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Brooke Rollins also claimed automation can replace the immigrant labor force despite repeated evidence of failureThe US agriculture secretary has suggested that increased automation and forcing Medicaid recipients to work could replace the migrant farm workers being swept up in Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, despite years of evidence and policy failures that those kinds of measures are not substitutes for the immigrant labor force underpinning American agriculture.Speaking at a news conference with Republican governors on Tuesday, Brooke Rollins said the administration would rely on automation, also some reform within the current governing structure", and pointed to 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program" as potential workers. Continue reading...

The systematic destruction of Gaza is hardly a secret. Now, the IDF is posting Facebook ads for bulldozer operators to help demolish the stripOmer Bartov is an Israeli-American historian and one of the foremost scholars on genocide in the world. He has spent over 25 years teaching a class on the subject. He deals with atrocities for a living, analyzing some of the very worst things that human beings are capable of. And yet even Bartov has said he can't bear looking at some of the excruciating images coming out of Gaza any more.What's happening, Bartov says, is unprecedented in the 21st century. I don't know of any comparable situation. Recent estimates show that about 70% of the structures in Gaza are either completely destroyed or severely damaged," Bartov says. The argument that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is conducting a war in Gaza is simply cynical, there is no war in Gaza. What the IDF is doing in Gaza is demolishing it. Hundreds of buildings are being bulldozed every week. This is not a secret, but mainstream media coverage has been insufficient." Continue reading...

We want to hear about what major decisions people might be delaying under the Trump administration and whyAs Donald Trump approaches six months in office as president, his administration's agenda has shaken every corner of US life.According to research from Harris Poll, Americans are reconsidering major life events including marriage, having children and buying a home amid economic anxiety under the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Patrick Bailey chugged around the bases to defeat the Phillies - the first time a game has been won that way since 2016Patrick Bailey's entrance into the Major League Baseball record books on Tuesday night began with a tight swing that sent a fastball from Phillies reliever Jordan Romano into Triples Alley.It ended with Bailey chugging his way around third base then getting mobbed at home plate by his teammates after becoming the third catcher in major league history to hit a game-ending, inside-the-park home run. Continue reading...

Health secretary backs company criticized for selling junk-laden meals to Medicaid patients on Make America healthy again' tourHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr promoted a company whose meals contain ultra-processed ingredients - which he has repeatedly railed against - on his Make America healthy again" tour.Kennedy appeared at an enormous food plant in Oklahoma for a company called Mom's Meals, which makes 1.5m medically tailored" meals each week and ships them all over the country. Continue reading...

Trump's budget bill is creating a colossus with more resources than many national militariesOn Thursday, congressional Republicans passed Trump's 1,000-page budget, and the president signed it on Saturday. The rich will get obscenely richer. The poor will be hungrier and sicker, work more precarious, and the planet unrelentingly hotter. The symmetry is elegant: cuts to healthcare and food programs average about $120bn each year over the next decade, while the tax cuts will save households earning more than $500,000 about $120bn a year.Trump got what he wanted. But enriching himself and his wealthy friends at the expense of everyone else has long been his life purpose. It was not until he became president, with the Heritage Foundation's wonks, the deportation czar Stephen Miller, and six loyal supreme courtiers behind him, that he could reshape the US in his own amoral, racist, violence-intoxicated image. In fact, the latter goal may be dearer to him than the former. Continue reading...

US president appears to have run out of patience with his Russian counterpart - but how that transmits into practical support for Kyiv remains to be seen

Heavy rains triggered flash flooding in Ruidoso that was so intense an entire house was swept downstreamThree people have died in a mountain town in southern New Mexico that is a popular summer retreat after monsoon rains triggered flash flooding that was so intense an entire house was swept downstream, officials said.A man and two children were swept away Tuesday by flood waters, the village of Ruidoso said in a statement. Continue reading...

