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Multiple pages scrubbed from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) website due to a Trump order

Thinktank that seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts was created and funded by Congress in 1984

American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit alleging the move by Trump administration violates federal lawA top teachers union has sued the US Department of Education after it stopped processing applications for affordable repayment plans of student loans last month and disabled the online application for the programs.The American Federation of Teachers, or AFT - one the country's largest unions, representing 1.8 million workers - filed a lawsuit alleging the sweeping action violates federal law. Continue reading...

White House official reportedly calls funding freeze just a taste of what could be coming' for Ivy League university

Republican governor signs gun control bill to ban Glock switches' as part of public safety packageThe Republican governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, signed a gun control bill on Wednesday, banning Glock switches" and other devices that turn rifles and pistols into machine guns.Ivey said: While there is a federal ban on these gun conversion devices, we needed a way to empower our own law enforcement here in Alabama to get these illegal and extremely dangerous Glock switches off our streets. Continue reading...

With France about to advise its citizens on how to survive an imminent threat', it's time to wise up to what the real essentials areIt's a fairly strong indication that your US presidency is not going well when, within three months of you taking office, one of your closest allies feels the need to issue its entire population with a manual on how to survive an imminent threat". According to French media reports, that is what the French government is planning in the form of a 20-page booklet to go out to its citizens this summer. And while it's intended for use against natural disaster or medical threat, we all know what we're really talking about here. The French government would like to remind its people that, in the event of a nuclear attack, they must remember to close the doors and windows.My dad recalls Buckinghamshire county council issuing a similar pamphlet in the 1980s, for when Russia dropped an atomic bomb on Aylesbury. My family didn't need the advice, as it happened; in the event of the collapse of civil society, my mother's Tupperware and plastic-bag reserves that filled an entire floor-to-ceiling cupboard would've pushed us to the top of any barter-based value system. Plus, for at least a week, we could have lived like kings on decades-old gravy and bolognese sauce loosened from the permafrost of the chest freezer in the garage like the body of a caveman after an ice age.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The 163-page PTPA lawsuit contains some valid and not-so-valid criticism of the professional tours and major eventsThe Professional Tennis Players' Association came into existence on the eve of the 2020 US Open and at the height of pandemic restrictions. After an inauspicious start, the association co-founded by Novak Djokovic has spent time building its professional structures, finances and player support while trying to gain influence in the sport. The PTPA ostensibly functions as a players' union, but it is not legally recognised as such, since players are classed as independent contractors rather than employees.As the PTPA's numerous attempts to gain a seat at tennis's decision-making table have been rebuffed, often vigorously, by the leading governing bodies - the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the four grand slam tournaments - it became increasingly likely that their acrimonious relations would lead to litigation. The PTPA's decision to initiate a lawsuit against the ATP, WTA and ITF on Tuesday, while naming the grand slams as co-conspirators, marks a dramatic intensification of its campaign for players' rights. It also comes as no great surprise. Continue reading...

For students who aren't US citizens, a new reality includes feelings of surveillance, fears of being arrested and reluctance to visit familyIt was 4am and a Columbia University master's student two months away from graduation lay awake in bed. His heart thumped so hard, his chest began to hurt. His hands got colder and colder; he was unable to speak. This had become an agonizing nightly routine for the 24-year-old from India since 8 March, when immigration officials handcuffed the Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil and took him into detention in Louisiana.What scares me the most is that I would be fast asleep at home and I would hear a bang on my door and I'd be taken away in the middle of the night by Ice and nobody will ever know what happened to me," said the student, who attended multiple protests to support Palestine around New York City. It feels as if people are getting targeted for just speaking up for their political views last year." Continue reading...

The USL president spoke to the Guardian shortly before officially announcing the league's historic voteIt's been a big few weeks for the USL. The organization that governs most of lower-division soccer in the United States made a splash by announcing its attention to start a new league at the same tier as MLS, and followed that up this week with another bombshell. The league's board, comprising owners in the two professional men's circuits (the second-division USL Championship and the third-division USL League One) voted to enact promotion and relegation within the USL ecosystem. If it comes to fruition, it will be the first time promotion and relegation will exist in the modern history of US soccer.USL president Paul McDonough spoke to the Guardian shortly before the league officially announced the vote on Wednesday morning. Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity. Continue reading...

