Letter from Democratic senator outlines more no-bid contracts and second botched reflecting pool redoThe US senator Sheldon Whitehouse has sent a letter to the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts detailing allegations from whistleblowers that some renovations were rushed" and federal contracting laws were ignored" to get the center ready for events, including for Donald Trump to receive the Fifa peace prize" during the World Cup draw he hosted there in December.I have received allegations that the Kennedy Center has conducted rushed renovation and maintenance work with disregard to its commitments to Congress and the federal contracting standards the Center has long applied to its own procurements," the Rhode Island Democrat wrote in the letter dated Thursday. Continue reading...
by Billy Munday, Niall McVeigh, Stuart Goodwin and Da on (#76XJP)
As England prepared for their World Cup quarter-final against Norway, all the talk was about a round of golf 18 months beforeThe brilliant Cold War Steve is back with the latest of his special World Cup 2026-themed collages. Look closely!More from Thomas Tuchel. Seize the day is his message. Continue reading...
Ro Khanna said settlers were armed with US-made weapons and Israel Defense Forces refused to interveneThe US congressman Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him during a visit to the Israel-occupied West Bank recently, describing the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation.In an interview with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian village, the progressive US House Democrat from California said his detention happened the previous day while his delegation visited an area of the southern West Bank that has experienced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers. Continue reading...
Body of Nolan Wells, 18, found after he traveled to Horn Island over Fourth of July weekend with three white friendsA mother on Friday pleaded for anyone to come forward with information about what happened to her son, Nolan Wells, a young Black man whose body was found on an island off the coast of Mississippi after he traveled there over the Fourth of July weekend with three white friends.We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn't come home," Christine Wonsley, choking back tears, said at a news conference about her son. Continue reading...
Biden sued Patrick Byrne for defamation over claim that he sought bribe to lobby his father to free $8bn in Iran assetsA federal judge on Friday awarded Hunter Biden $1.7m in punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit he filed against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.Biden sued Byrne - a Donald Trump ally who denied the results of the 2020 election and funded efforts to overturn them - in 2023, accusing Byrne of lying in an interview that Biden had previously sought a bribe from Iran's government in the fall of 2021. Continue reading...
Outlet said journalists subpoenaed to testify before grand jury after story detailed security concerns with Qatar-gifted planeThe Trump administration has issued subpoenas to several New York Times journalists after the newspaper reported on security concerns with the president's new plane, according to the outlet.The Times said its journalists were subpoenaed on Friday by the US justice department to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan five days later, marking the latest effort by the Trump White House to compel testimony from journalists under the threat of penalty. Agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the Times reporters at their homes, the paper added. Continue reading...
by Chris Stein in Iowa City, Iowa, with photographs b on (#76XSF)
The president wooed farmers in his campaign, but now the USDA is yanking funding, citing DEI' and wasteful spendingIt's just an eighth of an acre, but for Lawrencia Rogers, the plot where she grows broccolini, lettuce and beans on land once tilled by poorhouse residents in eastern Iowa is the closest she has come to living her dream.Iowa is one of the most agriculturally productive states in the country, but getting into farming is not easy, particularly for people like Rogers who have no family connections to the business. It's nonetheless been a lifelong passion for the 33-year-old Iowan: at age six, she planted a rosebush that's still alive today, and managed to grow cantaloupe on a strip of dirt and chain-link fence next to the driveway of her grandmother's house. Continue reading...
New Trump administration rules would undermine longstanding research practices. It's death by a thousand cutsA politician who aims to gradually privatize and ultimately destroy an institution funded by tax dollars - say, a public school system or public transportation network - may choose to do so by strategically disinvesting resources from that institution until it becomes barely functional, leading users to look elsewhere to meet their needs. Eventually, the user-base of the public system gets so low or frustrated that it seems reasonable to scrap the thing entirely, or re-direct public funds to private companies as contractors to provide the needed service". We've seen this strategy play out many times in states and city councils across America.It appears that the endgame of the Trump administration's attacks on science and the research funding ecosystem is similar: grant freezes and administrative disarray at federal funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), new layers of project review by political appointees hunting for forbidden keywords such as disparity" and marginalized", and proposed new restrictions to make international collaboration difficult or impossible all point towards a world where it's just too onerous to do federally-funded scientific research. Is the goal to make scientists simply give up on the endeavor?Daniel Malinsky is an assistant professor of biostatistics in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University Continue reading...