A market-centered model and growing inequality led to rightwing ascendance. This moment calls for a new regional solidarityThe second world war ended with an agreement of coexistence that included the creation of the UN multilateral system and a development model that combined the state, the market and democracy as an arena for political dispute. In Latin America, this was reflected in the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) model, which promoted protectionism and addressed social issues through fiscal targeting.But in the last quarter of the 20th century, the same postwar organizations imposed a new, market-centered model. Value was replaced by price, trade liberalization was prioritized and social issues were subordinated to the laws of the market. The concentration of capital and the delegitimization of democracy broke the previous consensus. Although progressive governments emerged, they were unable to contain the rise of the new autocratic right, supported by de facto powers such as the media, the church, the military and the technocracy. The crisis of representation led political parties to abandon their bases, leaving room for anti-politicians" who found a platform in mainstream media.Ernesto Samper Pizano was president of Colombia from 1994 to 1998

New financial rules for college sports theoretically give football players newfound compensation, but the terms of the deals don't account for injuryRevenue sharing is now a feature of college athletics. Thanks to the house settelement signed in May, schools are permitted to spend $20.5m annually across sports, including through expanded scholarships and direct payments (of which it appears football will generally receive approximately 75%). This would seem to mitigate the longstanding problem of exploitation in college football.However, in a sport still defined by extreme injury, recently disclosed provisions in the new Florida State University (FSU) revenue-sharing contract show that schools appear to simply be finding new ways to extract value from players, as ever at startling personal cost. Continue reading...

In a new series on undocumented workers, construction laborers tell the Guardian fear is fueling wage theft and workplace abuseAs the Trump administration ramps up its crackdown on immigration, undocumented workers in the construction industry claim raids and arrests have emboldened some contractors to cut pay and increase hours.Rogelio, a tile setter, works for various contractors in the the Tucson, Arizona region. He is undocumented, and did not provide his full name. Continue reading...

Commissioners for the city of Miami rewrote their election laws to push the off-year 2025 local races to 2026 without input from voters. The decision has sparked outrageCandidates for local office in Miami have been prepping mailers, gathering volunteers, raising money and hitting the street for the last year, with voters expecting to see a robust campaign to replace the city's term-limited, scandal-chased mayor.Last week, Miami's city commission told those voters they'll have to wait an extra year. In a 3-2 vote, the commission changed the city's election bylaws to push the municipal races back to 2026. Continue reading...

Justices lift lower court order that froze reductions in force' layoffs while litigation in case proceeded. Plus, Ed Sheeran tries his hand at artGood morning.The US supreme court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers, which critics warn could threaten important government services.What have the Democrats said? They condemned the ruling. Antjuan Seawright, a party strategist, said: This rightwing activist court has proven ruling after ruling, time after time, that they are going to sing the songs and dance to the tune of Trumpism."How many have been killed seeking food? The casualties totalled 640 killed and more than 4,500 injured between 27 May and 2 July, according to the health ministry in Gaza.What has Israel said? The Israeli military has repeatedly said it does not target civilians, takes all feasible precautions to avoid harm to non-combatants and abides by international law. Continue reading...

Some social media users falsely claimed that the extreme weather was being controlled by the US governmentDisasters and tragedies have long been the source of American conspiracies, old and new. So when devastating flash floods hit Texas over the Fourth of July weekend, and as the death toll continues to rise, far-right conspiracists online saw their opportunity to come out in full force, blurring the lines of what's true and untrue.Some people, emerging from the same vectors associated with the longstanding QAnon conspiracy theory, which essentially holds that a shadowy deep state" is acting against president Donald Trump, spread on X that the devastating weather was being controlled by the government. Continue reading...

Bull also known as Twinkle Toes eluded capture for days in Colorado after reportedly escaping through a fence gapAnimals that have proven themselves to be escape artists as of late in the US have included a terrier and nearly four dozen monkeys. And now a rodeo bull reportedly referred to by the names of Sauce Boss and Twinkle Toes can join their ranks after breaking free from his handlers and spending four days at large.The bull in question was being unloaded in preparation for the Snowmass Village, Colorado, rodeo on 2 July when he somehow got away, local police chief Brian Olson told the state's Aspen Times. Olson suspected the creature found and forced his way through a gap in the fencing that was being used during the unloading. Continue reading...

