US news | The Guardian

Trump tells the New York Post that he has a plan to end the war but declined to go into detailsDonald Trump has said he held talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over a negotiated end of the three year Russia-Ukraine war, indicated that Russian negotiators want to meet with US counterparts.Trump told the New York Post that he had spoken to Putin, remarking that I better not say" just how many times. Continue reading...

The Bidwell mansion was a symbol for the city of Chico, but for some it was a reminder of colonization and genocideIn the early - morning darkness on 11 December, a police dispatcher at California State University, Chico, smelled the distinctive odor of smoke, a trigger in this fire-prone part of far northern California.She began combing through roughly 500 cameras on campus to find its source. Soon it became clear: the Bidwell mansion, a pink 26-room Victorian building dating to 1865 and one of the oldest buildings in the region, was on fire. Continue reading...

Older people don't want to get married; youngsters aren't dating. But maybe there's more to life than being in a coupleSorry, Valentine's Day is cancelled: we're in a relationship recession. Analysis of demographic data by the Financial Times shows a dramatic decline in married or cohabiting young adults, with tanking relationship formation" rates in countries as diverse as Thailand, Finland, Peru, South Korea and Turkey. In the US, the marriage rate fell by 54% between 1900 and 2022, while younger people aren't even dating: the percentage of 16- to 18-year-olds who report having dated has dipped under 50%, the Atlantic reports, with the decline particularly steep in the past few years".My immediate thought is: well, obviously. The resurgence of the far right, accelerating climate collapse, geopolitical instability and deep economic precarity aren't exactly Marvin-Gaye-and-oysters vibes. As relationship red flags go, isn't getting horny amid imminent global catastrophe one of the biggest, reddest ones? Ijusthave to imagine Elon Musk and I'm ready to be walled up inananchorite's cell.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...

Asylum seekers and others have better access to their legal rights after a court temporarily lifts a stop-work orderImmigrants and asylum seekers caught up in Donald Trump's mass enforcement crackdown will at least have a better chance at knowing their legal rights - for now - after a court intervened to restore some vital advice services.Last month, the federal government issued a stop-work order targeting programs that provide information and guidance to people facing deportation, via services such as independent legal help desks. Continue reading...

Trump has teased two of the US's biggest trading partners with levies but has moved the goalpost at least three times in two weeksDonald Trump was in his element in the Oval Office this week. Surrounded by cameras, flanked by billionaire allies and confronted by a barrage of questions about whether he was really prepared to unleash a trade war on the US's closest neighbors, the president talked tough.By his telling, powerful economies were scrambling to bend to his will. Hours earlier, Mexico had announced a series of measures to shore up its border, prompting the White House to hastily postpone the imposition of 25% tariffs on all its goods; Canada would announce similar measures, and receive the same reprieve, later that day. Continue reading...

Project 2025 architects are among those behind the American Accountability Foundation and their blacklists targeting people of colorA rightwing non-profit group that has published a DEI Watch List" identifying federal employees allegedly driving radical Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives" is bankrolled by wealthy family foundations and rightwing groups whose origins are often cloaked in a web of financial arrangements that obscure the original donors.One recent list created by the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) includes the names of mostly Black people with roles in government health alleged to have some ties to diversity initiatives. Another targets education department employees, and another calls out the most subversive immigration bureaucrats". Continue reading...

Will Patrick Mahomes lead Kansas City to an unprecedented three-peat? Or will Jalen Hurts help Philadelphia complete unfinished businessWin the first downs. The Chiefs need to find a way to turn the Philadelphia Eagles into a dropback passing offense. If Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo can scheme up something to win the initial down, his front can take over on second- and third-downs. Oliver Connolly Continue reading...

The bromance may fade, but the two megalomaniacs could still reshape the US as long as Trump's fickle affections holdA picture is worth a thousand words - or, more precisely, $288m. That was the sum tech entrepreneur Elon Musk donated to Donald Trump's presidential election campaign. His reward was dramatically illustrated by the cover of this week's Time magazine: an image of Musk, coffee cup in hand, sitting behind the Resolute desk used by every US president since Jimmy Carter.Some speculated that the picture of President Musk" was designed to provoke the thin-skinned Trump, who is known to revere Time magazine and has twice been named its person of the year". The president reacted on Friday with a pointed joke: Is Time magazine still in business? I didn't even know that." Continue reading...