The former US Senate candidate's spectacular fall has upended the Maine Senate race and left voters fuming at the partyAlmost exactly one year ago, Graham Platner, who has no political experience, was cherry-picked by out-of-state political activists.According to a person familiar with the campaign, Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, who have made a name for themselves by recruiting populist candidates across the country, traveled to Maine and rented a house near Platner's home in Sullivan to convince him to run for the US Senate. Throughout the process, Moraff became Platner's right-hand man", the person described, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of backlash. Continue reading...
The senator's health is shrouded in mystery after he was hospitalized. Why can't we get a clear answer?Is Mitch McConnell dead?This shouldn't be a difficult question to answer. The response is either yes", no", or something along the lines of he's on life-support but appears to be brain dead."Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The ruthless gutting and reforming of the Department of Homeland Security has traumatized both workers and the most vulnerable immigrantsFederal officials tasked with implementing the Trump administration's mass deportation" program faced an extraordinary campaign of intimidation inside the Department of Homeland Security during the final months of Kristi Noem's tenure and the arrival of her successor, a Guardian investigation found.Over the past four months, the Guardian spoke with more than three dozen current and former Department of Homeland Security officials who described a climate of fear driven by Trump loyalists in senior positions, who sidelined or removed career officials who raised concerns about possibly illegal acts, and threatened termination or arrest in order to stop dissent. Several have also claimed they were subjected to polygraph examinations conducted by US military personnel. Continue reading...
Acting is about human connection across cultural and social divides. But we can't expect much of that in the Tillyverse'Rejoice, cinema lovers. Tilly Norwood is back! Not familiar? I don't blame you, as she's not exactly a household name yet - though a fleet of well-fed publicists is certainly trying to rectify that. Tilly Norwood is an AI actor", as in, an actor that's not actually an actor at all. Just a series of digital blobs and lines of code designed to resemble a young woman in the lucrative 18-to-49-year-old target demographic. Thus far, Tilly has lived exclusively in easily digestible social media clips and hyperbolic press releases about the future of entertainment". But now, she" (I feel like a complete buffoon for assigning a gender to a computer program) is finally ready for the world of feature films. The company Particle6, which spat out this risible creation, announced that it has commenced development on a motion picture starring this very elaborate and expensive cartoon avatar.The film, titled Misaligned, will see Tilly seduced by a rogue program into experimenting with human emotions - desires, impulses, and ambition", as described by Variety. The company claims that the film will be a coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos". I can't help but wonder what resonance a coming-of-age story" can have if the protagonist is a computer program that doesn't understand the concept of time, ageing or mortality. Does Tilly Norwood understand the concept of a 24-hour day? Does she" know the glorious warmth of a mid-afternoon sun? Has she" ever forgotten to move her car because it's street cleaning day on her block? Tilly Norwood, being an animated sprite, is neither coming" nor of age". But then again, isn't acting all about accessing experiences you've never had?Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...
Senator's office has released only sparse details about hospital stay, leaving fevered speculation to fill vacuumMystery surrounding Senator Mitch McConnell's health is deepening as the US Congress prepares to return from recess next week.McConnell, 84, has not been seen in public since he was admitted to hospital in the Washington area on 14 June. Nearly a month later, the Kentucky Republican's office has released only sparse updates, saying he is continuing to improve" and remains engaged with Senate business, while refusing to disclose the nature of his illness or explain why he remains hospitalised. Continue reading...
The former England midfielder is everywhere at this World Cup, having reached a popularity in the US other Britons have rarely achievedWatch US television for any length of time and the endless spume of adverts will eventually separate into three distinct types.The first are adverts for units of generic food-substance, each one essentially the same hand-sized grenade of glossy and salted microminced matter; but each also with its own industrialised repertoire of colours and noise and packaging required to dress it as a distinct genre of actual human food. Try the delicious new Flame Sauced Philly Cheese Taco Wing Waffle Dog Deep Dish MegaDeath Burger Grenade-Shaped Eat Thing. You won't be disappointed. Or you will be. Whatever. Continue reading...
