US news | The Guardian

In July, Donald Trump hid in a catering truck and reportedly secretly switched planes in a security ruse prompted by a credible Iranian assassination threat.The Guardian breaks down the footage from that day, showing how the president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight. Trump's actual location was concealed from journalists and some White House staff, who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older plane

Amid public concern over the impact of new technology, Silicon Valley's use of its wealth to influence specific election races is an unwelcome developmentAs the huge societal ramifications of artificial intelligence have become clear, some of the tech industry's most senior figures have taken to writing thinkpieces on what comes next. The latest to do so is Mark Zuckerberg, who this week published 6,500 words making the case for a laissez-faire approach to AI development. Worrying too much about regulation, Meta's CEO unsurprisingly opines, could lead to the United States falling behind in the race to own the future.Mr Zuckerberg's plea for maximum autonomy is, of course, self-serving. Much of his essay - which airily envisions invention superpowers" for every entrepreneur and an abundance of jobs in the future" - reads like unadulterated tech-utopianism. But the lobbying at least has the merit of being out there in the open. As midterm elections loom in the US, darker arts are also being used to counter popular concern about what AI will mean for a host of topics, from the labour market to child safety, the environment and cybersecurity. Continue reading...

Jacob Jake' Whisenant died in Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness in climbing-related incident', authorities sayA 30-year-old California climber known for breaking speed records died after falling in the Sierra Nevada wilderness last week, according to authorities.Jacob Jake" Whisenant, from Mammoth Lakes, California, died in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness on 3 August, according to the Tulare county sheriff's office coroner unit and the National Park Service (NPS). Continue reading...

Our children should be able to visit our nation's capital without having to think about Donald Trump and about how much he did to deface itHistory has shown us how much dictators and aspiring dictators love building monuments to themselves. They enjoy reminding the world that they can do anything, no matter who is responsible for the physical labor or who will be paying the financial and human cost.They prefer outsized structures, heroic arches, towers and columns designed to prove that their signature and their esthetic will be with us forever, even after they're dead, though dictators often seem to believe they are too powerful to die.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 Continue reading...

Prosecutors allege that Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson outside New York City hotel in December 2024Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, appeared Tuesday morning in Manhattan state court for a final pre-trial conference, where the judge addressed contentious issues surrounding media access at the highly anticipated trial.Judge Gregory Carro announced that there would be an overflow courtroom for the 8 September trial. The media access plan for Mangione's case did not initially include an overflow courtroom - which is common in high-profile cases, such as Donald Trump's New York criminal trial. Continue reading...

Baltimore officer Dequwan Houchins, 30, indicted for allegedly making false traffic stop reports for monthsA Baltimore, Maryland, police officer avoided service calls by claiming he was on traffic stops when he was in fact sitting idle in his car", according to an indictment filed by city prosecutors.Dequwan Houchins, 30, is accused of four counts of false entry in a public record and five counts of misconduct in office and could face 12 years in jail and a $4,000 fine for each of the false entry charges, if convicted. Continue reading...

Buildings collapse and more than 470 people hurt in 7.4-magnitude quake. Plus, in such a vast universe why is there no sign of aliens?

Tuskegee University's dress code is a marker of a harmful politics of respectability. In my academic career, it's become all too familiarIn anticipation of the coming school year, the president of Tuskegee University, Dr Mark A Brown, sent welcome letters to students and their parents last month. Part of the message focused on the university's policy for student attire. A newly enforced dress code prohibits students from wearing revealing clothing in class, to the cafeteria or in official settings like Convocation. They are also not able to wear bedroom shoes, bonnets, or durags to class or the cafeteria." Dr Brown goes on to let the students know: Faculty will be empowered to respond to students who are inappropriately dressed based on these guidelines."The policy has produced polarized responses. Supporters believe that since the university is a private school, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have often been places where Black people learn discipline and earn entrance into the professional world, this dress code is simply reinforcing a tradition that calls for students to exhibit professionalism during their training. It harkens back to WEB DuBois's idea of a Talented Tenth", which would consist of upwardly mobile Black leaders such as teachers and other professionals whose example of hard work and social standing would uplift the entire race. Continue reading...

Largest for-profit hospital system and operator in the US reported $6.8bn in profits, while employees find it difficult to make ends meetUnion workers with HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit hospital system and operator in the US, are holding picket protests across the country as they push for pay and staffing increases in a new contract.The hospital system has over 300,000 employees in the US and the UK, with 22,000 US workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who are in contract negotiations with HCA. Workers are asking for a pathway to a $25 an hour minimum wage, improved wage scales and raises that match the increased cost of living, along with benefits including paid vacation, sick time and bolstered work protections. Continue reading...