Entrepreneur and actor Jasmine Mooney, who had a role in an American Pie sequel, says she was arrested at southern border and held in detention over an incomplete work visa

Zelenskyy says he will contact US president to discuss the call with Russian leader following the attack. Plus, dolphins welcome Nasa astronauts back to Earth

US thinktank made FoI request for Harry's visa form after California-residing royal wrote about drug use in memoir SpareHeavily redacted court documents related to Prince Harry's US visa have been released in the US, with his exact status" remaining confidential over fears he could be subjected to harassment.Judge Carl Nichols ordered the release of the documents after a freedom of information (FoI) request by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative US thinktank. The Heritage Foundation argued that the Duke of Sussex might have concealed past illegal drug use - discussed in his memoir Spare - which should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa. Continue reading...

The Adams administration has continued to pay the hotel company of Weihong Hu, a developer accused of funneling illegal campaign donations to the mayorThe administration of New York City mayor Eric Adams is continuing to pay over $500,000 a month to a hotel developer who could potentially provide valuable testimony to prosecutors against the mayor and several of his top allies.The developer, Weihong Hu, was indicted last month for allegedly bribing a New York City non-profit CEO. The indictment charges that she gave the nonprofit executive stacks of cash and helped him purchase a $1.3m townhouse in exchange for more than $20m in city-funded contracts for her two Queens hotels and a catering company. Hu has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Continue reading...

The far-right has found in its pretend fight against antisemitism a way to divide progressives while at the same time clobbering themThe detention of Columbia university student, Mahmoud Khalil, is unequivocally chilling. Khalil, who helped lead the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia university last year, was targeted for his politics. His unlawful arrest by the US immigration enforcement agency comes amidst relentless smears lobbed at protesters of Israel's war on Gaza. This McCarthyite abduction of a Palestinian Green Card holder is a trial balloon, a test of what society might tolerate and a threat of more to come. And the added horror-show twist to this assault on free speech is that it is being done in the name of Jewish people under the pretence of tackling antisemitism.Such egregious claims are easily refuted. Most American Jews didn't vote for Trump and don't back his crackdowns. As Amy Spitalnik of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, one of multiple Jewish groups opposing Khalili's detention, said: The Trump administration is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to undercut democracy." Meanwhile, it is grotesque to pretend that Team Trump, home to antisemitic conspiracy theories, Nazi salutes and Holocaust denialism, is fighting antisemitism, rather than actively reproducing it.Rachel Shabi is the author of Not the Enemy - Israel's Jews from Arab Lands and Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism Continue reading...

As parents resist vaccines over vague potential harms, advocates call it a case of morals more than science'The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to devote research dollars to the debunked myth that vaccines cause autism - legitimizing stigma not only around vaccines, but around autism itself.Matthew Shallenberger, father to an 11-year-old autistic son in Tennessee, says this myth is harmful because it treats autism as some dreadful disease to avoid at all costs." Continue reading...

Even as 2024 election loomed, reporters say, Democratic Senate leader was sure GOP would expel the turd of Trump'Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, insisted Republicans would move on from Donald Trump and go back to a past version of the party even as Trump's return to power loomed last year, according to the authors of a new book on politics during the Biden administration.The revelation comes as Trump's second term has begin in a flurry of radical policy moves that have rocked the US's political landscape and triggered fears of a slide into authoritarianism. It also comes amid serious Democratic backlash against Schumer for failing to provide stiff enough resistance to Trump's actions. Continue reading...

I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was luckyThere was no explanation, no warning. One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the US. The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an Ice detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer.I grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon, a small town in the northernmost part of Canada. I always knew I wanted to do something bigger with my life. I left home early and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where I built a career spanning multiple industries - acting in film and television, owning bars and restaurants, flipping condos and managing Airbnbs. Continue reading...