Netanyahu and Gallant could show up and contest the charges against them. Obstructing justice is not the answerDonald Trump's executive order reauthorizing sanctions against international criminal court (ICC) personnel reflects a disgraceful effort to ensure that no American, or citizen of an ally such as Israel, is ever investigated or prosecuted. Quite apart from this warped sense of justice - that it is only for other people - the president's limited view of the court's powers was rejected in the treaty establishing the court and repudiated by the Joe Biden administration and even the Republican party. But that didn't stop Trump.The US government traditionally has had no problem with two of the three ways that the court can obtain jurisdiction because it could control them. Washington is fine with the court prosecuting citizens of states that are members of the court because it has no intention of joining them. And it accepts that the United Nations security council can confer jurisdiction because it can exercise its veto to block prosecutions it doesn't like. Continue reading...

Stunned by Donald Trump's return, Dennis Johnson saw a chance to hit back by publishing official reports into shameful episodes in US historyA US publishing house has decided to publish official reports into sensitive matters in US politics and history against the backdrop of a new Donald Trump administration committed to a radical rightwing agenda of reshaping American government and fiercely aggressive against its opponents, especially in the media.The publisher, Melville House, will on Tuesday release The Jack Smith Report, a print and ebook edition of the special counsel's summation of his investigation of Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.The Jack Smith Report is published in the US on Tuesday Continue reading...

Here's how to catch the NFL's biggest game on Sunday on cable and streaming, plus what to know about kickoff time, the half-time show and moreFor the second time in three seasons, Philadelphia and Kansas City will face each other for the championship.Here's what to know about kickoff time, the host city, half-time performer and more.The Guardian will have live blog coverage of the Super Bowl on Sunday.The Guardian will cover the half-time show in our Everything but the Football live blog. Continue reading...

Whether in Gaza or the Chagos Islands, denying a people's identity and rights paves the way to robbing them of their autonomy to governSovereignty matters. Except when it doesn't. And it doesn't when another people's sovereignty gets in the way of your nation's needs. Then sovereignty (for any other country or people, at least) becomes so much dust blowing in the storm. It is something to which the peoples of the Chagos Islands and Gaza can attest.Last year, Britain finalised an agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a shabby deal at the end of a sordid history of British rule. Much of the criticism of the deal is equally shabby. Continue reading...

National Institutes of Health said the $4bn loss will affect indirect' funding of buildings, equipment and staffThe Trump administration is cutting billions of dollars in medical research funding for universities, hospitals and other scientific institutions by reducing the amount they get in associated costs to support such research.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that it was reducing the amount of indirect" medical research funding going to institutions, which will cut spending by $4bn a year. Continue reading...

By his destructive, vindictive, illegal and irrational actions, the US president sets himself beyond the paleThe 47th president of the United States is a danger to his country, Britain and the world. Who would have thought that sentence would ever be written? And yet, less than three weeks into Donald Trump's second term, it is barely controversial to many people looking on from shell-shocked democracies beyond America's shores. By his destructive, vindictive, illegal and irrational actions, Trump sets himself beyond the pale. In place of American exceptionalism, the world must now learn to manage, and if necessary confront, a gross American objectionablism.Proof of these assertions is to be found in the White House's daily outpourings. Seeking revenge against those who tried to punish his attempted 6 January 2021 electoral coup, Trump is weaponising the justice department by executive order. Political opponents, FBI agents, prosecutors, media outlets and journalists are in his sights. In contrast, about 1,500 convicted Capitol Hill rioters have been pardoned. He has even had the gall to withdraw the security clearance of his predecessor, Joe Biden, citing mental incapacity.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Governor signs laws assigning half for state's justice department and half for legal groups defending immigrantsGavin Newsom, the California governor, signed laws on Friday setting aside $50m to help the state protect its policies from challenges by the Trump administration and defend immigrants amid the president's mass-deportation plans.One of the laws allocates $25m for the state's department of justice to fight legal battles against the federal government, and another sets aside $25m in part for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation. During his first presidency, Trump sparred with California over climate laws, water policy, immigrant rights and more, and the state filed or joined more than 100 legal actions against the administration. The same fights are re-emerging in the early days of Trump's second term. Continue reading...

