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote address at the AI Impact Summit in India as he continues to face questions over his relationship with the deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The billionaire Microsoft co-founder travelled to India, where his foundation works with the government on delivering AI for social good, earlier this week and was advertised as speaking at the international summit shortly after the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi. Continue reading...

Representatives of repressive regimes from around the world are flying to Washington for the inaugural meeting of the bodyA grouping of largely oppressive and authoritarian world leaders and their envoys are flying to Washington for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump's newly established Board of Peace.The body was created to implement his vision for Gaza's future after it was destroyed by Israel, but Trump has widened its scope, calling it the most consequential international body in history". Continue reading...

People like me were targets of the Islamophobia that gripped the west after the US-led war on terror'. Now I fear a chilling sequel is on the wayTwenty-five years ago, George W Bush persuaded European leaders to back his war on terror". That disastrous project cost millions of lives and caused mass displacement of people from across the Middle East. It normalised racism and hatred for Muslims, refugees and racialised minorities in the US and Europe. I fear Marco Rubio's speech at the Munich Security Conference, with its calls to defend white, western, Christian civilisation against supposedly contaminating racialised migrants - and the standing ovation he received from European elites - may mark a chilling sequel.Rubio's language of a shared and superior American and European civilisation differs from that of his bosses, Donald Trump and JD Vance. His tone is more emollient but his outreach is conspiratorial. Rubio talks of migration and identity and civilisational anxiety, rather than terrorism and hard security threats as Bush once did. In his Munich speech, Rubio flattered Europeans about the continent's colonial past. He denied preaching a message of xenophobia or hate, and instead framed his call to defend national borders as entirely respectable, dutiful and a fundamental act of sovereignty".Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. She runs New Horizons Project, a strategy, analysis and advisory companyDo 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...

Reports say move could come this weekend as White House urges Iran to make a deal' with Trump on nuclear programThe US military is ready for possible strikes on Iran as soon as this weekend, multiple news outlets reported Wednesday citing unnamed sources.However, the reports said, Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether to carry out an attack. Trump has repeatedly demanded Iran cease its nuclear program, and has warned he intends to use force if no deal is reached. Continue reading...

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Lawsuit is first by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over workplace DEI in Trump's second termA US civil rights agency has sued a bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products it accuses of sex discrimination over an employee networking event that excluded men, its first lawsuit over workplace diversity programs since Donald Trump took office. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, says Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast violated federal law when it hosted the event for about 250 female employees at a casino in Connecticut in September 2024.The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is owned by Kirin Holdings, a Japanese company. Coca-Cola is not a defendant in the case. Continue reading...

After crew on flight 543 reported smoke in the cockpit, passengers and crew exited Airbus A320 via slidesTraffic was temporarily disrupted at Newark Liberty international airport in New Jersey on Wednesday after a Florida-bound JetBlue flight suffered an engine failure on takeoff and returned to the airport, officials said.Crew on flight 543 reported smoke in the cockpit, and after an emergency landing, passengers and crew exited the Airbus A320 on a taxiway via slides, the Federal Aviation Administration said. No injuries were reported. Continue reading...

Avalanches have caused deaths in Lake Tahoe area in six of past 10 years but latest slide is fourth deadliest in US historyThe avalanche that killed at least eight skiers in California's Sierra Nevada mountains occurred in the Castle Peak area, near Lake Tahoe - an area where deadly avalanches are not uncommon.The Sierra Avalanche Center, which provides forecasts for the region, has observed at least 50 avalanches in the area near Lake Tahoe since September 2025. And according to the National Avalanche Center, which maintains a map of locations where avalanche danger is highest, risk is currently particularly high in the Lake Tahoe area. Continue reading...

NYU Langone's decision comes amid Trump administration threats to cut funding to providers who treat trans youthNYU Langone Health, one of New York City's major hospital networks, announced this week that it will shut down its genderaffirming care program for minors, as the Trump administration escalates threats to strip federal funding from providers that treat trans youth.In a statement to the Guardian, spokesperson Steve Ritea said that given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program." He added that the hospital's pediatric mental health services will continue. Continue reading...

The USA and Canada both won in overtime to reach the men's ice hockey last four, while Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the slalomWomen's aerials: the qualifying rounds of accelerating down a ramp and flying through the air. Hanna Huskova, gold medallist in 2018, does a triple somersault, or the the kiss arse blaster" in the commentator's words, but it is only enough to leave her seventh.Women's curling: Back to the brushes, where Rebecca Morrison posts the final stone of the sixth end into perfect position, Team GB take two and go into a 4-3 lead against the USA with four ends left. Continue reading...

The greatest American skier of all time won her first Olympic medal in 2014. The 12 years in between have been marked by brutal ups and downsA lot can happen in 12 years. If you're Mikaela Shiffrin, as a teenager you can become the youngest ever person to win the Olympic slalom, stack a couple more medals at the next Olympics, become the most successful World Cup skier of all time with a record 108 victories, go 10 more Olympic races in a row over three Winter Games without reaching the podium, overcome the two biggest crashes of your career and subsequent battles with self-doubt and post-traumatic stress disorder and eroding trust in your own skiing, and then bring it all back home with a second Olympic slalom gold.You can also lose your dad. Continue reading...