It doesn't have to be this way. We know what needs to be doneDisturbing news about our water resources is now constant and unrelenting. In just the past few weeks, media have reported that Puerto Rico is suffering a deep water crisis as severe drought has cut water supplies to thousands. The Rhine and Po rivers in Europe are at record low levels. The seven states sharing the Colorado River in the US are fighting over unprecedented shortages, while its major reservoirs have shrunk to their lowest levels since they were built.Hungary's only nuclear power plant is on the verge of shutting down because there isn't enough water in the Danube River to cool it. Toxic chemicals have been found in all English water bodies. Continue reading...

Two advisers have links to a venture fund co-investing in US defense companies that benefit from federal spendingPete Hegseth's appointments to a key Pentagon advisory body include two men with ties to the venture capital fund where Donald Trump Jr is a partner, which has lucrative investments in military and space technology.Defense Policy Board appointee Marc Andreessen's firm, Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley's largest venture capital firms and known by the name a16z", co-invests alongside the Trump partnership 1789 Capital in three defense contractors. Fellow DPB appointee Blake Masters also sits on the boards of three ventures tied to 1789 Capital. Continue reading...

From progressive and moderate to election deniers, state sees wide spectrum of candidates in test of direction for both partiesMinnesota voters on both sides of the aisle are weighing the direction of their parties - and their chances of winning over the general electorate - in marquee statewide races on Tuesday.On the left, Peggy Flanagan, the state lieutenant governor and a progressive, faces off against Angie Craig, a US representative, for the Democratic bid for US senate in a race punctuated by the role of immigration enforcement in the state that saw two residents killed by immigration agents in a winter surge. Continue reading...

Republicans, including Graham's sister Darline, expedite campaigns to replace late senator in special primary raceIn the race to replace the late US senator Lindsey Graham, 10 candidates have been barnstorming South Carolina diners, church halls and recreation centers, compressing a normal year of campaigning into about a fortnight.The Republican party is staging a special primary election in the state on Tuesday to choose Graham's replacement. His sister, Darline, who has been serving as interim senator following his sudden death last month, is on the ballot. Continue reading...

There's no evidence that vaccines cause autism, or that we should separate MMR shots. This order is dangerousThis is based on what I feel." That was the president last September, explaining why he wanted the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine broken into three separate shots. On Monday, he signed an executive order instructing exactly that.Four decades in intensive care have taught me what a feeling costs once it becomes national policy. Children will be hospitalized who did not need to be. Some of them will die. No one can name those the vaccine has saved, because prevented harm is invisible by definition, and that invisibility is what makes preventive medicine easy to dismantle and hard to defend. Continue reading...

A recent letter signed by 1,367 researchers and engineers at frontier AI labs - mainly OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Deepmind - points to a dangerous momentIt is fashionable in certain circles to dismiss the catastrophic risks of AI. One often hears that the real experts" who work on the technology every day are really not concerned at all; that only doomers" and Luddites" espouse a fringe" view from a position of ignorance"; that all talk of potential catastrophe is just science fiction".Fortunately, an open letter has been published that lets us hear from the real experts who work on the technology every day, in their own words. And are they worried? Very. Continue reading...

The Portland rink where Tonya Harding first skated was an affordable community institution for six decades. Its closure echoes the disappearance of mall ice across the USWhen the Lloyd Center shopping mall first opened its doors in 1960, it boasted a unique feature: an ice rink. In the nearly seven decades since, that ice rink - first outdoor, then enclosed by a glass ceiling that sheltered mall-goers from the elements - became a cultural epicenter for Portlanders.Children accompanying parents on errands spotted peers gliding across the ice and begged for lessons. Shoppers, taking a break from the stores, watched idly from the three levels that looked out over the ice. At Christmas, a giant tree adorned the middle of the rink, making Lloyd Center an essential part of the holiday season. Continue reading...

One of the player's WNBA rivals said the Fever guard is treated differently from her Black peers. There's plenty of evidence to back that statement upWhite privilege. An accusation that triggers multitudes of white people in America as if you had insulted their mother. Mention racism, and people may debate you. Mention discrimination, and people may even listen. But say the words white privilege", and suddenly defenses go up, outrage erupts, and people start explaining why privilege couldn't possibly have anything to do with what everyone just witnessed with their own eyes.Which brings us to DiJonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham. Continue reading...

Elaborate ruse was used to transport president to military flight from Air Force One in JulyDonald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey to Britain last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse - prompted by an Iranian assassination threat - that involved hiding the president in an airport catering container, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post. Continue reading...

Jennifer Balkcom to face Democrat Jamie Ager in race to represent North Carolina's 11th congressional districtNorth Carolina Republicans on Monday chose state lawmaker Jennifer Balkcom to replace Chuck Edwards, the incumbent congressman who earlier this month dropped his re-election bid after a US House investigation determined his conduct towards to young female staffers likely amounted to sexual harassment.Balkcom will face off against the Democratic nominee, Jamie Ager, in the November midterm elections to represent the 11th congressional district in western North Carolina. Though Donald Trump won the district by 10 percentage points two years ago, Democrats believe Ager may have a shot at winning amid the president's low approval ratings and frustration over the pace of recovery from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the region in 2024. Continue reading...