Under the guidance of a former Manchester United assistant, Minnesota United are finding MLS success with a surprising tacticNot many soccer players are as passionate about dead balls as Anthony Markanich. Then again Minnesota United, under the 33-year-old first-time head coach Eric Ramsay, don't play soccer like most teams.All the guys get really excited about set pieces, especially myself," Markanich gushed last Friday after scoring a goal off a long throw-in by the center back Michael Boxall for the second time in a week. I told Boxy I love when he has the ball for throw-ins and stuff - I get so excited about that." Continue reading...

At least three people were reported missing in Ruidoso, southern New Mexico, after heavy rain triggered flash flooding on Tuesday. The US National Weather Service (NWS) reported the water level of the Rio Ruidoso rose to 20ft (6 metres), a record high crest if confirmed. The NWS also reported a father and two children had been washed away by flash floods in New Mexico and rescue crews were searching for them

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Trump voices increasing irritation with Russia's leader and promises to send more weapons to Ukraine. Key US politics stories from 8 July 2025Donald Trump has voiced his irritation with Vladimir Putin, telling a cabinet meeting he was getting increasingly frustrated with the Russian leader.The US president told the televised meeting of top officials: We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." Continue reading...

Mario Guevara, arrested in Georgia while covering a protest, still detained after Ice refused his family's bond paymentA week after an immigration judge granted him bond, a Spanish-language journalist who was arrested while covering a protest last month remains in federal custody.Police just outside Atlanta arrested Mario Guevara while he was covering a protest on 14 June, and he was turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) several days later. He was being held at an immigration detention center in Folkston - in south-east Georgia, near the Florida border - when an immigration judge last week granted him bond. Continue reading...

The 60m Brazilian scored both goals but showed no emotion as Fluminense were his first club in his homelandThis time last week, Joao Pedro was on a Brazilian beach; now he's in the Club World Cup final, handed a standing ovation by old fans and new. The 23-year-old forward had been on holiday in Rio de Janeiro when they called to say his 60m transfer to Chelsea had been completed and could he come straight here.Two days and a single training session later, he made his debut in Philadelphia, more than 4,000 miles north of home, a promising glimpse of a future. Four days after that, he was given his first start in New Jersey. It took 18 minutes to get a glorious goal. By the time he headed off, an hour in, he had another. Continue reading...

Justices lift lower court order that froze reductions in force' federal layoffs while litigation in case proceededThe US supreme court has cleared the way for Donald Trump's administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten critical government services.Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as reductions in force" while litigation in the case proceeds. Continue reading...

Texas governor Greg Abbott said many people staying in state's Hill Country still unaccounted for as questions mount over official response to disasterRescue crews continued on Tuesday to comb through parts of the Texas Hill Country devastated by catastrophic flash flooding over the Fourth of July weekend, but with more than 100 dead and hope fading for survivors, efforts have increasingly turned to search and recovery.As of Tuesday afternoon, the death toll across the six affected counties surpassed 100. Most of the deaths were in Kerr county, where officials said 87 bodies had so far been recovered, including 56 adults and 30 children. Identification was pending for 19 adults and seven children with one additional person still unidentified, county sheriff Larry Leitha told a news conference. Continue reading...

Mandonna Donna' Kashanian was taken a day after US bombed Iran, but her community rallied for her freedomFederal immigration officials have released an Iranian woman whom they allowed to stay in the US without legal status for the last 47 years, until agents in tactical gear and unmarked vehicles suddenly nabbed her in front of her New Orleans home on 22 June - the day after American forces bombed Iran.A letter-writing campaign extolling decades of community service by Mandonna Donna" Kashanian, 64, and care for her neighbors in the quiet Lakeview section of the city helped get her case in front of Steve Scalise, the Republican US House majority leader, and then top Trump administration officials, Kashanian's neighbor and longtime friend Connie Uddo said. Continue reading...

