Trump appears to have dropped his expectations that his marquee tax spending bill will pass before the holidays as it faces roadblocks in the Senate - key US politics stories from Thursday 26 June at a glanceJust two days ago, Donald Trump told Republican members of Congress to cancel their vacation plans until his big beautiful bill" is sewn up and ready for his signature on 4 July.But in his final pitch to congressional leaders and cabinet secretaries at the White House on Thursday, he made no mention of deadlines, as his marquee tax-and-spending bill develops a logjam that could threaten its passage through the Senate. Continue reading...

Partisan splits on display as president accuses Democrats of leaking draft Pentagon report on bombings' impactRepublican and Democratic senators have offered starkly contrasting interpretations of Donald Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities after a delayed behind-closed-doors intelligence briefing that the White House had earlier postponed amid accusations of leaks.Thursday's session with senior national security officials came after the White House moved back its briefing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, fueling Democratic complaints that Trump was stonewalling Congress over military action the president authorized without congressional approval. Continue reading...

President calls for passage of signature tax bill but it's not yet clear whether Senate Republicans have sufficient votesDonald Trump convened congressional leaders and cabinet secretaries at the White House on Thursday to make the case for passage of his marquee tax-and-spending bill, but it remains to be seen whether his pep talk will resolve a developing logjam that could threaten its passage through the Senate.The president's intervention comes as the Senate majority leader, John Thune, mulls an initial vote on Trump's big, beautiful bill" on Friday, before a 4 July deadline Trump has imposed to have the legislation ready for his signature. Continue reading...

City swept aside Juve with a statement victory in Orlando to progress to the last 16 as group winners4 min: Ait-Nouri turns Locatelli inside out down the left and crosses long for Silva, whose downward header is awkwardly kicked off the line by Di Gregorio. The ball pings back to Silva but he's swarmed and the chance is gone. Ait-Nouri's impressive start at his new club continues apace.3 min: ... and after that brief sortie, City quickly get into ping-it-about mode. Juve pressing but they can't get a sniff. Continue reading...

Moyers, who served as Johnson's press secretary for two years, became one of television's most revered journalistsBill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television's most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died on Thursday at age 91.Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former chief executive of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B Johnson's administration. Continue reading...

Andrea Velez, 32, a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, had just been dropped off at work by her mother and sisterA US citizen was arrested during an immigration raid in downtown Los Angeles this week in what her family described as a kidnapping" by federal immigration agents.Andrea Velez, 32, had just been dropped off at work by her mother and sister, the pair said, when they saw agents grab her. Continue reading...

Ice and CoreCivic, a private prison contractor, to transform shuttered 2,500-bed prison in California CityPlans to open an enormous federal immigration processing center in a California desert community have sparked outrage among advocacy groups who argue it will come at a long-term cost" and fuel harm".US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has partnered with CoreCivic, a private prison contractor that operates several facilities in California, to transform a shuttered 2,500-bed prison in California City into the state's largest immigrant detention center. Continue reading...

Possible meteor rattled windows in three states, with a fragment crashing through the roof of a house near AtlantaA fireball" that may have been a meteor burned through the sky on Tuesday just after noon in north Georgia, with a meteorite fragment crashing through the roof of a house in metro Atlanta.It pierced through the roof all the way through and cracked through the laminate flooring to the concrete," said Ryan Morrison, director of emergency management for Henry county, a suburban area south-east of Atlanta. That's why we think it's part of this meteor storm." The homeowner requested the homeland security office refrain from identifying them, because they have a small child, Morrison said. Continue reading...

Elissa Slotkin criticized fellow Democrats for losing their alpha energy' at a Center for American Progress eventA Democratic senator has sounded the alarm about her own party's failings, urging colleagues to slaughter some sacred cows" if they want to combat Donald Trump and win back power.Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan castigated fellow Democrats for losing their alpha energy" and bravado", being scared" to enforce immigration rules, taking an elitist" approach to the climate crisis and having a bias towards navel gazing". She painted a bleak picture of a leaderless party pulling in different directions. Continue reading...

