Black bear weighing 500lb found in crawlspace in Pasadena, two weeks after Altadena man discovered unfamiliar tenantTwo 500-plus pound black bears have laid claim to homes evacuated during the destructive Eaton fire in southern California.Last month, when Samy Arbid returned to his Altadena home, he found Barry" - a 525lb black bear - living under the house. This week, another Californian reported a different unexpected visitor living in his house's crawlspace in neighboring Pasadena: another 500 to 600lb bear. Continue reading...
Emil Bove, Trump's acting deputy attorney general, was sole team member to appear at hearing over New York mayorIn front of a packed Manhattan courtroom on Wednesday afternoon, a federal judge grilled Donald Trump's acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, about his motion to dismiss a lengthy corruption indictment against the New York City mayor, Eric Adams.The hearing followed weeks of tense meetings inside the justice department and public resignations from senior prosecutors, who had refused demands from Bove and top Trump justice leaders to dismiss the case, citing concerns that it amounted to a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams's collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Continue reading...
As Europe innovates to boost defence without public service cuts, Britain clings to fiscal restraint - an unaffordable risk in an unstable worldWhen settling wars rewards lawlessness, displaces populations and fuels lasting grievances, the result is more war. That was the former foreign secretary WilliamHague's verdict on Donald Trump's approach to peacemaking, drawing lessons from the Balkans, the second world war and the Middle East. A more insecure world will require Britain to increase defence spending. The UK currently could not sustain major troop deployments in Ukraine, undermining the idea itcould provide Kyiv with security guarantees".This is a dilemma faced across Europe, leading the EU to see deficit-financed defence spending as the answer. In contrast, Britain remains seemingly bound by economic orthodoxy, prioritising fiscal discipline over borrowing. The UK Treasury has apparently asked unprotected public services - excluding health, education and defence - to prepare for real-terms cuts of up to 11% ahead of June's spending review, as funds are diverted to the military. This would be a mistake.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...
The order doesn't fulfill campaign pledges, but does cement the administration's reputation for promoting childbearingDuring Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, as support for reproductive rights mounted, the president promised to force insurance companies to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order that, the White House said, expands access to in vitro fertilization".PROMISES MADE. PROMISES KEPT," Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, posted in all-caps on Twitter/X. Continue reading...
Major aviation groups urge Congress in a joint letter to take action for more air traffic control technology and staffingThe US aviation sector on Wednesday called for robust emergency funding" from Congress for air traffic control technology and staffing after a series of crashes that have raised alarm.Airlines for America, the Aerospace Industries Association, International Air Transport Association and others, including major aviation unions, urged Congress in a joint letter to take action, noting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) faces serious technology needs and is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. Continue reading...
Agency works to rehire employees shortly after touting plan to optimize workforce' by cutting staff with help of MuskThe United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it accidentally fired several employees working on the H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, outbreak and is now trying to rehire them.The about-face came after the USDA touted its plans to optimize its workforce" by firing workers and terminating contracts, actions aided by billionaire Elon Musk's unofficial agency, the department of government efficiency" (Doge), NBC News reported on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Sitting side by side like a couple announcing their engagement, the world's most powerful man and Donald Trump gushed about their relationship to Sean HannityThe British dancer Debbie McGee was once asked in an interview: What first ever attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" Hopefully some day Donald Trump will be asked in an interview: What first ever attracted you to the billionaire far-right sympathizer Elon Musk?"Alas, the question was not put by the Fox News host Sean Hannity when he conducted a joint interview with the world's most powerful man and Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Foreign posts told to end all non-mission critical' news subscriptions in Trump directive that will endanger lives'The state department has reportedly ordered its outposts around the world to cancel all subscriptions to news and media outlets that are supposedly non-mission critical" in another extraordinary Trump administration crackdown on normal information channels.An email memo was circulated to embassies and consulates earlier this month explaining that the move was a further effort to cut costs by the federal government, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday. Continue reading...
A new poll has found that some Americans are changing their shopping habits to align more with their moral or political views. Share your views with usAs large parts of corporate America align with the Trump administration's attacks on diversity programs, a new poll has found that four in 10 Americans have shifted spending in protest.A Harris poll found 31% of Americans reported having no interest in supporting the economy this year and a quarter (24%) of respondents have even stopped shopping at their favorite stores because of their politics. Continue reading...
The CDU is a big player in the European parliament, but its predicted win this Sunday won't change Germany's inward focusWhat a difference four years makes. In 2021, the world watched the German elections to see who would succeed the EU's uncrowned queen". Angela Merkel had become a symbol of liberal democracy in the era marked by the first Trump administration. In Germany, two colourless figures explicitly vied to replace her. Deep down everyone knew that German leadership in Europe was coming to an end. But no one could have foreseen how steep the fall would be.Today, Germany is a country struggling with itself, increasingly sidelined in Europe and the world. The second Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 largely destroyed Merkel's rosy legacy, exposing her opportunistically soft approach to authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. Under Merkel's Social Democratic party (SPD) successor, Olaf Scholz, the country has become as pale and uninspiring as the chancellor himself.Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today Continue reading...