Team of firefighters and first responders volunteer along Guadalupe River after mass flooding in show of solidarityA contingent of firefighters and first responders from Mexico arrived in Texas over the weekend to aid in search and rescue efforts following the devastating flooding of the Guadalupe River in a show of solidarity with their northern neighbors.When it comes to firefighters, there's no borders," Ismael Aldaba, founder of Fundacion 911, in Acuna, Mexico, told CNN on Tuesday. There's nothing that'll avoid us from helping another firefighter, another family. It doesn't matter where we're at in the world. That's the whole point of our discipline and what we do." Continue reading...

On Capitol Hill, Israeli PM says demonization' led to drop in support for Israel among US voters, especially Democrats

US president announces tariffs of up to 200% on foreign drugs and 50% on copper as he continues to shift plansDonald Trump vowed to further escalate his trade wars on Tuesday, threatening US tariffs of up to 200% on foreign drugs and 50% on copper, amid widespread confusion around his shifting plans.Hours after saying his latest deadline for a new wave of steep duties was not 100% firm", the US president declared that no extensions will be granted" beyond 1 August. Continue reading...

Sheriff says 87 bodies recovered in worst-hit area; officials faced questions over response at tense news conference

This weekend, the Trump administration officially closed the file on the notorious billionaire Epstein. Maga aren't the only ones who should be outragedGreat news, everyone! We can all stop thinking about Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with the sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and found dead in his Manhattan jail cell shortly after, apparently of suicide. Great minds have looked into the case and discovered there is nothing more to uncover. So don't waste your time wondering which powerful people might have been part of Epstein's alleged trafficking operation. There's nothing to see here - nothing at all. Case officially closed.That, in essence, was the message from the Trump administration over the weekend. On Sunday, Axios reported on a memo from Trump's justice department and the FBI that concluded there is no evidence that Epstein was involved in blackmailing people, kept a client list" or was murdered. Most importantly, the memo said there is no evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties". Continue reading...

Fake voice and text messages on Signal tricked senior leaders, as AI impersonation rises in global politicsAn unknown fraudster has used artificial intelligence to impersonate the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, contacting at least five senior officials.According to a state department cable first seen by the Washington Post and confirmed by the Guardian, the impostor sent fake voice messages and texts that mimicked Rubio's voice and writing style to those targets including three foreign ministers, a US governor and a member of Congress. Continue reading...

The question now: will countries cave in to these threats or stick together and collect the billions they are rightly owed?Donald Trump's announcement calling off trade talks with Canada over its digital tax - and that he would impose retaliatory tariffs - demonstrates, once again, not only the president's ignorance of economics and willful disregard of international norms and the rule of law, but also his willingness to use brute power to get whatever he and the oligarchs who support him want.He was wrong in labeling the tax as outrageous and a direct and blatant attack on our country". It is actually an efficient tax, well designed to ensure that the technology companies - the profits of which benefit the tech oligarchs who have come to dominate US policy - pay their fair share of taxes.Joseph E Stiglitz is a Nobel laureate in economics, university professor at Columbia University and chief economist of the Roosevelt InstituteAnya Schiffrin, senior lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and her student Philip L Crane contributed to this piece Continue reading...

Immigration officers would be prevented from wearing masks and be required to display badge numbers

Campers and counselors from Camp Mystic are among the dead, along with scores of others caught in the floodAs search-and-rescue operations continue across central Texas, the death toll from the devastating and catastrophic flash flooding of the Guadalupe River continues to rise. On Sunday, Texas's governor, Greg Abbott, said more than 40 people remain missing.More than 100 people have now died in the floods. At least 27 of those are children. The crisis is being described as one of the US's deadliest floods in decades and has caused between $18bn and $22bn in total damage and economic loss, according to a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather. Continue reading...

