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Put in the proper wider context, the attendance issues that have emerged during the tournament perhaps aren't quite as embarrassing as they seemIf there's a lesson to be learned from the Club World Cup so far, it's that images of nothingness can still generate hysteria. Empty seats - which are apparently a festering scourge upon the game of football, a tragedy representing the plastic bankruptcy of American soccer fandom and/or the Club World Cup, an issue demanding coverage delivered with brows fully furrowed - have been commonplace in the competition's opening dozen games. Social media is awash in panoramic photos from a nation of press boxes, informing you incredulously that this image, so obscene in its emptiness, was taken a mere 45 minutes before kickoff - or (gasp) even closer.Why do we care? What is it about the sight of a whole lot of plastic folding chairs with nobody in them that inflames our passions? Since when did we all become Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican National Convention? Continue reading...

As the Trump administration's security focus shifts towards countering China, European governments are living on borrowed timeCall it the five-for-five summit. When Nato leaders meet in The Hague next week, European allies will sign up to a phoney transatlantic bargain in which they pretend they will spend 5% of their economic output on defence and Donald Trump pretends in return that he is committed to Article 5 of the Nato treaty, the mutual defence clause that he has repeatedly undermined.The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, is deploying all his considerable political wiles and powers of persuasion to contrive a short, no surprises" summit at which fundamental differences over Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, trade, the Middle East and liberal democratic values are deliberately excluded.Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre Continue reading...

This liveblog is now closed.A memorial outside the Minnesota house chambers displays a photo of Melissa and Mark Hortman behind a table where people are dropping off flowers, notes, a hard hat, a plaid shirt. Signs in front of it read in honor of our beloved Melissa". On her desk, a photo and a bouquet of roses.On Monday afternoon, the skies darkened, spilling sheets of rain across the Minneapolis suburbs Melissa Hortman represented. Continue reading...

US president demanded unconditional surrender' from Tehran as Israel's war on Iran appeared to reach crucial moment - key US politics stories from Tuesday at a glanceDonald Trump boosted speculation over whether the US could become involved in Israel's conflict with Tehran on Tuesday, warning Iran's supreme leader that he was an easy target" and that America's patience is wearing thin".In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president wrote: Continue reading...

Kato chef receives award and says immigrant communities in LA are being ripped apart' and urges people to speak upAs Los Angeles chef Jon Yao received a James Beard award, one of the most significant in the culinary industry, he paid tribute to his city and the immigrants that are so central to its culture but are now living in fear amid the Trump administration's brutal immigration crackdown.Our restaurant - we tell stories, stories of immigrants, diaspora, endurance and perseverance," Yao said on Monday. LA is a city built by the toils of immigrant communities and right now those same communities are being ripped apart." Continue reading...

California senator details being restrained and warns of how democratic norms can slip away when power is uncheckedAlex Padilla took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to deliver a deeply personal speech, formally entering into the congressional record his account of being restrained and forcibly removed as he attempted to ask a question at a press conference held by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, in Los Angeles last week.In emotional remarks, Padilla described the encounter that he hoped would serve as a wake up call" for Americans - a warning, he said, of how quickly democratic norms can slip away when dissent is silenced and power is unchecked. Continue reading...

Lander, also the city's comptroller, was arrested for assaulting an officer, said homeland security agencyBrad Lander, New York City's comptroller and a mayoral candidate, was arrested on Tuesday by masked federal agents while visiting an immigration court and accompanying a person out of a courtroom.In a statement to the Guardian, assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin from the Department of Homeland Security said Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer". Continue reading...

Group of California representatives who visited detention center said detainees did not have access to clean clothesCalifornia lawmakers who toured a detention facility where people arrested in sweeping immigration raids at workplaces across the Los Angeles area are being held, have reported deteriorating conditions, including a lack of access to clean clothes and towels.A group of US representatives of southern California districts arrived in Adelanto on Tuesday, a city in the high desert east of Los Angeles, to tour the facility and find constituents who had been detained in the raids over the past week. Continue reading...

Adriana Smith was declared brain dead in February and was kept alive to continue pregnancyA brain-dead Georgia woman who was kept on life support to continue her pregnancy had her baby late last week, according to the woman's mother.The Georgia woman, Adriana Smith, gave birth prematurely via emergency cesarean section on 13 June, Smith's mother, April Newkirk, told the local news station 11Alive, which first reported Smith's story. The baby, named Chance, is in the neonatal intensive care unit and weighs 1lb 13oz, 11Alive reported late on Monday night. Continue reading...