Fourteen Democratic-led states had sought temporary restraining order against body involved in worker layoffsA federal judge refused on Tuesday to immediately block Elon Musk and the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) from accessing government data systems or participating in worker layoffs.The US district judge Tanya Chutkan found that there were legitimate questions about the billionaire's authority but said there was not enough evidence of grave legal harm to justify a temporary restraining order. Continue reading...
A proposal to start a new top-tier league in the United States will only work if the competition embraces what makes soccer in the country differentWhen the men's World Cup comes to the United States - alongside Canada and Mexico - in 2026, it will be played in NFL-sized stadiums in major metropolitan areas throughout the country. The final, played just a few miles from New York City, will no doubt leave a lasting impression.The United Soccer League saw an opportunity in this, but not where you might think. Continue reading...
What we are fighting for is not utopian' or unachievable. Trumpism can and must be defeatedI will be doing town meetings in Omaha, Nebraska, this Friday night and Iowa City, Iowa, on Saturday morning. Further, in the coming weeks and months, I and other progressives will be holding grassroots events from coast to coast.Why, at this moment, are we doing town meetings around the country - especially in conservative areas? The answer is obvious.Healthcare is a human right and must be available to all regardless of income.Every worker in America is entitled to earn a decent income. We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage and make it easier for workers to join unions.We must have the best public educational system in the world, from childcare to vocational training, to graduate school - available to all.We must address the housing crisis and build the millions of units of low-income and affordable housing that we desperately need.We must create millions of good paying jobs as we lead the world in combating the existential threat of climate change.We must abolish all forms of bigotry.Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and chair 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...
President disappointed' with Volodymyr Zelenskyy's complaint about being excluded from talks. Plus, clean energy contributed 10% to China's GDP in 2024Good morning.Donald Trump has blamed Kyiv for Russia's invasion and said Ukraine could have made a deal" to avoid war, as he criticized Volodymyr Zelenskyy for demanding to be included in peace talks.When will Trump and Vladimir Putin meet? Trump suggested they were likely to do so this month.What has Zelenskyy said? He has demanded fair" talks with seats at the table for Ukraine, the European Union and Turkey.What were the charges? Adams was indicted late last year for allegedly accepting illegal campaign donations and travel perks in exchange for acting in the Turkish government's favor. He denies the charges. Continue reading...
As the defense secretary introduces a flurry of anti-trans policies, servicepeople fear the worst - a blanket ban - is yet to comeFor Bree Fram, an active duty lieutenant colonel in the US space force with 22 years of military experience, the last few weeks have been incredibly challenging".Like thousands of other transgender military personnel, I am doing my job every day, while feeling fear and uncertainty of what is coming next," said Fram. Continue reading...
We've seen the opening salvo in a US effort to transform the transatlantic relationship. The future of democracy is in playOver the past week, the foundations of US-European relations shifted dramatically.In a series of highly controversial interventions, Donald Trump's administration outlined a new US approach to Europe. It revolves around negotiating a rapid end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, handing Europe the lead responsibility for its own defense, and forging a new transatlantic alliance of populist forces on the right. After 25 years of working on transatlantic relations, I am aware of the tendency of crisis moments like this to fade and relationships to trend back toward historical norms. But this time is different. Continue reading...
The slogan Everyone must go!' is being rubbished, but is it really that bad? Hong Kong and Vilnius have much stronger claims to this shameful title ...Having worked in the advertising industry for a while, I can tell you that creating a great ad is a lot more difficult than skewering a bad ad. That's partly why I left a full-time gig in adland to focus on writing. Although the bigger reason, if I'm honest, is that I wrote a column saying I was going to quit my stupid advertising job before actually quitting, and my boss saw it and reacted as you might expect.But my poor life choices are not the point; the point here is other people's poor choices, namely those of some marketers in New Zealand. You see, the people at Tourism New Zealand are facing international ridicule for a new advertising campaign - with the tagline Everyone must go!" - designed to entice Australians to visit. Continue reading...
The conservative conference, dismissed as an extremist freak show', has been revived under the president's handI am your retribution."When Donald Trump made this solemn promise to his supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) two years ago, millions of Americans felt comfortable looking the other way. Continue reading...