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New York mayor's office plans to appeal ruling, which comes after homeowners sued over property surcharges last weekA judge has temporarily blocked Zohran Mamdani's pied-a-terre tax, which would place a surcharge on second homes in New York City, dealing a blow to the progressive New York City mayor after homeowners sued over the policy.The tax would apply to people who own, but do not reside full-time in, any house worth more than $5m, or a condominium or cooperative unit worth at least $1m. Continue reading...

Company also announced a paid service for early access to president's posts on policies to the social media siteDonald Trump's media company - which owns the Truth Social platform favored by the US president - posted a $238m loss in the second quarter.Trump Media & Technology on Monday reported that losses in the three months through June came as the company branched into new ventures including crypto. The company's new chief executive, Kevin McGurn, announced at a conference call about the earnings that after a yearlong effort to expand into online betting and crypto, the company would be refocusing on social media. Continue reading...

Thousands mourn the death of the eagle at California's Big Bear Lake, whose life was closely followed via livestreamJackie - the beloved bald eagle at California's Big Bear Lake whose livestream was followed by millions of viewers as she birthed and raised chicks - died on Monday due to a mysterious illness. She was 14.Jackie had been receiving treatment at the Ojai Raptor Center since mid-July when she was found weak and unable to fly after a scuffle with two younger eagles. Experts at the center had discovered that she was suffering from severe anemia, and suspected she had been sick for weeks before the fight grounded her. Continue reading...

Congresswoman demands answers after a DHS agent was apparently stationed outside her Minnesota town hallDonald Trump's administration is facing questions over whether it is using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to surveil political opponents" after after an investigative agent was apparently stationed outside Democratic representative Ilhan Omar's monthly town hall meeting in Richfield, Minnesota.After the incident, Omar demanded the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarify whether Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents have been used to monitor any other activity" involving local, state, or federal officials" in the state. Continue reading...

Incidents of damaged trees at Burnt Cedar beach have been reported since 2022 and seem to be linked, officials sayPine trees near Lake Tahoe are being poisoned in what authorities believe are a series of interconnected incidents in the popular tourist community on border of Nevada and California.The incidents have damaged nearly 30 trees, some reportedly more than a century old, and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. Continue reading...

Loyalist sworn in after Senate voted narrowly in favor of his confirmation on Saturday morningTodd Blanche has been sworn as US attorney general, cementing Donald Trump's installation of his former personal attorney in charge of the Department of Justice.Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, was confirmed in his new position during a ceremony at the White House on Monday. The 52-year-old is the second Senate-confirmed attorney general of Trump's second term, after Pam Bondi, who was ousted earlier this year. Continue reading...

Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisisJuly was the hottest month ever recorded in the US, with repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records stretching back over the full 132 years of reliable measurements.Last month's average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, which excludes Alaska and Hawaii, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has no interest in agreeing to a deal. For relief to come to Gaza, real US pressure must be exertedAt the end of July, Donald Trump announced that a monumental" US-backed deal had been struck on Gaza, securing the phased disarmament of Hamas in parallel with Israeli military withdrawal. Three days later it was reported that another 18 people had died in Israeli airstrikes. Not for the first time, it appeared that Mr Trump's rhetoric had only a distant relationship with the reality it purported to describe.Such suspicions were duly confirmed yesterday. Under pressure from far-right members of his coalition, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, explicitly rejected the sequencing of a 15-point plan from the increasingly hapless Board of Peace - an international body set up by the US president - and poured scorn on a wave of rumours of ... Israeli withdrawals on all fronts". In a direct message to the White House, MrNetanyahu stated that we know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary."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...

Move closes loophole but doesn't include definition of ultra-processed foods, promised earlier this yearThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing its rules on how food manufacturers notify them of ingredients brought to the market - but the Trump administration has once again punted on defining ultra-processed foods", promising more details later.While the move would close a regulatory loophole, it falls short of the administration's promises to reform food regulations dramatically even as one of the biggest foodborne illness outbreaks unfolds. Continue reading...

US president on Truth Social concedes contractor had cut some corners to finish $14m renovation project by deadlineDonald Trump has conceded his own administration's renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was rushed and shoddy, while insisting that alleged vandals were to blame for damage to the Washington landmark.In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said the pool's contractor had cut some corners to finish the $14m repainting project in time for a 4 July opening. As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job," he wrote on Sunday, claiming the resulting damage from this was confined to a very small area" and relatively inconsequential". Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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