US news | The Guardian

Vice-president calls crime out of control' in US cities as Trump faces legal battles for use of federal forcesThe White House is talking about invoking the Insurrection Act that would allow the deployment of military troops on US soil to quell domestic unrest amid legal challenges over the moves, JD Vance confirmed on Sunday.Vance was asked on NBC News's Meet the Press whether Donald Trump was seriously considering invoking the emergency power to deploy national guard forces and even the US military in domestic settings. Continue reading...

Mass shooting occurred early on Sunday at Willie's Bar and Grill on idyllic St Helena islandA mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic South Carolina island has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials say.The shooting occurred early Sunday at Willie's Bar and Grill on St Helena island, officials said. A large crowd was at the scene when sheriff's deputies arrived and found several people suffering from gunshot wounds. Continue reading...

Airports post delays and cancellations in advance of anticipated coastal flooding and strong windsA nor'easter churned its way up the east coast on Sunday, with New Jersey declaring a state of emergency and some airports posting delays and cancellations in advance of anticipated coastal flooding and strong winds, as another storm system struck farther south with heavy rain and flooding.The greatest effects are going to be the coastal flooding potential, especially for areas from north-eastern North Carolina northward to much of the New Jersey coast," said meteorologist Bob Oravec with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. Continue reading...

Studies show widespread errors in AI-generated work, as employers fail to train staff properlyArtificial intelligence sure has been taking a lot of flak lately.Only 8.5% of the 48,000 people recently surveyed by accounting firm KPMG said that they always" trust AI search results. Another report from Gartner found that more than half of consumers don't trust AI searches, with most reporting significant" mistakes. Continue reading...

A half-century ago, CBS's own president was boasting of his support for an antidemocratic political project. Our new book uses never-before-reported documents to tell the story of a scheme to undermine accountability journalismIf you only just started paying attention to the inner workings of the media industry, you might think America's information environment transformed overnight.In the past few months, a president extracted settlements from media giants as his apparatchiks vowed state retribution against his opponents - all as they defunded public media at a time when the president's biggest boosters own the algorithms that decide what information is amplified and suppressed. Continue reading...

Blaise Ingoglia was handpicked by the Republican Florida governor to lead an assault on municipal spendingThe words of Blaise Ingoglia, the Ron DeSantis loyalist handpicked to lead the Republican Florida governor's Doge-style assault on local government spending, could not have been more prophetic.Expect a knock on the door from us," Ingoglia warned on 1 October as he announced upcoming audits for Democratic-run cities and counties whose excessively wasteful" pecuniary habits displeased the DeSantis administration. Continue reading...

Experts say El Salvador president's intervention comes as Trump is employing tactics used by autocrats abroadDonald Trump is not known for taking advice, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.But El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different tack by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching corrupt judges". Continue reading...

The establishment left's attachment to rigid rules leaves the party out of touch and failing to meet the momentIn early August, dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled Texas for Illinois, denying Republicans the quorum needed to pass new congressional maps projected to give the party as many as five additional seats. Their absence paralyzed the state legislature, turning a walkout into political resistance and drawing national attention.As the standoff dragged on, Gavin Newsom, California's governor, offered an unorthodox countermove: a proposal to suspend his state's independent redistricting commission and draw maps designed to hand Democrats a comparable advantage. He unveiled the plan with spectacle, mimicking Donald Trump's signature style through all-caps declarations, a mocking nickname for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (KaroLYIN") and AI-generated celebrity endorsements.Ryan W Powers is a legal analyst who writes a weekly newsletter on democracy, dissent and the law Continue reading...

Experts say the move could eliminate the federal government's power to cancel educational loansOfficials in the Trump administration are reportedly weighing the possibility of selling portions of the federal government's $1.6tn student loan portfolio to private investors, which experts say could carry risks for both taxpayers and borrowers - potentially reshaping the student loan landscape in unpredictable ways.Senior officials at the education and treasury departments have been engaged in internal conversations about offloading select, high-performing segments of the government's student debt holdings, according to a Politico report this week. These loans are part of the larger portfolio owed by roughly 45 million borrowers nationwide. Continue reading...

We haven't seen Ice attack any large-scale festivals directly,' said a community leader from the Pilsen neighborhoodAs marathoners gather at the starting line in Chicago on Sunday morning, organizers, business owners and runners are cautiously optimistic that the increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) activity the city has seen in recent weeks won't dampen the celebrations.The race will begin and end at Grant Park - the famous public park downtown where Chicago's adopted son, Barack Obama, gave his victory speech on election night in 2008 - and take in the shores of Lake Michigan and 29 city neighborhoods. Continue reading...