President has dismissed verdict by handpicked spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, that Iran is not developing nuclear weaponsTulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, delivered a concise verdict during congressional testimony this March: the intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and supreme leader Khomeini [sic] has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003".As he rushed back to Washington on Tuesday morning, Donald Trump swatted aside the assessment from the official that he handpicked to deliver him information from 18 US intelligence agencies. I don't care what she said," said Trump. I think they were very close to having one." Continue reading...

Democrat tells Republican Mike Lee that his comments on assassination of Melissa Hortman spread misinformation and caused pain to thousands of MinnesotansThe Minnesota senator Tina Smith said she was so appalled" by her colleague Mike Lee's social media posts spreading misinformation about the assassination of state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband on Saturday that I felt that he needed to hear directly from me."The Democratic senator told the Guardian that she lost a friend and colleague this weekend when a shooter killed Hortman and her husband, Mark. Lee, a Republican senator from Utah, posted erroneously that the assassin was a Marxist" and blamed the state's governor for the killings. Although he deleted the posts on Tuesday, he has not apologized. Continue reading...

Republican Thomas Massie joins with Democrats in effort to require Congress approval before Trump attacks IranAs Donald Trump publicly threatens to join Israel in attacking Iran, an unlikely coalition of lawmakers has moved to prevent the president from involving US forces in the conflict without Congress's approval.On Tuesday, Republican congressman Thomas Massie, whose libertarian-tinged politics have often put him at odds with Trump, joined with several progressive Democrats to introduce in the House of Representatives a war powers resolution that would require a vote by Congress before Trump could attack Iran. Democrat Tim Kaine has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. Continue reading...

Trump sought to underline European irrelevance in the Middle East crisis. All now rests on what he proposes

Exclusive: Sources say US wants information on when importing of raw materials from abroad at Port Talbot site will stopDonald Trump is threatening to keep 25% tariffs on some or all of its steel imports from the UK unless it gives specific guarantees over the Indian-owned steelmaking plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, sources have told the Guardian.An agreement to reduce tariffs on UK car exports to the US and scrap them for the aerospace sector was signed off by the US president and Keir Starmer on Monday, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada. Continue reading...

The senator from California was handcuffed and physically removed from a press conference given by Trump's homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, in Los Angeles last week Continue reading...

The actor used to point vaguely to the sky and suggest the government was watching when asked for a photo. Nowadays, that could lead to some very awkward conversationsSarah Jessica Parker, the Sex and the City star and Booker prize judge, has a nifty trick for getting out of taking selfies with her fans. I did this for a really, really long time and it worked for ever," Parker said in an interview with Howard Stern. I used to say, I can't, because of the government,' and I'd do this," Parker said, pointing up to the sky. It really confused people. This was through different administrations, so it wasn't political."It is not entirely clear why Parker - who has said she refuses to take selfies and would rather have a conversation" instead because it's much more meaningful" - stopped using this brilliant excuse. But one does have to wonder whether it is because the US has become a nation of conspiracy theorists. Rather than backing away from the weird the government is watching" woman, perhaps fans started to excitedly engage her with theories about how Bill Gates has implanted us all with mind-controlling microchips. Or maybe she just got tired of the joke. I don't know. But I'm sure someone out there (the government) does. Continue reading...

Kahikinui fire is 85% contained as firefighting crews battle blazes in Pacific north-west, California and the RockiesA fast-moving Hawaii brush fire fueled by fierce winds forced the evacuation of about 50 Maui residents on the opposite side of the same island where a devastating blaze killed more than 100 people two years ago.The fire started on Sunday in a sparsely populated area with land set aside for Native Hawaiians. Continue reading...

Women juggling work and family say Trump tariffs, inflation and the pay gap are stretching them to a breaking pointWhen it comes to managing the household grocery list, remembering all the various teachers at school, and juggling the family doctors' appointments, Katherine de la Cruz has it all on her plate while working full-time as a paralegal.My brain is on, on, on 24/7. I think even while I sleep, I'm dreaming about what's going to happen," said de la Cruz, who lives in Arizona with her husband, toddler, two foster kids and another baby expected soon. Then my husband tries to calm me down, but bless his heart, like, I mean, moms take out most of the family stuff anyways." Continue reading...

Judge says cuts represent unlawful racial discrimination' and orders grants given to those that filed suit be reinstatedA federal judge ruled on Monday that the Trump administration's termination of more than $1bn in research grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was void and illegal".US district judge William Young added that the cuts, which targeted research with a perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, represented unlawful racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community", Reuters reported. Young, who was appointed to the bench by then president Ronald Reagan, added that he had never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable". Continue reading...

Convicted sex trafficker had been placed in solitary and given medication by prison staff, court filing allegesLawyers for R Kelly say in new court documents that the convicted sex trafficker and singer was recently rushed to hospital after medically overdosing in prison.The 58-year-old reportedly collapsed on Friday at the federal correctional institute in Butner, North Carolina, which specializes in housing sex offenders, and was transported to Duke University hospital. Continue reading...