Trump's attendance at the Super Bowl on Sunday in New Orleans stands to offer more evidence that the sporting climate has shifted from resistance to acceptanceAs a 2016 presidential candidate and White House occupant, Donald Trump lambasted NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem in protest at civil rights abuses. Now, set to become the first incumbent president to attend a Super Bowl, it appears that the US's most popular sport is genuflecting before him.Trump will reportedly attend the clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in New Orleans as a guest of Gayle Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints. A pre-recorded interview conducted by a Fox News anchor will also air during the pre-game show of an event that last year was viewed by more than 123m Americans. And while he watches the action, Trump will not have to stare at a message inspired by the kind of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies that he is intent on bulldozing. Continue reading...

Inquiry uncovered health problems in neighborhood near Monterrey-area plant that processes US hazardous wasteMexican environmental regulators say they have discovered 30,000 tons of improperly stored material with hazardous characteristics" in the yard of a Mexican plant that is recycling toxic waste shipped from the US.The authorities ordered urgent measures" to get the materials into proper storage as part of inspections they are conducting in response to an investigation from the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, which raised questions about contamination around the plant, located in the Monterrey metro area. Continue reading...

Competing interests and rivalries between regional powers threaten hopes of change after the fall of Bashar al-AssadPreviously undisclosed Pentagon plans for withdrawing 2,000 US troops from eastern Syria received scant attention last week, overshadowed by Donald Trump's surreal Gaza pantomime. The troops help local Syrian Kurdish forces contain the residual threat posed by Islamic State jihadists, 9,000 of whom are held in prison camps. If the US leaves, the fear is of a mass breakout and, over time, a reviving IS terrorist threat to Europe, Britain and the west.The mooted American pullout is one piece in a complex Syrian jigsaw puzzle that is challenging friends and foes alike following December's toppling of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship. Unlike Trump, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states - competing for influence - want to get more involved in Syria, not less. Europe wants a stable, democratic state to which refugees can safely return. Israel, aggressively paranoid, sees only potential threats, while vanquished Russia and Iran seek to regain a foothold.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Don't be distracted by the president's calculated bluster - it's his unelected sidekick who's taking over the US governmentWay back in 2019, Steve Bannon, then a Trump consigliere, outlined in a TV interview a strategy for managing information. The opposition party is the media," he said, And because they're dumb and they're lazy, they can only focus on one thing at a time... All we have to do is flood the zone. Every day we hit them with three things. They'll bite on one, and we'll get all of our stuff done. Bang, bang, bang."Since his re-election, Donald Trump has been following this script to the letter, and the media, not to mention the entire world, are feeling punch-drunk. Which is, as Bannon pointed out, enabling other members of the Trump crew to get their stuff done. Really bad stuff too, to which the world has not been paying enough attention. Continue reading...

Politics have sunk so low since Emmanuel Macron's snap election, we're just grateful when foretold catastrophes don't materialiseHoura! Or rather, hurrah! On Monday, the French government, led by Francois Bayrou, our fourth prime minister in a year, did not fall. Our expectations have sunk so low since the July 2024 snap elections derailed our politics that we are grateful when catastrophes foretold don't materialise. When Michel Barnier's government fell before Christmas, it had been in power for just three months and had not managed to pass any sort of legislation. It was the first time since 1962 that a government had been toppled after a vote of non-confidence.The current government did not fall again last week thanks to the Socialists, who seem to be finally decoupling" from the chaos-hungry far left of Jean-Luc Melenchon. The Socialists are now the kingmakers and quite enjoy the limelight. Let's hope they will continue to think with their head and not be tempted by futile revolutionary impulses. France needs a little pragmatism, for a change. Bayrou, a centrist and smooth operator, has achieved one thing: France now has a budget. And even if this budget doesn't tackle the huge public deficit (6% of GDP), at least it exists. Now we can all return to ourfavourite pastime: feelingmorose. Continue reading...