Employees express growing anxiety over their pay - and the future of their jobs - amid the US government shutdownWith no end of the federal government shutdown in sight, an estimated 750,000 workers remain furloughed. Hundreds of thousands more are working without pay. They are being held hostage by a political dispute", according to union leaders, as Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked.In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Donald Trump suggested that furloughed employees would not necessarily receive back pay - despite a legal guarantee - prompting further unease throughout the federal workforce. There are some people that don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way," the US president said. Continue reading...

Trump's latest tariff tantrum and rising fears of an AI bubble have very quickly borne out Kristalina Georgieva's claim that uncertainty is the new normal'

A helicopter flying above a popular southern California beach suddenly began spiralling out of control, losing altitude and crashing into a row of palm trees as beachgoers looked on. The Huntington Beach fire department said five people were taken to hospital including two who had been in the helicopter and were pulled from the wreckage after the crash on Saturday

Five people taken to hospital after crash at Huntington Beach in front of beachgoersA helicopter flying above a popular southern California beach suddenly began spiralling out of control, eventually losing altitude and crashing into a row of palm trees as beachgoers looked on.

Donald Trump says he has directed the defence secretary to release funds on 15 October. Key US politics stories from 11 October at a glanceDonald Trump claimed he had found a way to pay US military troops despite the federal government shutdown, saying he had instructed his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, to release funds.Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: I am using my authority, as commander-in-chief, to direct our secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our troops PAID on October 15." Continue reading...

Troops can stay under federal control, as US senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth decry being barred access to Ice facilityThe national guard troops Donald Trump sent to Illinois can remain in the state and under federal control but can't be deployed, an appeals court ruled on Saturday.The appeals court granted a pause in the case until it can hear further arguments. Continue reading...

President claims he found a way to pay troops and directed Pentagon chief to release funds on 15 OctoberDonald Trump claimed on Saturday that he had found a way to pay US military troops despite the ongoing federal government shutdown, saying he had instructed his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, to release funds.Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: I am using my authority, as commander-in-chief, to direct our secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our troops PAID on October 15." Continue reading...

After a one-of-one season without precedent in NBA or WNBA history, the unstoppable Aces star has made a credible entry into the GOAT discussion before her 30th birthdayA'ja Wilson's one-of-one season didn't end merely with confetti so much as a deeper confirmation. When her Las Vegas Aces finished off a four-game sweep of the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night to become only the second team in WNBA history to win three titles in a four-year span, the final horn felt less like a climax than a verdict: the best team of the era led by the best player of the era. When the dust settled the 29-year-old from Columbia, South Carolina, had achieved a quadrafecta no player in the NBA or WNBA had ever managed: winning the scoring title, the Most Valuable Player award, Defensive Player of the Year honors and MVP of the finals in the same year.Thanks to Wilson, a team who'd looked like the next great American sports dynasty before slipping from their perch a year ago was back at the mountaintop. But anyone who watched the front half of the season knows this was the least expected of Aces' three banners. For most of the year Las Vegas didn't give the appearance of a playoff team let alone a champion. They staggered through injuries and misfires, dropped coin-flip games and wore the tightness of a group playing beneath its standard. If dynasties are supposed to hum, this one coughed and sputtered. Continue reading...

Until recently, Daca allowed undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children to live and work legallyThe Trump administration has once again put Dreamers on a rollercoaster ride.The federal government is sending mixed signals about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), a popular program devised under Barack Obama that had until recently allowed undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children to live and work legally without serious risk of deportation. Continue reading...

Major League Soccer is proving a fertile ground for a growing band of Australian players and coachesThere is perhaps no greater reminder that Australia is a faraway island nation with limited global influence than the fact so many Australians pore over a niche form of online football content known as Aussies Abroad'.While the likes of Ned Zelic and Paul Okon were hardly the first Australian players to move to Europe, their arrivals at Borussia Dortmund and Club Brugge in the early 1990s coincided with a surge of interest in how Aussie footballers were performing overseas. Continue reading...

Former president was diagnosed in May with aggressive form' of cancer and was already taking hormone medicationJoe Biden is receiving radiation therapy for his prostate cancer that was diagnosed in May, a spokesperson for the former US president said on Saturday morning.As part of a treatment plan for prostate cancer, President Biden is currently undergoing radiation therapy and hormone treatment, the spokesperson said. The news was first reported by NBC. Continue reading...

Party sticks to its guns on healthcare and says it's willing to hold out - much to the delight of its progressive supportersWhen he sat down to talk about the US government shutdown with reporters from a closely read political newsletter this week, Chuck Schumer sounded as if he were relishing his standoff with the Republicans.Every day gets better for us," he told Punchbowl News. As the shutdown got under way, Schumer explained, the Republicans believed that Democrats would quickly fold and vote to reopen the government, but instead they had stuck to their guns for a week and a half, demanding an array of concessions on healthcare and other issues. Continue reading...