Often women who trailblazers in men's sports are lauded for their impact on the next generation. Within the Guardians' front office, that's a reality playing out right nowWendy Hoppel, the Cleveland Guardians' director of baseball administration, landed home in Ohio to see she had missed several calls from her social worker. She was returning from Major League Baseball's offseason meetings in New Orleans. It was 2003 and Hoppel had been learning about MLB's new software system. Meanwhile, her baby had just been born.I had already done the nursery and everything, because I'm a planner," Hoppel says recently. She is organized by nature and by profession - her job involves overseeing things like the immigration process for international players. At the time she was 42, had been divorced for three years, and wanted to be a mom. A friend of hers had gone through the adoption process. And it just hit me like, you know that that's what I want to do." Continue reading...

No crime in history has been so well documented by its victims. And yet inaction and censorship reignIsrael's genocide was only on pause: for Palestinians woken on Monday night by a vicious wave of airstrikes, the resumption was no less shocking. More than 400 people - many of them children - were slaughtered in a matter of hours, in an assault that reportedly received the green light" from Donald Trump. This mayhem was swiftly followed by evacuation orders - that is, forced displacement - raising the possibility of renewed ground operations. Israel's excuse? A confected claim that Hamas hasn't observed the terms of January's so-called ceasefire agreement - the terms of which Israel itself has broken over and over again.In the wake of the attacks, CNN reported that Israel's onslaught threw doubt on the fragile ceasefire". Orwellian doesn't even begin to describe such framing. As it is, there was no ceasefire": not if your definition is firing ceasing. A single Israeli has been reported to have died in Gaza during the ceasefire": a contractor killed by the Israeli army, who mistook him for a Palestinian. A reported 150 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during this ceasefire", and dozens others butchered in the West Bank.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams - stuck onboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024 - finally arrived back on Earth on Tuesday evening, more than nine months after the failure of Boeing's pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered their originally scheduled mission. A SpaceX Dragon capsule containing Wilmore and Williams, along with Nasa's Nick Hague and Russia's Aleksandr Gorbunov, splashed down off the coast of Florida after a 17-hour descent

Order calls for revising infrastructure policy to better assess risks instead of all-hazards approach', White House saidDonald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that seeks to shift responsibility for disaster preparations to state and local governments, deepening the president's drive to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).The order, first previewed by the White House on 10 March, calls for a review of all infrastructure, continuity and preparedness and response policies to update and simplify federal approaches. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can read our story on the US judge's decision here.Donald Trump has called for the impeachment of the judge handling lawsuits over his administration's deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members, a significant escalation of rightwing attacks on the judiciary.While allies of the president such as Elon Musk have repeatedly said judges who rule against him should be impeached, this appears to be the first time the president has backed such calls publicly. Trump's post on Truth Social does not name the judge, but seems to reference James Boasberg, the Washington DC-based justice who was appointed by Barack Obama and attempted to prevent the government from deporting the alleged gang members under the Alien Enemies Act. Here's what Trump wrote:This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President - He didn't WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn't WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn't WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN'T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I'm just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges' I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON'T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!People in our country illegally can self-deport the easy way, or they can get deported the hard way, and that's not pleasant. Continue reading...

Experts doubt new trove of information will change underlying facts in case of 35th president's deathThe Trump administration on Tuesday released thousands of pages of files concerning the assassination of John F Kennedy, the 35th president who was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963.So people have been waiting decades for this," Donald Trump told reporters on Monday while visiting the Kennedy Center, and I've instructed my people that are responsible, lots of different people, put together by [director of national intelligence] Tulsi Gabbard, and that's going to be released tomorrow." Continue reading...

Judge rules that administration's mass terminations were illegal - key US politics stories from Tuesday at a glanceDonald Trump's presidential administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers - and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal.The filings made in Baltimore's federal courthouse late Monday include statements from officials at 18 agencies, all of whom said the reinstated probationary workers were being placed on administrative leave at least temporarily. Continue reading...

Judge Ana Reyes says president's executive order likely violates constitutional rights of service membersA federal judge blocked Donald Trump's executive order banning transgender people from military service on Tuesday.US district judge Ana Reyes in Washington DC ruled that the president's order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. Continue reading...

Killing of Jessie Hoffman Jr for 1996 rape and murder of Mary Elliott is state's first execution in 15 yearsLouisiana has carried out its first execution using nitrogen gas, an experimental method for judicial killings that has only been used by one other death-penalty state.Jessie Hoffman Jr, 46, was pronounced dead at the Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola at 6.50pm local time on Tuesday. He had been convicted of the 1996 rape and murder in New Orleans of Mary Molly" Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive. Continue reading...