Mayor's entry comes as the city's business community reacts harshly to democratic socialist's primary successEric Adams, the New York mayor, launched his re-election campaign on Thursday, days after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani sent political shockwaves through the New York and national Democratic party by leading in its mayoral nomination for November's election.Adams, who did not mount a campaign for the Democratic nomination as his popular support cratered due to a corruption scandal, will now run as an independent candidate. Mamdani's decisive win against the former governor Andrew Cuomo could see Adams get wider appeal in his, though much will depend on if Cuomo also runs in the November race. Continue reading...

State officials say decision to euthanize black bear with history of confronting humans was not taken lightly'A California black bear with a history of confronting humans and breaking into homes was euthanized this week after swiping at a camper near Lake Tahoe and sending her to the hospital with cuts and bruises, officials said.The woman was woken up around 4.30am on Sunday when the female bear broke into her trailer at a campground near Emerald Bay state park, according to the California wildlife department. Continue reading...

We'd particularly like to hear from Republicans on what you want from the US president's major piece of tax-and-spending legislationThe one big beautiful bill act, which would enact Donald Trump's taxation and spending priorities, is currently being considered in the US Senate. The legislation was passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in May.Republicans, who also have a narrow Senate majority, are likely to make changes to the more than 1,000-page tax-and-spending bill. Trump wants to sign the legislation by 4 July, but it's unclear whether Republicans in both chambers can agree on its provisions by that deadline. Continue reading...

Tailoring assessments to suit political prejudices undermines their very function and led us to the Iraq warIn the run-up to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, journalists covering the preparations for war became familiar with the concept of stovepiping".The term described the tactic of pushing intelligence to key political decision makers, bypassing checks and balances within the system. Continue reading...

Decision to restrict thimerosal in immunizations could impact future vaccine availability on a global scale

Pediatric health experts slam ACIP's plans to reassess current vaccination schedules for childrenRobert F Kennedy Jr's newly appointed vaccine advisory panel is facing criticism from pediatricians after its announcement of plans to reassess the current vaccination schedules for children and adolescents.Experts warn that the move appears designed to undermine public trust in immunization. Continue reading...

Green card holder Sae Joon Park left for South Korea after saying he was being targeted by Trump administrationA US army veteran who lived in the country for nearly 50 years - and earned a prestigious military citation for being wounded in combat - has left for South Korea after he says past struggles with drug addiction left him targeted by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.I can't believe this is happening in America," Sae Joon Park, who held legal permanent residency, told National Public Radio in an interview before his departure Monday from Hawaii. That blows me away - like [it is] a country that I fought for." Continue reading...

State assembly member subjected to death threats and xenophobic rhetoric from Republican figuresHamas terrorist sympathizer", jihadist terrorist", calls for deportation and predictions of another 9/11 - these are among the torrent of Islamophobic attacks that have erupted across social media and conservative political circles following Zohran Mamdani's success in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.The 33-year-old state assembly member, a democratic socialist who would become the first Muslim mayor of America's largest city, has been subjected to a barrage of death threats and xenophobic rhetoric from prominent Republican figures and online activists since his primary win became apparent. Continue reading...

US health secretary says US will decline to renew funding for Gavi, a partnership that works to provide vaccines for poorest countries

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel was declared. The 86-year-old, who has not been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war on 13 June, said his country had 'delivered a slap to America's face' - a reference to an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties

Former leaders urge current state heads to work together to end poverty amid potential of first trillionaires emergingThe world is facing a looming crisis of inequality that could see the first trillionaires emerge while nearly half of humanity still languishes in poverty, a group of 40 former presidents and prime ministers warns.In a letter seen by the Guardian, the group - which includes ex-British prime minister Gordon Brown - issues a joint appeal to current world leaders for a new economic coalition of the willing" to address the escalating threats of inequality, poverty and environmental breakdown. Continue reading...

Decision could embolden red states in US to block clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid funds

Few issues highlight how out of touch Democratic leaders are than the issue of Palestine - Mamdani chose a different pathAs the ballots were counted on Wednesday in the Democratic primary election for mayor in New York City, a young candidate with little national name recognition, Zohran Mamdani, stood atop a slate of candidates including the runner-up, and favorite, Andrew Cuomo.