Even his colleague has dubbed Jesse Watters's claim about Ocasio-Cortez and Stephen Miller creepy'Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and United States homeland security adviser, is one of the most influential people in the Trump administration. He is also such a hate-filled little man that members of his own family are publicly rebuking him.During Donald Trump's first term, in 2018, Miller's uncle, Dr David Glosser, wrote a piece for Politico calling Miller an immigration hypocrite". Glosser noted that if Miller's hardline immigration policies had been in force a century ago, our family [Jewish refugees who fled to the US from Europe to avoid persecution] would have been wiped out".Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, allegedly used ChatGPT to create scenes of a city burning and to confide an obsession with firesJust after midnight on New Year's Day, a 29-year-old Uber driver named Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly ignited what became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.Nearly 10 months after the disaster, Rinderknecht's arrest this week brought some closure to residents. Investigators say he was a troubled young man obsessed with fire, who tried to hide his role after setting a small blaze that reignited days later into a deadly inferno. Continue reading...

Gregory Aymond gave confidential testimony as church closes in on $230m settlement with clergy abuse survivorsAs New Orleans' Roman Catholic archdiocese closes in on a proposed settlement with clergy abuse survivors worth at least $230m, its outgoing archbishop, Gregory Aymond, testified under oath for the first time in the church's bankruptcy case during a confidential court session on Friday.Aymond's sworn testimony was given under a protective order, and those who attended the session were barred from discussing it. But Billy Gibbens, a high-profile criminal defense and civil lawyer, confirmed in an interview with WWL Louisiana that he was there representing the archbishop as his personal attorney. Continue reading...

Agriculture and other sectors are suffering under the administration's policies, adding up to a grim outlookUnpaid forced leave and mass firings are hardly the first things to spring to mind as hallmarks of a golden age of the American worker.Yet these were the possibilities floated by Donald Trump this week as he addressed a government shutdown that began on 1 October and is showing no imminent sign of ending as Democrats and Republicans attempt to stare each other down in a dispute over funding priorities. Continue reading...

The president and his Maga allies have used the rightwing influencer's killing to justify attacks on critics, experts sayDonald Trump and Maga allies have capitalized on the killing of rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk to expand attacks on liberal groups, donors, Democrats, and others by tarring many critics as the enemy within" and radical left" in a move that legal scholars and historians call authoritarian and anti-democratic.Kirk's killing by a lone gunman spurred Trump and top allies to quickly launch conspiratorial charges against a bevy of political foes and an investigation of billionaire liberal donor George Soros. They also threatened legal action against TV network ABC after their late-night star Jimmy Kimmel's suspension over clumsy comments about Kirk ended. Continue reading...

Maga supporters are upset the president didn't receive the peace prize. One thing's for sure: it's all about himIn this mortal existence, we all have dreams. As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut, until I found out there's no Taco Bell on the International Space Station. That's the thing about dreams: they often lead to cruel disappointment. Such is the fate of President Donald Trump, his hope of winning a Nobel peace prize dashed - not by a lack of fast food, but by common sense.The 2025 award instead went to the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running for president by her nation's courts. Machado acknowledged Trump in her acceptance of the honor, saying she appreciated his support of Venezuelan democratic reform. At least he's keeping an eye on democracy somewhere.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

Immigration lawyer Kim Xavier says stricter enforcement and delays are leaving even legal immigrants in limbo and fearKim Xavier, a senior associate at CoveyLaw, an immigration law firm based in New York, has spent much of the last year bracing herself for any Friday announcements that might affect her clients.So when Donald Trump announced on a recent Friday that he will impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, the timing was not totally surprising. Continue reading...

Joshua Wayne Cole to admit in court to making online posts about shooting people at an LGBTQ+ parade in TexasA Texas man has agreed to plead guilty to going on social media and threatening to shoot people at an LGBTQ+ parade as vengeance for the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.Joshua Wayne Cole signed federal court filings indicating that he planned to plead guilty to a charge of interstate threatening communications at a hearing tentatively set for 16 October, about a month after he was arrested in connection with online posts threatening to open fire on a Pride parade in Abilene, Texas. Continue reading...

Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotionWhen the first tickets for the 2026 World Cup went on sale last week, millions of fans joined online queues only to discover what Gianni Infantino's assurance that the world will be welcome" really means. The cheapest face-value seat for next summer's final, somewhere in the gods of New Jersey's 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium where the players are specks and the football's a rumor, comes at a cost of $2,030 (oxygen tank not included). Most upper-deck seats range from $2,790 to $4,210, according to customers who finally glimpsed the prices that had been closely guarded. The much-touted $60 tickets for group-stage games, propped up by Fifa as evidence of affordability, exist only as comically tiny green smudges on the edge of digital seating maps, little more than mirages of inclusivity.Fifa had kept the costs under wraps until the very moment of sale, replacing the usual published table of price points with a digital lottery that decided who even got the chance to buy. Millions spent hours staring at a queue screen as algorithms determined their place in line. When access finally came for most, the lower-priced sections had already vanished, many presumably swallowed by bots and bulk-buyers (and that's before Fifa quietly raised the prices of at least nine matches after only one day of sales). The whole process resembled less a ticket release than a psyop to calibrate how much frustration and scarcity the public will tolerate. Continue reading...

The US results still aren't matching performances, but now there are more reasons for optimism than everMauricio Pochettino has said multiple times through the United States' up-and-down 2025 that he does not care about results yet. The most important place to win - in fact, the only important place to win, according to him - is at the 2026 World Cup. The results would ideally match the performances, sure, but they don't have to. Not yet.That's a good thing, because once again on Friday night the US performance was met with a result that was probably less than the Americans deserved. A 1-1 draw with Ecuador in Austin, Texas saw the US control the flow of the game most of the time, winning most of the individual defensive battles and on occasion constructing some truly attractive moves forward against Ecuador's disciplined defensive shell. Continue reading...

Earlier, Pentagon chief shared that location would host contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots'. This blog is now closed.

White House had described doctor visit as routine yearly checkup' although president had annual physical in AprilDonald Trump - the oldest person ever to be elected US president - had what he has described as a semiannual physical" at the Walter Reed national military medical center on Friday.The visit, which the White House announced earlier this week, comes as Trump is preparing to travel to the Middle East on the heels of a ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, described it as a routine yearly checkup", although the president had his annual physical in April. Continue reading...

AFL-CIO fights issue in court as union leader warns of devastating effects' for AmericansThe White House announced layoffs of federal workers on Friday, making good on a threat it had made in response to the US government shutdown, which now appears set to stretch into a third straight week.Russell Vought, the director of the White House office of management and budget, wrote on social media that RIFs have begun", referring to the government's reduction-in-force procedure to let employees go. Continue reading...

Company to sell some medicines at a discount to US's Medicaid health plan in exchange for tariff reliefDonald Trump announced a deal with the British-based drugmaker AstraZeneca for a most-favored-nation" drug-pricing model aimed at making prescription medicines more affordable and avoiding the administration's tariff threats.The company will sell some medicines at a discount to the government's Medicaid health plan in exchange for tariff relief, similar to a drug-pricing pact reached last week with Pfizer. Continue reading...

Police chief calls explosion near Bucksnort, south-west of Nashville, devastating' and says we have some deceased'Nineteen people are missing and feared dead following a huge explosion at a military munitions plant in Tennessee.The powerful blast ripped through the explosives manufacturing plant in rural Tennessee on Friday morning, rattling homes miles away and bringing emergency services to the scene, authorities and residents said. Continue reading...

President accuses China of very hostile' moves and says additional tariffs could come on 1 November or sooner'Donald Trump has threatened to impose additional US tariffs of 100% on China from next month, accusing Beijing of very hostile" moves to restrict exports of rare earths needed for American industry.Wall Street fell sharply after the US president reignited public tensions with the Chinese government, and raised the prospect of another acrimonious trade war between the world's two largest economies. Continue reading...

Marimar Martinez, 30, was charged with impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon in fracas preceding shootingA Chicago woman shot multiple times by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents was recently indicted by a grand jury on federal charges of impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon.Prosecutors allege Marimar Martinez, 30, rammed the vehicle of federal agents with her own before they shot her, which they say was an act of self-defense. They also claim Martinez was armed. Continue reading...

Are you really going to believe the attorney general of New York would commit this over $600 a year?' says one lawyerA prosecutor installed by Donald Trump may have been able to secure an indictment against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, but actually obtaining a conviction may be an uphill battle, legal experts say.Even before a grand jury handed down the indictment on Thursday, there was already deep skepticism about possible charges. Career prosecutors in the US attorney's office for the eastern district of Virginia had looked at accusations James committed mortgage fraud and concluded there was no probable cause to charge the case. Lindsey Halligan, Trump's handpicked interim US attorney, nonetheless went ahead and presented the case to the grand jury. Her decision to do so reportedly caught top justice department officials off-guard. Continue reading...