Even White House interference and Fifa's greed cannot spoil the celebrations. At last, an arena in which multiculturalism triumphs and underdogs scoreOf all the outrageous things Donald Trump has done, from bombing other countries to appeasing dictators, his sneaky interference in last week's USA v Belgium World Cup match sparked by far the most united and furious reaction across the world. Condemnation was all but universal. Trump's cheating heart cannot understand the unmatched, ubiquitous power that the beautiful game" exercises over ordinary lives everywhere. It massively surpasses his own. The world truly loves football. It doesn't love him. And then USA lost the match anyway. Karma. This modern morality play joyously illuminated the limits of authoritarianism.In an age dominated by overbearing, illiberal economic and military powers, the men's World Cup is upending the conventional geopolitical pecking order and power balances in refreshing and instructive ways. In this alternative universe, smaller nations - and ordinary people - can and often do get a bigger shout. Despite huge state investment in all aspects of the game, China again failed to qualify. Russia, never much good at football in the first place, was kicked out after invading Ukraine. And despite all Trump's Maga hooliganism, the US remains soccer small fry. So much for superpowers.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
President says he would refuse to sign housing bill without passage of voting legislation, but without veto it will still become lawA major housing bill has automatically become law without Donald Trump's signature, after the president said he would refuse to sign the legislation because Congress has not approved new restrictions on voting nationwide.The measure, known as the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, is the biggest change to federal policy for buyers, renters and homebuilders in decades, and Congress approved it with large margins last month after lengthy negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. Continue reading...
Judge says he's granting request to dismiss prosecutions even though request is clearly based not on facts or the lawA federal judge nominated by Donald Trump during his first term reluctantly agreed on Friday to grant the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss the seditious conspiracy convictions against leaders of the Proud Boys who were convicted by a jury of serious crimes during the attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters on 6 January 2021.The US district judge Timothy Kelly noted in a seven-page memorandum that the Proud Boy leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were all convicted of multiple crimes, including seditious conspiracy, and a fourth member of the group, Dominic Pezzola, was convicted of assaulting an officer and breaking a Capitol window, thereby helping to create the first entry point through which hundreds of rioters streamed into the building". Continue reading...
Workers observed draining water from Lincoln Memorial pool plagued by algae blooms and peeling paintCrews were observed Friday draining the plagued Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, a landmark at the heart of Donald Trump's mission to beautify Washington DC.Interior secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency oversees the National Park Service, told conservative podcaster Katie Miller in an interview released earlier this week that the new round of draining was planned. He also said that the water might still contain debris from an extensive Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall. Continue reading...
Habitat destruction strongest driver of species loss, with legislation keeping 99% of listed species from going extinctThe Trump administration repealed a crucial part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Friday, finalizing a new rule that will open habitats of imperiled wildlife to development, logging, mining and other uses.For the last 50 years, the landmark environmental law included a broader understanding of the word harm", which ensured that not just the plants and animals themselves were protected but also the places that are critical to their survival. The inclusion of habitat in the harm" definition was upheld by the supreme court in 1995, which ruled in support of old-growth forest protections relied on by endangered spotted owls. Continue reading...
Paperwork ends Democratic campaign laden with scandals, including most recently accusations of sexual assaultGraham Platner, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, officially withdrew his candidacy on Friday afternoon, ending a campaign laden with scandals.Maine's secretary of state confirmed Platner had filed the paperwork to remove his name from the November ballot, two days after Platner publicly said he planned to exit the race. Continue reading...
Venture between two Pennsylvania senators stokes speculation about Fetterman's future in Democratic partyThe Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman's increasingly rightward lurch.Pennsylvania's two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement. Continue reading...
Matthew Wielicki frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos from rightwing PragerUThe Trump administration has tapped a former geochemist who has railed against climate alarmism" and calls himself an Earth science professor-in-exile" to oversee the federal government's flagship report about climate impacts on the US.Matthew Wielicki, who lacks formal training in climate science, will now lead the nation's Global Change Research Program, which federal officials have gutted during Trump's second term. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Kai Wright and Carter Sherman , with Shr on (#76XD3)
Earlier this week, Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, was accused by a former partner of sexual assault. Platner denies the allegations, but on Wednesday, he suspended his campaign, accusing the political establishment" of tanking his candidacy. But this is only the most recent scandal to have surfaced around Platner's campaign - over the past year, the oyster farmer and combat veteran was revealed to have a tattoo that closely resembled a Totenkopf (a widely recognized Nazi symbol), a long paper trail of racist, misogynist and homophobic posts on Reddit, and in June, the New York Times published allegations from three former partners about Platner's toxic" behavior in their relationships, including, in several cases, physical intimidation (allegations Platner denied).