The US president's support for forcibly relocating Palestinians has laid the ground for Netanyahu's ultimate fantasyWhen President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Hamas last week to release all hostages by noon on 15 February, warning that otherwise all hell [will] break loose", the Israeli right was ecstatic. Here was a chance to finally move ahead with the complete occupation and annihilation of the Gaza Strip. The families of Israeli hostages were petrified about the prospect of the ceasefire collapsing, yet members of the ruling coalition called to kill the deal. We have international support, give the order!" demanded the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.But the order never came. Hamas abided by the agreement and freed three hostages; Israel then released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Trump shrugged and said that it was Israel's decision. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, who visited Israel on Sunday, signalled that the direction of travel is not towards resuming hostility. Instead, the parties must now move to substantive" negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire, he said, leading to peace.Yair Wallach is a reader in Israeli studies and head of the Centre for Jewish Studies at Soas University of LondonDo 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...
The Canadian is known for her first descents in some of the world's most hostile environments. She says confronting doubt is part of the processAfter a pair of first descents near her home in the Canadian Rockies, Christina Lustenberger headed to Pakistan's Karakoram Range in April 2024 for her second attempt to ski the west face of the Great Trango Tower.I'd seen a photo of the towers from a friend who climbed it," says Lustenberger, but no one had skied it." Continue reading...
From the psychological torture to the inexorable rightward drift of the family business, it's not much fun being a MurdochIt is a life-defining moment, for James Murdoch, to describe his father and wider family in an interview with the Atlantic. Much of the rough and tumble and backstabbing - Rupert essentially pitting James against the older Lachlan, in a fight that continually vexed him because his favourite (Lachlan) never won - has existed in the public domain for years as rumour. Much of it has been proved or demonstrated within reason, either by biographers - Michael Wolff in particular - or by events, culminating in Rupert and Lachlan's legal case to secure Lachlan's hold on the Murdoch family trust, against the other siblings, James, Liz and Prue, at the end of last year, which Rupert lost.Yet none of those machinations, spanning decades, could really encompass the sheer unbridled nastiness of this family. James describes a meeting with Rupert's lawyer, Rupert himself sitting at the table, feigning a lack of interest. A series of questions directed to James - Have you ever done anything successful on your own?"; Why were you too busy to say Happy Birthday' to your father when he turned 90?" - are so loaded and needling it's hard to imagine them emitting from any kind of professional. James recounts thinking his father was distracted, playing on his phone, only to realise that he was actually texting these questions to the lawyer. Continue reading...
The new movie wasn't conceived as an allegory of the current international crisis, but for a generation of fans it works on that levelWhen future generations study creative works that capture the unsettled spirit of our age, they might easily neglect Bridget Jones 4: Mad About the Boy. The movie isn't about the historical inflection point that coincides with its release. It doesn't feature Donald Trump, his vandalism of US democracy or his dissolution of the transatlantic alliance. Such things are not the stuff of romantic comedy. Also, they hadn't yet happened in 2013, when Helen Fielding wrote the book on which the film is based.But the lack of intentional allegory doesn't prevent us projecting one on to the story. Or maybe it was just me, experiencing a sentimental hallucination induced by events outside the cinema. Indulge me a moment (and forgive any plot spoilers), as I explain. Continue reading...
Pair spoke about each other in glowing terms, rejecting accusations of the billionaire usurping the president's limelight - and powerDonald Trump and his wealthiest backer, the multi-billionaire Elon Musk, expressed gushing admiration for each other in a Fox News interview in which each accused a critical media of trying to drive them apart.Interviewed together in the White House, the pair spoke of each other in such warm terms that the interviewer, Sean Hannity, was moved to say: I feel like I'm interviewing two brothers here." Continue reading...
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This blog has now closed. You can read our latest politics coverage hereThe US delegation is now speaking to the media. My colleague Jakub Krupa reports that Michael Waltz, the US national security adviser, has said the Ukraine talks with Russia will include discussion of territory and security guarantees, adding:This needs to be a permanent end to the war, and not a temporary end, as we've seen in the past.What's important to understand is two things. The first is [that] the only leader in the world who can make this happen, who can even bring people together to begin to talk about it in a serious way, is President Trump.The second thing I would say is that in order for a conflict to end, everyone involved in that conflict has to be okay with it has to be it has to be acceptable to them.The goal is to bring an end to this conflict in a way that's fair, enduring, sustainable and acceptable to all parties involved. What that looks like? Well, that's what this what the ongoing engagement is going to be all about. Continue reading...
Education department gives ultimatum to stop using racial preferences' as factors in admissions or risk losing moneyThe Trump administration is giving the US's schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money, raising the stakes in the president's fight against wokeness".In a memo on Friday, the education department gave an ultimatum to stop using racial preferences" as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools are being given 14 days to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race. Continue reading...