New Mexico police say allegedly deliberate incident was recorded from stolen car and boy, 13, believed to be driverA 13-year-old boy has been charged with murder in an allegedly deliberate hit-and-run of a bicyclist that was recorded on video from inside a stolen car, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said.The teenager, who is believed to be the driver, and a 15-year-old have been charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person, according to a late Monday police statement. Continue reading...

Fired members of Federal Trade Commission confirmed to be Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly SlaughterDonald Trump has fired the two Democratic commissioners on the US Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, further blurring the lines of bipartisanship at regulatory agencies.The fired commissioners are confirmed to be Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Bedoya confirmed his firing in a post on social media. Continue reading...

Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and others cancel funding as US becomes increasingly hostile toward LGBTQ+ communitiesSan Francisco Pride, one of the largest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the world, has lost significant funding as major corporate sponsors - some who supported the festivities for years - have pulled out of the event.Several companies, including Comcast, Diageo, Benefit Cosmetics and Anheuser-Busch,, and provide about $300,000 in funding, told the organization that they did not have the budget to participate this year, Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, said in an interview with the Guardian. Some of the companies had been a part of Pride for decades, Ford said. We have relationship with all those people. It's not just a number or transaction." Continue reading...

Danette Colbert is accused of killing US sports reporter Adan Manzano after being seen with him hours before deathDanette Colbert, the woman last seen with a TV sports reporter who was later found dead in his Kenner hotel room, is facing charges of second-degree murder in his death, police confirmed on Tuesday.Colbert, 48, of Slidell is accused of killing Adan Manzano, 27, a Telemundo reporter who had traveled to the New Orleans area from Kansas City. He died during Super Bowl week. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Palestinian activist and green card holder speaks out from Louisiana immigration detention for first time

Minnesota state senator Justin Eichorn allegedly traveled to meet a 17-year-old he thought met online, but was instead a cop posing as minorA Republican state lawmaker in Minnesota who recently introduced a bill to create a mental illness category for liberals obsessed over Donald Trump was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.Minnesota senator Justin Eichorn was arrested and booked on Tuesday. He believed he was talking to a 17-year-old female, but was communicating instead with detectives from the Bloomington, Minnesota, police department, police allege. Continue reading...

Federal law enforcement is looking into at least three other Molotov cocktail incidents at Tesla showrooms across US

Judge halts efforts to fire USAid workers, a major setback in administration's attempts to bulldoze federal government

Grammy-nominated band says Trump administration missed the point' and song is about joy, possibilities, hope'The band Semisonic has said the Donald Trump White House missed the point" of its hit Closing Time entirely" when the administration used the Emmy-nominated song in a social media post showing a shackled person being deported.A statement from Semisonic also said the White House did not have permission to use the song in that manner. Continue reading...

John Roberts calls US president's demand over temporary restraining order halting deportations not appropriate'John Roberts, the chief justice of the US supreme court, delivered a rare rebuke on Tuesday of Donald Trump after the US president demanded the impeachment of a federal judge who had issued an adverse ruling against the administration blocking the deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members.For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a statement. The normal appellate process exists for that purpose." Continue reading...

One detained man's lawyer says he is gay artist who had fled persecution in his home country, not a gang memberA lawyer for one of the Venezuelan immigrants sent from the US to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador has accused the Trump administration of waging a sickening" campaign of psychological warfare against asylum seekers and migrants.In my 15 years of representing people in removal proceedings in the United States, this is the most shocking thing that I've ever seen happen to one of our clients," said Lindsay Toczylowski, a California-based lawyer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) group. Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu is kept in place by an endless war, at a terrible cost to Palestinians and hostagesIn shattering the two-month ceasefire that had brought a fragile peace and relief to Gaza, Israel has also smashed the faint hopes that a resolution might just remain within reach. This was one of the deadliest days since the early months of the conflict, sparked by the lethal Hamas raid of 7 October 2023. Israel says it was attacking terror targets", but health authorities in Gaza say that 174 children and 89 women were among the more than 400 dead. Evacuation orders issued by the military suggest that a renewed ground offensive may be on its way for traumatised and repeatedly displaced Palestinians. Families of the remaining Israeli hostages are terrified and angry too, attacking the government for choosing to give up on them.Horror is piling upon horror. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed since the war began, and the numbers grew even during the ceasefire, many due to Israel's blocking of aid. The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, belatedly acknowledged that as a breach of international law on Monday - only for the prime minister's spokesperson to rebuke him. A UN report last week said that Israel's attacks on women's healthcare in Gaza amounted to genocidal acts", and that security forces had used sexual violence as a weapon of war to dominate and destroy the Palestinian people". A previous UN commission found that relentless and deliberate attacks" on medical personnel and facilities amounted to war crimes.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...