Rule from Mamdani administration bans companies from trapping customers into paying recurring charges and junk fees'New York City has adopted a new rule that bans companies from using deceptive subscriptions to trap customers into paying for gym memberships, streaming services and other recurring charges, the city's consumer protection office said.The new rule, which will start on 1 October, promises hefty fines and aggressive enforcement for violators. Companies that do not provide a simple way to cancel could pay $525 per user subscription, back fees and additional fines. Continue reading...
Advocacy group calls on acting attorney general to lead thorough, transparent federal investigation'The deaths in recent days of two Black men in Tennessee, one in the custody of police and the other at the hands of national guard troops, has prompted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to demand the suspension of the so-called Memphis Safe Task Force, Donald Trump's anti-crime alliance of federal, state and local law enforcement.In a letter to the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Friday, the NAACP also demanded a thorough, transparent federal investigation" into the actions of the taskforce, which it said has surged federal and military officers into Memphis with insufficient training for civilian policing. Continue reading...
Tyler Robinson is accused of shooting the far-right activist at Utah Valley University last yearA five-day preliminary hearing to determine whether the case against Tyler James Robinson, the man charged with killing Charlie Kirk, will advance to trial came to a close on Friday.Final arguments are set to take place in September. US district judge Tony Graf will sift through the evidence presented by the state and Robinson's defense team before issuing a ruling. Continue reading...
The US's 250th anniversary, the funeral of Ali Khamenei, another brutal heatwave in Europe and the World Cup - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...
Company reports $1.4bn profit despite its highest quarterly fuel expense in historyDelta Airlines saidelevated airfares are likely to last despite a recent drop in oil prices, reporting strong appetite for travel and record-high revenue in its quarterly results Friday.Though the company had its highest quarterly fuel expense in its history, demand has been high enough to pass along 60% of its extra fuel costs to consumers, Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, told CNBC, with plans to eventually pass along all elevated costs. Continue reading...
by Presented by Lucy Hough with Matt Hughes ; produce on (#76X5W)
There is just one week to go until the winner of the World Cup is crowned, and it has been a memorable tournament, not least due to the extraordinary intervention by Donald Trump this week that shocked the football world. Lucy Hough speaks to global sports business correspondent Matt Hughes Continue reading...
Minnesota 15' indicted after opposing ICE crackdown - just the latest attempt by Trump DoJ to criminalize resistanceDays after pleading not guilty to conspiracy charges, Emmett Doyle took the stage at a dive bar in Minneapolis, and performed an Irish protest ballad. And you dare to call me a terrorist, while you look down your gun," he sang during his set.The tune has particular resonance now that Doyle, a musician and carpenter who the US government claims is an antifa" domestic terrorist, awaits trial for protesting. That song has been a source of inspiration for me, in finding courage to face this ordeal," he said. Continue reading...
Over the last six months, activists have ensured the US doesn't forget enslavement in the nation's first capitalOn an overcast day, Tiffany Cooper, a visitor, snapped a photo of a panel about an enslaved woman at the President's House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The remainder of the brick wall was blank, with bolts serving as the only reminder of the other panels that once stood there.As a Black woman, Cooper said that she felt a deep sadness at the incompleteness" of the exhibit. It once detailed the lives of nine enslaved Africans who served George Washington when Philadelphia was the US capital in the 1790s. Continue reading...
The Magnolia Mother's Trust is the first to target low-income families led by Black mothers in Jackson, MississippiThree months after giving birth to her son, Amaya Jones moved into a new apartment complex. She knew no one else in the building, but it was a fresh start for her and her two children. One day, someone put up a flyer on her unit's door, notifying her about a program called the Magnolia Mother's Trust (MMT).Launched in 2018, the MMT is the longest-running guaranteed income program in the country, and the first to target extremely low-income families headed by Black mothers in Jackson, Mississippi. With no strings attached, the program provides mothers with $1,000 a month for 12 months. Continue reading...