We should be the party of peace abroad, good jobs at home. Donald Trump took that from us,' says congressmanIn the days since Donald Trump authorized strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and then forged a shaky ceasefire agreement, Congressman Ro Khanna has called on Democrats to reclaim a political identity he says they lost: being the party of peace.Now is the time for the Democratic party to be the anti-war party - the party against wars of choice," Khanna said in an interview. We should be the party of peace abroad, good jobs at home. Donald Trump took that from us in 2016 and 2024 and my leadership this past week has been trying to reclaim the anti-war mantle." Continue reading...

Democratic socialist tells MSNBC his campaign against Cuomo shows leftist politics can thrive beyond New YorkZohran Mamdani, in his first major interview since his upset victory in the Democratic party's mayoral primary in New York shook up US politics, said his brand of campaigning and leftist political stances can translate to anywhere in the US.Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, stunned many observers by beating Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday night, delivering a devastating blow to the former New York governor who ran a centrist campaign backed by most of the party establishment. Continue reading...

Order bars US government from deporting undocumented immigrants for at least a day after they file legal challenge

Exclusive: All but two of the programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor would be cut, affecting nearly $1.3bn in grantsThe US state department has been advised to terminate grants to nearly all remaining programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which would effectively end the department's role in funding pro-democracy programming in some of the world's most hostile totalitarian nations.The review could affect nearly $1.3bn in grants, three state department officials told the Guardian, citing briefings on the results of a Foreign Assistance Review produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Continue reading...

There was no surprise when Cooper Flagg was taken at No 1, but there were some interesting decisions - good and bad - at other points on Wednesday nightCooper Flagg and Nico HarrisonThe biggest winners of the 2025 NBA draft are Cooper Flagg and Dallas general manager Nico Harrison. Beyond the prestige and financial rewards of being the top pick, Flagg won draft night because he avoided going to a rebuilding team, where it could have taken years to gain playoff experience. Continue reading...

Tulsi Gabbard and the CIA director have said Iran's nuclear sites were destroyed', citing new evidence that appears to contradict a leaked report. Plus, nearly a third of Tuvaluans attempt to get Australian climate visaGood morning.The Trump administration has ramped up its defense of the US strikes on Iran at the weekend, saying new intelligence supports its initial claim of total success - despite a leaked intelligence report that found the development of Tehran's nuclear program had been delayed by only a few months.Where has this information come from? All we know is that Ratcliffe said it came from a historically reliable" source.How has the White House reacted to the leak of the classified assessment? It is reportedly trying to restrict the sharing of classified documents with Congress - and the administration is claiming the media are using it to politically damage Trump.What other issues were raised? Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator for Alaska who has been critical of Donald Trump in the past, said immigration enforcement was being prioritized over fighting violent crime. Continue reading...

With the largest undocumented population of any US city, much of LA locks in with fundraisers, mutual aid networks and grocery deliveriesIn the days after ramped-up immigration raids began in Los Angeles, 50-year-old Lorena, who has been running a tamale cart in Koreatown for decades, stayed home. So did her husband, who works as a day laborer.Worried about paying their bills, both of them after a few days went back out to work. Continue reading...

More people will die due to White House's plans to slash nearly $2.7bn from National Cancer Institute, workers warnMore patients may die as a result of plans drawn up by the Trump administration to cut billions of dollars from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), veteran federal government workers and experts have warned.Nearly $2.7bn would be cut from the agency, which is the largest funder of cancer research in the world - a decline of 37.2% from the previous year - under a budget proposal for 2026, in the latest effort to cut staff and funding. Continue reading...

As visitors to the national historic site are urged to inform on anything negative', advocates warn of the same playbook that led to concentration campsAt the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, more than 200 miles (320km) outside Los Angeles, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, is Manzanar national historic site. It marks the place where more than 10,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during the second world war, crowded into barracks, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers with searchlights, and patrolled by military police.Since then, Manzanar, which now has a museum and reconstructed barracks that visitors can walk through, has been transformed into a popular pilgrimage destination for Japanese Americans to remember and teach others about this history. (Manzanar was one of 10 concentration camps where the US government forcibly relocated and held more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent during the second world war.) Continue reading...

Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old veteran, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing a bank loan officer's wifeThe longest-serving person on Mississippi's death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer's wife in a violent ransom scheme.Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder whose final appeals were denied without comment by the US supreme court, was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping Edwina Marter. He died by lethal injection at the Mississippi state penitentiary in Parchman. Continue reading...

For a superpower, toppling foreign governments is not so hard to do. Getting the outcome you want isThe ceasefire between Iran and Israel might still hold, but if not, the United States might double down on its weekend strikes and seek the overthrow of the Iranian regime. Donald Trump threatened this in comments and tweets earlier, and top officials such as Marco Rubio have said they wouldn't mind it if it happened. Israeli leaders are openly in favor. If the US goes down this road, it will not be for the first time.In the last 80 years, Washington has overthrown many regimes. For a superpower, toppling foreign governments is not so hard to do. Getting the outcome you want is. This makes regime change as dangerous as it is seductive, as past US attempts clearly show. Continue reading...

US president has clashed with incumbent Jerome Powell, whose term is due to run for 11 more months

The relationship with him is still volatile, the Ukraine strategy still unclear and Europe needs to ensure its collective defenceNato's Hague summit was an orchestrated grovel at the feet of Donald Trump. The originally planned two-day meeting was truncated into a single morning's official business to flatter the president's ego and accommodate his short attention span. The agenda was cynically narrowed to focus on the defence spending hikes he demands from US allies. Issues that may provoke or embarrass Trump - the Ukraine conflict, or whether the Iranian nuclear threat has actually been eliminated by US bombing - were relegated to the sidelines.Instead, the flattery throttle was opened up to maximum, with Nato's secretary general Mark Rutte leading the assembled fawning. On Tuesday, Rutte hymned Trump's brilliance over Iran; yesterday, he garlanded him as the vindicated visionary of Nato's drive towards the 5% of GDP spending goal. No one spoiled the party. As the president's own former adviser Fiona Hill put it yesterday, Nato seemed briefly to have turned into the North Atlantic Trump Organization. Continue reading...

Tulsi Gabbard and the CIA director say Iran's nuclear sites were destroyed', amid reports of White House efforts to limit sharing of classified information with CongressDonald Trump's administration ratcheted up its defence of the US's weekend attacks on Iran, citing new intelligence" to support its initial claim of complete success and criticising a leaked intelligence assessment that suggested Tehran's nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months.The growing row came amid reports that the White House will to try to limit the sharing of classified documents with Congress, according to the Washington Post and the Associated Press. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. Read our latest story hereAs the Democratic party fights to rebuild from a devastating election defeat, the abrupt exit of the presidents of two of the nation's largest labor unions from its top leadership board has exposed simmering tensions over the party's direction.Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders quit the Democratic National Committee, saying it isn't doing enough to open the gates" and win back the support of working-class voters. Ken Martin, the new DNC chair, and his allies told the Guardian that the party was focused on doing exactly that. Continue reading...

Trump celebrated commitment by Nato allies to boost defence spending to 5% of GDP. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 25 June 2025On the back of hailing US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities as a victory for everybody", president Trump has claimed success at the Nato summit in The Hague, praising the commitment by Nato allies to boost defence spending to 5% of GDP.The US president described the summit as a very historic milestone". It was, he said, something that no one really thought possible. And they said: You did it, sir, you did it'. Well, I don't know if I did it ... but I think I did." Continue reading...

US president calls Israeli prime minister a great hero' and that the charges against him constitute a witch hunt'Donald Trump has weighed in on ally Benjamin Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial, saying in a social media post that the trial was a witch hunt" and should be cancelled.Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land," Trump said on Wednesday night, using a nickname for the Israeli leader. Continue reading...

US education agency's resolution proposes barring trans women from women's sports and stripping them of prizesThe Trump administration has found that the California department of education and the state's high school sports federation violated civil rights law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams.The federal education department announced the finding Wednesday and proposed a resolution that would require California to bar transgender women from women's sports and strip transgender athletes of records, titles and awards. It's the latest escalation in the Republican administration's effort to bar transgender athletes from women's sports teams nationwide. Continue reading...