Victim support groups call for investigation into whether Saints flouted NFL's own commitments to prevent abuseClergy sexual abuse survivor support groups have called on the National Football League to investigate whether leaders of the New Orleans Saints flouted the NFL's goals by campaigning alongside the city's Roman Catholic archdiocese to soften critical media coverage of how the church handled its clerical molestation scandal.A statement from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (Snap) pointed out how the NFL's website expresses a commitment to addressing and preventing domestic violence and sexual assault". Yet emails first reported on Monday morning by the Guardian, its reporting partner WWL Louisiana, the Associated Press and the New York Times establish how the Saints - owned by the devout New Orleans Catholic Gayle Benson - and team executives were far more involved in helping its local archdiocese spin media coverage of the abuse scandal than the organizations had previously acknowledged. Continue reading...

Elon Musk's crew, most of whom can't rent a car without paying the under 25' fee, have access to our sensitive personal dataSay what you like about the Trump administration - it's got big balls. Unfortunately, I mean this quite literally: a 19-year-old called Edward Coristine, whose online history includes a LinkedIn account where he called himself bigballs", appears to be one of our unelected overlords. Continue reading...

An Oregon coalition is sourcing food locally and offering it free of charge - with no questions about immigration statusAs wildfires swept through southern Oregon in 2020, killing at least 11 people, destroying thousands of homes and burning more than 1m acres of land, the region's farm workers faced a brutal choice: stay and work through the growing haze of smoke and the approaching blaze, or lose out on their daily wages.Farm workers across the US are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, feeling its effects - from natural disasters to heat - first and, often, the worst. Continue reading...

How a mercurial run helped put Kansas City on the world's map while changing the life of one Chiefs superfanFor years, the Chiefs most recognizable fan operated in the shadows. A regular at games since 1983, Matt Black cheered on KC through very little thick and and a whole lot of thin, an era marked mostly by a series of sports tragedies overseen by then head coach Marty Schottenheimer. Then, on one ordinary day in 2018, Black decided to shave his customary goatee leaving behind a mustache. He gazed into his bathroom mirror, and suddenly it wasn't Black, a professional opera singer by trade, looking back at him. Instead, it was Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.It was purely by accident," Black told the Guardian via video chat, while donned in full Chiefs regalia, sitting in front of a press conference backdrop that would fool just about anyone into thinking you were speaking to the HC himself. I had no idea that I looked similar to coach Andy Reid. My wife had booked some tickets for us for a Halloween ball and everybody started coming up to me taking pictures. And I thought, Well, that's interesting.'" Continue reading...

The spouse of former football player Jason Kelce is spotlighting women in a male-dominated sphere and giving her real' take on parentingTwo women have earned the illustrious moniker the people's princess". The first is the global icon and beloved royal family member, Diana, Princess of Wales. The other is a high school girls' field hockey coach in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. Both were reluctantly pulled into the spotlight by their husbands' fame. Both have rocked a Philadelphia Eagles letterman jacket. But Kylie Kelce, the 32-year-old wife of the former Eagles center Jason Kelce, is the only princess of the two to figure out how to freely divulge what she wants to the people about motherhood, relationships and media.If you're gonna talk about our family, if you're gonna talk about me, you might as well hear it from me," Kelce declared in the inaugural episode of her podcast Not Gonna Lie (NGL), which launched this past December. Kelce's impetus to podcast isn't hollow: a lot of people are talking about her. Through a fortuitous blend of athleticism (Jason is one of the most celebrated offensive lineman in recent NFL history; his brother Travis Kelce has similar bragging rights as tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs) and charisma (Jason's 2018 speech at the Super Bowl parade cemented him as a Philadelphia folk hero; Travis's girlfriend, a little-known performer by the name of Taylor Swift, has only boosted his appeal), the Kelce boys have garnered a lot of old-fashioned goodwill from the American public. Continue reading...

There are 64 million freelancers and there's no way the IRS or Department of Labor can track them - but they tryThe US seems to have it in for gig workers and those who use them.California - the fifth-largest economy in the world - has significantly curtailed the ability of companies located there to hire independent contractors and freelancers in lieu of employees. The US Department of Labor has issued updated rules that address worker classifications, which have forced more companies to reclassify their independent contractors as employees in order to be in compliance. New rules from the Internal Revenue Service will now require payment-processing firms to provide additional reporting on the payments made on 1099 forms, the document commonly used to report a freelancer's earnings. Continue reading...