Lawmakers cite rising threats and hit list naming Democrats as calls grow for more protectionMembers of Congress are urgently reviewing security arrangements following the weekend Minnesota shootings that claimed the lives of a Democratic state legislator and her husband, with many demanding extra funds to beef up their own protection.Fears of increasing levels of political violence were further heightened by the discovery of dozens and dozens" of names of Democratic politicians on a hit list found in the car of Melissa Hortman's accused assassin. One, Michigan congresswoman Hillary Scholten, cancelled a town hall in Muskegon on Monday. Continue reading...

The rightwing media ecosystem spins up narratives to serve their agendas after tragic events, regardless of accuracyTina Smith, a Minnesota senator confronted Mike Lee, a Utah senator, on Monday to tell him directly that his social media posts fueled ongoing misinformation about a shooting that killed her friend.Lee's posts, which advanced conspiracies that a Minnesota assassin was a Marxist" and blamed the state's governor for Melissa Hortman's death, were among many threads of false or speculative claims swirling online after the killings. Continue reading...

Reversal comes days after president posted on Truth Social his very aggressive' raids were hurting farmers and hotelsDonald Trump has abandoned his brief immigration and customs enforcement (Ice) reprieve for farm and hotel workers, ordering the agency's raids in those sectors to resume after hardliners crushed a pause that lasted just four days.The whiplash reversal, first reported by the Washington Post, exposes the dysfunction gripping the president's deportation agenda, where competing advisers battle over policy while Trump lurches between contradictory positions. Continue reading...

Sanders joins Ocasio-Cortez in supporting Mamdani as Cuomo seeks comeback and Adams runs as an independentBernie Sanders has endorsed the leftwing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the latest boost to his insurgent campaign.Mamdani, a democratic socialist like Sanders, is the main rival to the campaign of the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who is seeking to rehabilitate his political career after leaving office amid sexual harassment allegations. Continue reading...

Members of state's powerful public service commission must run for re-election after delays left them in office

George Hornedo is one of many young insurgents challenging party's status quo across USWhen George Hornedo, 34, was still deciding whether to run in the Democratic primary for Indiana's seventh congressional district against longtime incumbent Andre Carson, a party elder looked him in the eyes and said: You are gonna get hurt."Hornedo went home that day and posted a TikTok video recounting the encounter. According to him, it highlighted the reality of the Democratic party. Continue reading...

US president suggests decisive moment is imminent in Israel's bombing campaign

The US president said he was aiming for a 'real end' to the conflict between Israel and Iran, and not just a ceasefire. He told reporters shortly after arriving back in the US from a G7 summit: 'I'm not looking for a ceasefire, we're looking at better than a ceasefire'

US president last night told residents of Tehran to immediately evacuate'. Plus, MyPillow CEO ordered to pay $2.3m

Our cartoonist looks back at the opening games and empty seats as Gianni Infantino's vanity project finally began

Residents call Melissa Hortman and husband Mark, gunned down in targeted killing, amazing people' with huge legacyA memorial outside the Minnesota house chambers displays a photo of Melissa and Mark Hortman behind a table where people are dropping off flowers, notes, a hard hat, a plaid shirt. Signs in front of it read in honor of our beloved Melissa". On her desk, a photo and a bouquet of roses.On Monday afternoon, the skies darkened, spilling sheets of rain across the Minneapolis suburbs Melissa Hortman represented. Continue reading...

A college physician allegedly abused at least 177 male students during his tenure, a story revived in a harrowing new film that highlights how he got away with itOhio State sets the standard in intercollegiate sports. The university's athletics department, a statewide source of pride that includes 36 varsity sports teams (from pistol shooting to college football's reigning national champion), rivals some Fortune 500 companies for scale. In 2024 Ohio State spent $292.8m on its sports programs, more than every school in the well-heeled Big Ten conference and every college in the country besides the University of Texas, while hoovering in more than $1.2bn in revenue over the past seven years. The Ohio State brand - flaunted through scarlet red block-O logos and buckeye tree iconography - is so synonymous with flush times inside and outside the lines that even now few really associate the university with one of most shocking and widespread sex abuse scandals in US history.Eva Orner - the Australian documentary director behind Netflix's Bikram and the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side - got an up-close view years ago on her first flight from Los Angeles to Columbus, home of the Buckeyes and the Ohio State campus. We stopped somewhere," she recalls. There wasn't a direct flight, and it was a game day weekend. When I got on to the connecting flight, everyone was in Buckeyes paraphernalia. I walked around the city, and everything was Buckeyes. I went to the game and watched the tailgating. It's like a fever or a cult. It's an incredible thing and a positive thing - but then when a story like this comes out, it can be very challenging." Continue reading...