Tata and British Steel tell MPs their customers are seeking alternative suppliers or asking for compensationThe UK's two biggest steel companies have said they have already lost customers in the US and are bracing for a flood of cheap imports after Donald Trump imposed steep metals tariffs.The bosses of Tata Steel and British Steel on Tuesday told MPs on the Commons business and trade committee that customers were looking for alternative suppliers of products to avoid 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium that came into force last week. Continue reading...

Berlin checking if US immigration policy has changed after Fabian Schmidt becomes third German to be detainedBerlin is investigating whether US immigration policy has changed, after a German national who is a permanent US resident was detained and violently interrogated" by US border officials.Fabian Schmidt, 34, is being held at a detention centre in Rhode Island after attempting to return to his home in New Hampshire after a trip to Luxembourg. Continue reading...

Police are searching for four men accused of threatening station clerks with pythons before snatching cannabis oilThey allegedly stormed into the gasoline station outside Memphis, Tennessee, wielding pythons and - at fang point - stole $400 worth of CBD oil.Now police are looking for suspects who were equipped in a manner rarely seen to pull off the robbery while those working at the store grapple with the stick-up's fallout. Continue reading...

Images broadcast of Rebecca Burke's arrival at Heathrow after her release from immigration detention centreA British woman detained in the US for three weeks because of a visa mix-up has reportedly arrived back in the UK.Sky News broadcast images of Rebecca Burke, 28, a graphic artist from Monmouthshire, being welcomed at Heathrow airport by a loved one. Her return to the UK comes after her family confirmed she had been released from a immigration detention centre. Continue reading...

Changes in WTA tour means the days of child stars are gone, which is why 17-year-old's achievements are so significantThere are only two teenage players currently in the top 100 of the WTA rankings. Women's tennis, in some ways, was built on the success of its legendary child prodigies - from Chris Evert and Monica Seles to Martina Hingis and the Williams sisters - players who audaciously stormed towards the top of the sport in their youth without fear or favour, demanding attention from the world.Those days are long gone. Between the improved depth, physicality and professionalism at the lower levels of the sport, possibly a more sparse talent pool and the WTA's age eligibility rules restricting the number of tournaments a child can contest, it is increasingly more difficult for female tennis players to flit up the rankings so early in their development. Continue reading...

Even before this brutal attack, Israel has acted with impunity - safe in the knowledge that yet again, its allies will do nothingIn less than 24 hours, heavy Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 4oo Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, marking the end of a ceasefire that was announced in name only between Hamas and Israel on 15 January and took effect four days later. Even after months of negotiations led by the US, Qatar and Egypt, those observing Palestinian-Israeli affairs knew the ceasefire never really meant Israel ceased its fire on the besieged coastal territory.Between 22 January and 11 March, at least 700 Palestinians were either killed by the Israeli military or their bodies were retrieved from areas medics could not previously access, according to ministry of health in Gaza as reported by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In the past two months, Israel has also reneged on the terms of the truce, refusing to allow tents and trailers for people to seek shelter from the freezing cold that led to the death of several people, mainly babies, health officials say.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...

Jake Lang, charged with attacking police during riot and pardoned by Trump, seeks to fill seat Marco Rubio's old seat

If you are considering a trip to the US, please reconsider. Why reward Donald Trump's America with your tourist dollars?To friends of democracy around the world: we need your help.You know that the Trump regime is brutally attacking US democracy. Most of us did not vote for Donald Trump (half of us didn't even vote in the 2024 election). But he feels he has a mandate to take a wrecking ball to the constitution.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. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...