Patrick Mahomes can become the first quarterback to win four titles before turning 30 while Saquon Barkley has a shot at breaking the postseason rushing recordA spectre of inevitability hangs over New Orleans in the final run-up to America's high holy day. The Kansas City Chiefs, having spent the past half-decade as the National Football League's most dominant force, are on the verge of something never before seen: a third successive Super Bowl title.Theirs is a kind of supremacy that feels almost unnatural in the modern NFL, an era defined by salary caps and roster churn and parity-by-design, where success is intended to be fleeting in the best interests of the revenue-sharing collective. Yet here they are again, winners of 17 games so far and one more from a three-peat no team in the six-decade Super Bowl era has even come within 60 minutes of accomplishing. Continue reading...

The president delights in being attacked, since it keeps the focus on him. The press should handle him like parents with an ornery childTwo weeks into the Trump administration, I'm still being asked by foreigners about the new president's political vision".Some of them, especially the French and the British, might be excused for excessive politeness toward a country that in many respects they still envy and admire. But on most of the news programs and podcasts to which I've been invited, I'm still encountering earnest interviewers struggling to understand Trump from a conventional political perspective, no matter how contradictory, irrational, or stupid his statements and actions may be. How can this be and what does it augur? Continue reading...

It was once a left-field choice but now, like the Aperol spritz before it, my favourite pint has lost its lustre. Anyone for a Murphy's?I'm not sure I can remember exactly when I sensed it. Maybe it was when some of the more gimmicky London pubs introduced stamp cards" to ration out Guinness after news of a shortage; maybe it was when I was served the 500th London Guinness rating video by my Instagram algorithm. Regardless of the precise moment the notion arrived, however, I have felt for a while that we are heading for a change when it comes to the pint du jour. For a few years now, Guinness has been the fashionable choice for millennial and gen Z drinkers, swept up in the aesthetic renaissance of the Good Old-Fashioned Bloody Pub. But I think the tide is turning. This will probably be the year that the Irish stout stops being cool.I'm pretty sure that what will finally usher the Guinness hype train back into the station will be the same thing that came for Aperol spritzes and truffle: overexposure. The Aperol, once a genuinely trendy, vaguely Sex and the City-ish aperitivo-style drink is now a cultural behemoth in its own right - delicious, certainly, but definitely no longer cool". And truffle, well ... would you like a side of truffle fries for that truffle mac and cheese garnished with truffle oil?Lauren O'Neill is a culture writer Continue reading...

The US president's real-estate fantasies rely on the erasure of Gaza's people and culture. Now we must act to preserve themIt might already be too late to save the homes where many of the people of Gaza have been living and have memories of lives spent there. Or the recollections of people in Ramallah who spent their honeymoons in Gaza by the Mediterranean. Like many others, I too have strong and beautiful experiences of time spent in Gaza. Yet, at this time of almost unimaginable destruction of homes and lives, I turn my mind to the destruction of cultural heritage such as the Great Omari mosque, opened in the seventh century and also known as the Great Mosque of Gaza, whose minaret was partially destroyed and parts of its structure severely damaged. Or the historic Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius church, one of the oldest churches in the world, which narrowly escaped destruction for a second time after being struck by an Israeli missile that did not detonate. The fact that consideration is not given to their reconstruction only points to how readily it is accepted that Palestinians in Gaza are not a people who deserve to have their heritage preserved, but a pariah group who can be shunned with impunity.Donald Trump's announcement is a continuation of Benjamin Netanyahu's policy of destroying the Gaza Strip pursued during the past 16 months. During Joe Biden's term as president, the US supported Israel with arms and ammunition; now Trump is supporting it by proposing ethnic cleansing of its people. Without a country of their own, the Palestinians are deemed disposable and stateless, people who have no country and belong to no land, and have no memories and no attachments. If proof were needed of the Palestinians' attachment to their land, the sight of tens of thousands of them returning to their destroyed homes in the north as soon as they were allowed without a moment's hesitation, despite knowing that they were returning to devastation and ruin, should suffice. They were aware of Israel's objective to forcibly remove them from the north and relocate them, and by their immediate return were collectively expressing their refusal to allow this to happen.Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer and writer, and founder of the human rights organisation Al-Haq. He is the author of What Does Israel Fear From Palestine?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...