The primary justifications for early immigration laws were xenophobia, eugenics, and overt racism. Understanding the history of immigration is essentialThe US immigration system is a scam that dehumanizes people for profit. Communities across the country have had enough.The protests in Los Angeles have invited a long overdue conversation about the true nature of the US immigration system. While the immediate catalysts for the protests were ramped up Ice raids attempting to meet Donald Trump's arbitrary deportation quotas, the protests spring from a deeper history. Continue reading...

With fights hidden behind paywalls and few stars breaking through, the once-popular sport risks irrelevance among the young fans it desperately needs to surviveBoxing is popular with young people in countries like the United Kingdom and Mexico. But it doesn't resonate with young sports fans in the United States the way it once did.Fans of a sport - particularly, team sports - develop lifelong allegiances at an early age and often pass it on to their children. There was a time when fathers and sons in America sat down in front of a television set together and watched Gillette Friday Night Fights or boxing on weekend afternoons. Now, if they sit down together at all, they watch football. Continue reading...

Terry Moran was effectively dismissed from the network after calling Stephen Miller and Trump world-class' hatersA journalist who lost his job at ABC News after describing top White House aide Stephen Miller as someone richly endowed with the capacity for hatred" has said he published that remark on social media because he felt it was true".It was something that was in my heart and mind," the network's former senior national correspondent Terry Moran said Monday on The Bulwark political podcast. And I would say I used very strong language deliberately." Continue reading...

Something was shifting in Iran, but now missiles and the return of foreign interference may tear up the green shoots of progressMissiles follow trajectories. So do countries. And over the past few days, Israel's attacks have dramatically changed Iran's trajectory.Some believe that Iran was already on a downward spiral and that Israel's actions will simply accelerate the descent. In an op-ed published on Monday, several of Iran's most prominent civil society figures, including Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, declared that the only credible path to safeguard [Iran] and its people is the resignation of the current leadership". In this view, the war could be construed as a deliverance - Israeli officials are openly suggesting that their operations could lead to regime change in Iran. But if Iran's decline was already precipitous, why are ordinary Iranians terrified by the outbreak of war? Why have they not welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu as the saviour he imagines himself to be? Continue reading...

Trump could decide to help Israel by joining the fight against Iran, or refrain from involving the US in a new overseas war - either choice will upset his supporters

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Abrupt change of plans comes after president on Truth Social warns residents of Tehran to evacuate immediatelyDonald Trump will return early to Washington on Monday from the G7 summit because of events in the Middle East, US officials said, confronted by an escalating Iran-Israel conflict and the possibility of US involvement hanging in the balance.The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would participate in the G7 family photo and would dine with leaders at the summit in Alberta, Canada, before travelling back a day ahead of schedule. Continue reading...

US president lobbying G7 leaders for Russia to be readmitted - key US politics stories from Monday 16 JuneDonald Trump has told G7 leaders gathered for its summit in Canada that removing Russia from the former G8 was a mistake, and is lobbying for the country to be readmitted. Russia was thrown out of the group after it invaded Crimea in 2014.Trump's defence of Russian leader Vladimir Putin came a day before he was scheduled to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the fringes of the summit. Continue reading...

Fiona Havers says she does not have confidence data will be use to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions'The scientist responsible for overseeing the CDC team that collects data on Covid and RSV hospitalizations resigned on Monday.Dr Fiona Havers told colleagues in an email that she no longer had confidence the data would be used objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions", according to Reuters. Continue reading...

US agency had pledged almost $30m over five years to Hope Through Action initiative, which was launched in 2023The US government funding cuts will hit a chimpanzee conservation project nurtured by the primatologist Jane Goodall.USAID has been subjected to swingeing cuts under Donald Trump, with global effects that are still unfolding. Now it has emerged that the agency will withdraw from the Hope Through Action project managed by the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). USAID had pledged $29.5m (22m) over five years to the project, which was designed to protect endangered chimpanzees and their habitats in western Tanzania. Continue reading...

Officers arrest people at swap meet in Santa Fe and detain people in Montebello as curfew in LA remains in placeUS immigration raids continued to target southern California communities in recent days, including at a popular flea market and in a Los Angeles suburb where US citizens were detained.On Saturday, as mass protests swept the nation, including tens of thousands demonstrating in LA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents descended on a swap meet in Santa Fe Springs in southeast LA county. Video showed dozens of heavily armed, masked officers carrying out the raid before a scheduled concert at the long-running event that features vendors, food and entertainment every weekend Continue reading...