After a fun World Cup with a dismal end, the US enters the 2030 cycle with numerous avenues to rebuild the squadThere are massive questions lingering around the US men's program. Mauricio Pochettino's contract is up, US Soccer has made an extension offer, but both parties are taking some time. Matt Crocker's abrupt exit as sporting director to take a similar job with Saudi Arabia before the World Cup begs more queries about the direction of the sport in this country. And while most of the 2026 squad's core still projects to contend for 2030, four years is a long time.From now, each year offers a major tournament. This is what the US should hope to clarify at every step of the way. Continue reading...
State hit by new wrongful death lawsuit by family of Jason Wilson, who died in brutally hot, un-airconditioned' cellTexas, the state with the largest prison population in the US, is coming under mounting legal pressure to address the ongoing crisis of brutal heat in its cells, as extreme summer temperatures expose inmates to suffering, illness and even death.The Texas department of criminal justice (TDCJ), the state agency that runs dozens of prisons, has been hit by a new wrongful death lawsuit by the family of Jason Wilson. The inmate was found dead in his solitary confinement cell at the Coffield unit in July 2024. Continue reading...
For progressives too, working-class heroes are bearded, buff white guys. Their treatment of women can be overlookedAna Marie Cox's New Republic profile of the Maine oyster farmer and former Democratic senatorial candidate Graham Platner begins with an encounter on the shore with a salt in rubber boots. Learning that she's looking for Platner, the guy says: Good man."In the 2025 article, Cox is charmed by Platner, who's as voluble as this guy is terse. She's impressed by the oyster, calling it a metaphor for how labor, science, and regulation can still stitch together a community and economy.". Continue reading...
It comes from his willingness to violate all norms, rules and laws - and leaving everyone else to pick up the piecesAt the Nato summit just ended, Trump lashed out at other Nato members, saying he was very disappointed with Nato" and asking: Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they're not there for us?" He reiterated his desire to take over Greenland, blasted European energy and immigration policies, insulted Spain, and worried allies by declaring that the fighting between Kyiv and Moscow doesn't affect us."Yet throughout the proceedings, Trump was treated by other Nato powers with as much courtesy and respect as any US president has ever received from Nato - perhaps more. It was a great meeting, there was a lot of love in that room, a lot of unity," Trump said when it was over.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK Continue reading...
As the US president swung between threats to take Greenland and promises of help for Ukraine, pledges of a stronger Nato' were lost in the windNato leaders survived another nerve-racking summit with Donald Trump and the 77-year-old defence alliance lives to fight another day, proving its durability against Atlantic storms. But it will never feel safe as long as the unpredictable, vengeful and ruthlessly transactional US president is in the White House.As usual, Trump stole all the headlines at the annual summit, with a mixture of Nato-bashing and implausible threats to take control of Greenland and cut trade with Spain. He declared the ceasefire with Iran dead and called Iranian leaders scum" as US warplanes bombed Iranian targets along the strait of Hormuz. Pitted against such irresistible clickbait, no Nato communique stood a chance of public attention. Continue reading...
The populist Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine bowed to the inevitable but turned his farewell into a pity partyAlways give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."These were the parting words of Richard Nixon after he was forced to resign the presidency over the Watergate imbroglio in 1974. For Graham Platner on Wednesday, the stakes were somewhat smaller. But when it came to suspending his Senate campaign in Maine, the Democrat had plenty of hate to go around. Continue reading...
Democrats need a candidate who can speak to working-class, inland and rural Mainers. A logger from the North Woods seems like the obvious choiceMaine's US Senate race was blown wide open by Graham Platner dropping out of the race. Thankfully, a suitable populist is at hand to fill the breach. His name is Troy Jackson.Jackson was born to a 16-year-old mother in the northern Maine town of Fort Kent. He is a fifth-generation logger, union member and former state legislator. As a teenager himself, he went to work in the woods, and by 1998 he led a union logging blockade to prevent Canadian scabs from working Maine jobs.Dustin Guastella is a research associate at the Center for Working Class Politics and the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Agents seeking different person when they killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Mexican who had lived in US for 35 yearsLorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man killed by federal immigration agents during a traffic stop in Houston this week, was not the intended target of the enforcement operation", the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were reportedly seeking two people from Guatemala when they attempted to stop Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for 35 years, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...
Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission maintains mail-voter registration form, among other dutiesDonald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from the White House presidential personnel office. Continue reading...
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