President plans to fire board members and chair David Rubenstein to bring about golden age in arts and culture'Donald Trump announced on Friday that he is appointing himself as chairman of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, adding that he is immediately terminating multiple people from the board of trustees and the current chairman.At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Continue reading...

Authorities found the plane, which was carrying passengers across Norton Sound, about 34 miles south-east of NomeA small commuter plane carrying 10 people across Alaska's Norton Sound that crashed in western Alaska has been found, the US Coast Guard posted on social media on Friday afternoon. All 10 people who were on the plane died.The plane was found about 34 miles (54km) south-east of Nome, the Coast Guard said. Mike Salerno, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, said rescuers were searching the aircraft's last known location by helicopter when they spotted the wreckage. They lowered two rescue swimmers to investigate. Continue reading...

US president cites Biden's removal of Trump's security clearance in 2021 in the wake of the January 6 attacks and attempts to overturn the 2020 election resultPresident Donald Trump has said he's revoking Joe Biden's security clearance and ending the daily intelligence briefings he's receiving, in payback for Biden doing the same to him in the wake of the January 6 attacks.Trump announced his decision in a post saying: There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden's security clearances, and stopping his daily intelligence briefings. Continue reading...

Judge ruling in response to lawsuit filed by union for government workers; union lawyers call Trump's efforts violation of the separation of powers'. This blog is now closed.The International Criminal Court has condemned US sanctions against its staff, saying the move was part of an attempt to harm its independent and impartial judicial work".The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world," the court said in a statement.

Exclusive: Move allows China to further global influence, UK foreign secretary says on Ukraine visitDonald Trump's plans to make dramatic cuts to the United States' international aid budget could be a big strategic mistake" that allows China to step in and further its global influence, the UK foreign secretary has said.David Lammy cautioned that Britain's own experience of merging the Department for International Development (DfID) into the Foreign Office, announced by Boris Johnson in 2020 with little fanfare, was a serious blow to Britain's soft power" in developing countries and beyond. Continue reading...

Forced leaves had already begun when ruling came through, as workers tried to halt dismantling of agencyA federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing 2,200 employees of the US Agency for International Development on paid leave.Carl Nichols, a US district judge and Donald Trump appointee, sided with two federal employee associations in agreeing to a pause in plans to put the employees on paid leave as of midnight Friday. Continue reading...

President says key ally and team of software engineers have gained access to Americans' personal details very easily'Donald Trump has indicated that Elon Musk's department of government efficiency" (Doge) is operating without guardrails after it gained access to Americans' private information very easily" and as it prepares to assail the Pentagon.The US president was speaking at a White House press conference alongside Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister of Japan, but most of the questions focused on Musk's sweeping mission to root out waste in the federal government, which has caused disarray in Washington. Continue reading...

State department signs off on bombs and missiles sales that the US claims would help Israel defend its borders'The United States has announced the approval of the sale of more than $7.4bn in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel, which has used American-made weapons to devastating effect during the war in Gaza.The state department has signed off on the sale of $6.75bn in bombs, guidance kits and fuses, in addition to $660m in Hellfire missiles, according to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). Continue reading...

Marko Elez, 25, has been granted access to US government payment system containing sensitive personal dataElon Musk said Friday that he will reinstate a member of his self-styled department of government efficiency" (Doge) unit who resigned after being linked to an openly racist social media account.In a post on X, the social media platform he owns, Musk said that Marko Elez, 25, who was at the centre of a court battle over access to the US government's payment system and has also worked for Musk's SpaceX company, will be brought back". Continue reading...

Memorial service led by Rev Al Sharpton highlighted Eaton fire's disproportionate impact on Black residentsThe California fire that swept out of Eaton Canyon last month devastated Altadena neighborhoods and claimed multiple lives including that of Evelyn McClendon, a school bus driver remembered for her spirituality and dedication to children, said her brother Zaire Calvin, not for the tragedy that took her life.In the glow of stained glass windows at Pasadena's First AME Church, Calvin honored his sister's memory alongside the relatives of other Eaton fire victims Erliene Kelley and Rodney Nickerson - a fellowship of the bereaved united in grief. Continue reading...