Too many Democratic party leaders would rather be the captains on a sinking Titanic than change courseThe Democratic party is at a crossroads.It can continue to push policies that maintain a broken and rigged economic and political system and ignore the pain of the 60% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. It can turn its back on the dreams of a younger generation which, if we don't change that system, will likely be worse off than their parents.Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and ranking member of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. He represents the state of Vermont and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress Continue reading...

Health secretary unilaterally appointed ACIP's eight new members, several of whom are critical of immunizationsThe first meeting of a critical federal vaccine panel was a high-profile display of how the US health secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr has injected chaos into vaccine policy infrastructure.Wednesday's meeting was held amid controversy, not only regarding the new members unilaterally appointed by Kennedy, but also the questions they would consider, their conflicts of interest and views on vaccines, and the scheduled speakers. Continue reading...

Second lady says on Meghan McCain podcast she is not plotting next steps' and is just along for the ride'Usha Vance learned her husband, JD, had been selected to be Donald Trump's running mate maybe five minutes" before the news was made public - and just about an hour before he was formally nominated.It really was like a bolt of lightning," Vance said during an interview on Meghan McCain's podcast, Citizen McCain. Nearly a year later, seated in the vice-president's residence on the grounds of the US naval observatory, Vance reflected on how significantly her life has changed in ways big and small. People call you ma'am," she said. No one's ever called me ma'am before this." Continue reading...

Emil Bove, a former Trump attorney, faced Senate judiciary committee considering him to be federal appeals judgeEmil Bove, a top justice department official and former defense attorney for Donald Trump, denied to senators on Wednesday a whistleblower's claim that he suggested prosecutors ignore orders from judges who ruled against the president's immigration policy.In a hearing before the Senate judiciary committee to consider his nomination to serve as a federal appeals court judge, Bove, currently the principal associate deputy attorney general at the justice department, also rejected assertions from Democrats that corruption charges against New York City mayor, Eric Adams, were dropped in order to secure his cooperation with the president's immigration enforcement agenda. Continue reading...

At hearing, US attorney general claims she's unaware of reports that officials have hid their faces during roundupsThe attorney general, Pam Bondi, professed ignorance of reports of immigration officials hiding their faces with masks during roundups of undocumented people, despite widespread video evidence and reports that they are instilling pervasive fear and panic.Challenged at a Wednesday Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing by Gary Peters, a Democratic senator for Michigan, Bondi, who as the country's top law officer has a prominent role in the Trump administration's hardline immigration policy, implied she was unaware of plain-clothed agents concealing their faces while carrying out arrests but suggested it was for self-protection. Continue reading...

Wall Street Journal reports deal would see Trump accept sum to resolve suit over Kamala Harris interview on 60 MinutesDonald Trump and CBS could settle their legal battle over a contested interview with Kamala Harris for $20m, as the dispute continues to shadow a major media merger.A mediator has proposed the settlement figure to resolve Trump's lawsuit against CBS News over alleged deceptive editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Harris during last year's presidential campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Mamdani signifies a generational change and rebuke to a party establishment grown complacent and hypocriticalThe party was on its knees. It failed to beat Donald Trump, a twice impeached convicted felon, and lost both chambers of Congress. Since November, Democrats have been searching for a path out of the wilderness. On Tuesday, they found one.But instead of celebrating Zohran Mamdani's apparent victory in the New York mayoral primary election, the first major Democratic contest since Trump's win, many in the party establishment went into panic mode. Continue reading...

Prosecutors allege LaMonica McIver interfered with law enforcement during arrest of Newark mayor, Ras BarakaLaMonica McIver, the New Jersey Democratic representative who is facing felony charges after a recent incident during a congressional oversight visit to an Ice detention facility, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday.Prosecutors allege that McIver forcibly interfered with law enforcement officials in a 9 May confrontation outside Delaney Hall federal immigration facility in Newark, New Jersey. If found guilty, she faces a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison. Continue reading...