More than 100 people are believed dead, many of them children, after torrential rain and extreme flash flooding

In representing people suing the White House and publicly critiquing the president, Mark Zaid has drawn the ire of TrumpworldMark Zaid knew he would be targeted if Donald Trump won re-election.The lawyer, who specializes in national security cases, has long been on the US president's bad side. He represented a whistleblower with knowledge of Trump's plot to extort Ukraine during Trump's first impeachment. He frequently talks to the media to critique Trump. His clients include a host of people who are suing the government. Continue reading...

GOP members praised president's response as Democrats want inquiry into effects of Doge cuts on NWS forecastingThe US is reeling after catastrophic floods killed more than 100 people in Texas, including 27 children and counsellors from an all-girls Christian camp. On Monday, Democrats asked a government watchdog to investigate whether cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) affected the forecasting agency's performance.But Republicans' default response has been to express fealty to Donald Trump. They lavished praise on the president for providing federal assistance while studiously avoiding questions around the effect of his department of government efficiency" (Doge) or threats to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). Continue reading...

Mothers say it is important to return to normalcy after deadly floods in which 27 campers and counselors were among those killedAs search crews were continuing to pick through the wreckage from Friday's deadly floods in Texas's Hill Country, mothers on Monday were dropping their teenage children off at Trinity Baptist church in hard-hit Kerrville for camp.For the past few days, the church had served as a meeting point for families coming to - hopefully - be reunited with children who had attended other camps in the area. One of those was Camp Mystic in Kerr county, which lost more than two dozen campers and counselors during Friday's deluge. The death toll as of Monday had exceeded 100 across Texas. Continue reading...

Real Madrid forward faces former club amid legal war and bitterness, after watching PSG grab the glory he left to pursueThis is a tale of blackmail and revenge, or so it goes. Of power and money, lots of money. It is also a story of sport. The buildup to the semi-final of the Club World Cup between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, those two empires and enemies, didn't begin with a fitness update from Atlanta or Palm Beach; it began on Monday morning New York time with news from Paris that Kylian Mbappe had withdrawn a legal claim accusing his former club of extortion and harassment. Two days before kick-off, it was time for the football.Well, sort of. The Real Madrid striker and his entourage want to calm the situation and concentrate exclusively on sporting issues," L'Equipe reported. Definitely nothing to do with their prospects of winning the case, then. Besides, there is still the demand for 55m in allegedly unpaid wages and bonuses, which led to PSG's accounts being momentarily blocked. PSG claim Mbappe agreed to waive the 55m when he went and the club have made a counter-claim of 98m. The accusations and counter-accusations are multiple, the amounts eye-watering, the bitterness inescapable even as it is hidden behind a polite exterior. Continue reading...

Adriana Smith was legally dead for months, but kept on life support in Atlanta because she was pregnantOn Friday 13 June, a baby was born in an Atlanta hospital to a woman who had been dead for four months. Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old Black nurse and mother, was declared brain dead in February after blood clots formed in her brain. Legally, and by all meaningful measures, she was dead then: the woman who loved her family, laughed with her friends, comforted her son, helped her colleagues and cared for her patients was gone then, and was never coming back. But the state of Georgia, and the administrators of the hospital where she was declared dead, kept her corpse in a state of artificial animation for months. That's because when Smith went to the hospital in February complaining of a headache, and later became unresponsive, she was about eight weeks pregnant. According to her family, doctors at Emory hospital, in Georgia, told the family that the state's abortion ban required them to maintain the regimen that falsely animated their daughter's corpse so that the fetus inside her could continue to grow.The Georgia state attorney general denies that the state's abortion ban required this abuse of Smiths's body. But other supporters of the law disagree. The result, either way, was the same: in deference to a law that created genuine ambiguity about what freedoms Smith's doctors and family had in the wake of her death, a woman who did nothing other than be pregnant was denied the right to rest in peace.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Physician made a post wishing that Maga supporters in Kerr county get what they voted for' amid flash floodingA pediatrician for a chain of clinics affiliated with a prominent Houston hospital system is no longer employed" there, according to officials, after a social media account associated with her published a post wishing the Maga" voters of a Donald Trump-supporting county in Texas to get what they voted for" amid flash flooding that killed more than 100 people, including many children.We were made aware of a social media comment from one of our physicians," read a statement from Blue Fish Pediatrics circulated late Sunday. The individual is no longer employed by Blue Fish Pediatrics." Continue reading...