Archbishop's moves to give himself more power over food bank amid latest storm to envelope his church leaves board member asking: Why are we here?'By New Orleans' Catholic archbishop Gregory Aymond's own admission, the past week has been tumultuous, to say the least" - for him and the city's bankrupt church, which became engulfed in twin controversies involving emails with leaders of two pro sports franchises as well as a feud with ousted directors of an affiliated food bank.Aymond on 30 January set off a firestorm by firing the longtime chief executive officer and top governing board members at the Second Harvest of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana food bank. The ousted food bank leaders said they were removed because they refused to bow to pressure placed on Second Harvest to contribute as much as $16m toward helping to resolve victims' claims" of child molestation by clergy which are at the center of a pending federal bankruptcy protection case that the church filed in 2020. Continue reading...

The US president's attack on an essential institution speaks volumes about his broader foreign policyDonald Trump's vicious assault on the international criminal court is no surprise. His last administration slapped sanctions on it over its investigations into potential war crimes in Afghanistan, including by the US, and into the actions of Israeli forces. But his new executive order goes even further, attacking the fundamentals of the court and endangering itsfunctioning.The US never joined the ICC, fearing scrutiny of its own actions and those of its allies. Joe Biden damaged both the court and US claims of commitment to the rules-based international order" when he justified the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin while attacking as outrageous" the one issued for Benjamin Netanyahu. Continue reading...

Hit novels by Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yarros offer more than sex and escapism. They have reclaimed the fantasy genre for womenA strange and powerful creature has taken over the publishing industry - romantasy, a magical union of romance and fantasy. Last week in scenes reminiscent of Pottermania 20 years ago, bookshops across the country held midnight launches, with fans dressed as their favourite characters, for the publication of Onyx Storm, the third instalment of Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean series. In its first week it became the fastest-selling adult title since records began, with more than 180,000 copies sold in one day in the UK alone.Yarros is following in the fairy dust of fellow American novelist Sarah J Maas, who is credited with spearheading the genre with her hugely successful ACourt of Thorns and Roses series. In just five years, a genre born during the pandemic and rising on a blaze of BookTok recommendations and emojis has gone from being a niche offshoot of young adult fiction to a once-in-a-generation phenomenon. In the past year, the market share of science fiction and fantasy books rose by over 41%. With their action-packed storylines, alternate worlds and friendship groups, romantasy novels satisfy a nostalgia for those who grew up on a diet of the Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight series. Tolkein this is not, nor JK Rowling. But lack of literary finesse never hindered juggernaut bestsellers from the likes of Dan Brown (who has a new Robert Langdon novel out in September). Continue reading...

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is one win away from a third-straight championship. But he is a different player from when he first lit up the NFLPatrick Mahomes is the final boss. Somehow, some way, it always comes down to him. From the moment he became the Kansas City Chiefs' starting quarterback in 2018 he has turned the NFL into a video game of sorts, waiting at the highest levels to knock off all challengers. The longer he looms at the top, the more he seems like a glitch.On Sunday, the Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles with football immortality at stake. With a victory, Kansas City would become the first team to win three Super Bowls in a row. The championship run started with the Chiefs beating the Eagles two years ago in Super Bowl LVII. Continue reading...

One in five childcare workers in the US is an immigrant - a backbone of this work' in a situation that feels more dire than previous years, providers say

Rarely has a US president proposed an idea more repugnant than this Gaza plan, with its appeal to old enmitiesThe shock and awe continues and it only gets more shocking and more awful. These past few days, Americans have watched an unelected tech billionaire destroy large chunks of the federal government - Elon Musk bragged that he was feeding the life-saving USAid international development agency into the wood chipper" - and yet that was not even the most outrageous event of the week.That honour went instead to Donald Trump and his proposal to just clean out" the Gaza Strip, by removing its people, bulldozing it and then redeveloping it as the Riviera of the Middle East" under permanent US ownership. It was so staggering that it succeeded in dominating attention, at home and abroad, for several days rather than, as has become the norm in the less than three weeks since Trump returned to the White House, a meagre few hours before some new shocker took its place.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo 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...