From Houston's all-in bet on Kevin Durant to the Pelicans' puzzling pick swap, here are the early verdicts on who's up and who's down after a wild first week of NBA free agencyIt's a time-honored convention among NBA fans and analysts alike to jump to premature conclusions a week or so into free agency, and far be it from me to stray from tradition. So, here are the very early winners and losers of this season's game of NBA musical chairs, thus far: Continue reading...

Without decisive action, we risk stripping the global legal order of its remaining protections for less-privileged nations

The 40-year-old has led Fluminense with experience and passion. Could he do the same for Brazil next summer?And then there was one. Nobody expected a Brazilian club to reach the Club World Cup semi-finals, and if any team was going to make a deep run in the tournament, it was not Fluminense. After winning the Copa Libertadores in 2023, they narrowly avoided relegation last year and have gone through four managers in less than two years.Thankfully for them, they are now coached by the charismatic Renato Gaucho, who told us earlier in the tournament: It's no use having a team of 500 million reais, because football is decided on the field." Throughout the tournament he has encouraged Brazilians to take pride in what their teams have achieved, despite being written off due to the wealth of the European sides. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: As Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump meet at the White House, a look at what is at stake for everyone involvedGood morning. The war in Gaza - which began with the horror of the Hamas slaughter and kidnapping of innocent Israelis on 7 October 2023, and has brought unimaginable death and destruction to the civilian population of Gaza almost every day since - has entered its 21st month.So far every attempt to end the conflict has failed. But the the fraying patience of the US president, Donald Trump, who has promised to deliver peace to Gaza, has seen Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatch a team of negotiators to Qatar for indirect talks with Hamas, with the Israeli leader expected to come under pressure on this week's trip to Washington DC to agree to a ceasefire.Immigration | Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce plans for French police to do more to block small boats crossing the Channel at a summit in London this week, but a wider deal on returning asylum seekers is still up in the air.Iran | The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in an interview released on Monday that Israel, which last month fought a 12-day war with Iran, had attempted to assassinate him by bombarding an area in which he was holding a meeting.Poverty | Children in England are living in almost Dickensian levels of poverty" where deprivation has become normalised, the children's commissioner has said, as she insisted the two-child benefit limit must be scrapped.Environment | Millions of tonnes of treated sewage sludge is spread on farmland across the UK every year despite containing forever chemicals, microplastics and toxic waste. An investigation by the Guardian and Watershed has identified England's sludge-spreading hotspots and shown where the practice could be damaging rivers.US news | The Texas senator Ted Cruz ensured the Republican spending bill slashed funding for weather forecasting, only to then go on vacation to Greece while his state was hit by deadly flooding - a disaster that critics say was worsened by cuts to meteorology. Continue reading...

What do tariffs, Australian mining, geopolitics and the trade war between China and the US have to do with tiny magnets made from rare earth minerals like yttrium and scandium? Guardian Australia's Matilda Boseley explains

Trump announces new levies of up to 40% as he steps up his trade wars but also extends a previous pause. Key US politics stories from Monday 7 JulyDonald Trump's new tariff rates of as much as 40% for 14 countries have drawn muted responses from the hardest hit Asian countries who are hoping to renegotiate them before they come into effect next month.Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Tunisia were handed the lowest tariff rate of 25% while Laos and Myanmar - both facing high rates of poverty - were hit with the highest at 40%. Continue reading...