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Order directs domestic policy council to suggest ways to aggressively' reduce cost of accessing in vitro fertilizationDonald Trump has signed an executive order to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF).The order directs the domestic policy council to make recommendations to aggressively" reduce the costs for accessing IVF, according to a White House fact sheet. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Twitter/X that the order was evidence of the president's promises kept" - even though the order does not directly change any policy and does not, on its own, fulfill Trump's campaign pledge to make the government or insurance companies cover IVF. Continue reading...
Denise Cheung resigns after Trump appointees demand she open grand jury investigation into EPA grantsA top federal prosecutor has quit after refusing to launch what she called a politically driven investigation into Biden-era climate spending, exposing deepening rifts in the US's premier law enforcement agency.Denise Cheung, head of criminal prosecutions in Washington, resigned on Tuesday after Trump appointees demanded she open a grand jury investigation into Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants based largely on an undercover video, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN. Continue reading...
President moves to cut Federal Aviation Administration workforce as critics say public safety could be endangeredThe Trump administration has begun firing hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including some who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, despite four deadly crashes since inauguration day.According to the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (Pass) union, several hundred" workers received termination notices on Friday. Continue reading...
Legal filing says billionaire Trump aide is not an employee of so-called department of government efficiency'Billionaire Elon Musk's role in Donald Trump's second presidential administration is as an Oval Office employee and senior adviser to the president - and is not an employee of the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) and has no decision-making authority, the White House said in a court filing on Monday.According to a filing signed by Joshua Fisher, director of the office of administration at the White House, Musk can only advise Trump and communicate the president's directives. Continue reading...
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Moscow and Washington would explore geopolitical and economic cooperation once the war in Ukraine was brought to an end. Rubio, his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and other senior officials from both countries met at Diriyah palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The talks and the promise of future collaboration mark a dramatic turn from the Biden administration's efforts to isolate Moscow
US talks with Russia over Ukraine's future, like the president's prescription for Gaza, highlights how business and foreign policy mergeThe Trump administration did not take red lines on Ukraine to its talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday: it cares about the bottom line. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, underscored that when he said the two sides would create a team, not only to support Ukraine peace talks but also to explore the incredible opportunities" to partner with Moscow geopolitically and, frankly, economically" that might result.Kyiv and other European capitals are still reeling at the full extent of Donald Trump's cynicism when it comes to world affairs, and callous disregard for the people caught up in them. But it should be no surprise that business dealings were high on the agenda. Vladimir Putin would dearly love to end his country's economic isolation. Russia is making the case that American energy firms and others could profit handsomely by doing business with it again.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...
Two others arrested in Maryland as group is linked to six killings, including a US border patrol agentA Maryland court on Tuesday ordered a blogger known as Ziz who allegedly leads a cult-like group connected to six killings held without bail.The blogger, Jack LaSota, 34, of Berkeley, California, was arrested on Sunday along with Michelle Zajko, 32, of Media, Pennsylvania; and Daniel Blank, 26, of Sacramento, California. They face charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. Continue reading...
Director RaMell Ross details horrors behind Florida School for Boys that backdropped the moving film adaptationIt was one of the darkest, most shameful episodes in Florida's grotesque history of state-sanctioned racism: dozens of children, most of them Black, beaten or shot to death, or sexually abused in a decades-long reign of terror at a secretive and remote reform school.Early next month at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, the horrors that befell the students of the notorious Arthur G Dozier School for Boys will be laid bare before the world, courtesy of a best picture nomination for the transcendentally moving and frightening film" Nickel Boys, and a best adapted screenplay nod for director RaMell Ross and his co-writer, Joslyn Barnes. Continue reading...
Native American activist moves to home imprisonment after Joe Biden commuted sentence at end of presidencyThe Native American activist Leonard Peltier - convicted in 1975 for the killings of two FBI agents - was released from federal prison on Tuesday after Joe Biden commuted his sentence at the end of his presidency in January.In a statement, Peltier said that he was finally free!" Continue reading...
Louis DeJoy, who has headed US Postal Service since 2020, warned in November of potential end of this organization'US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said on Tuesday he has asked the US Postal Service (USPS) governing board to identify his successor.In November, DeJoy warned that the post office, which has lost more than $100bn since 2007, must continue to cut costs or will remain on the path to either a government bailout or the end of this great organization as we know it". Continue reading...
Trump, Musk and the Republican party are happily overriding parts of the constitution, and using means of questionable legality to cripple the federal governmentIt is humbling to realize, almost a decade into his tenure at the center of American politics and life, that Donald Trump still has the power to surprise us. As recently as inauguration day, the conventional wisdom on Elon Musk's role in the administration was that he'd been given a meaningless post at a powerless agency whose name itself was a joke. From the department of government efficiency", or Doge, it was said, Musk would issue easily ignored recommendations the gullible would take as evidence that Trump was streamlining the federal bureaucracy - a promise reliably made and broken by countless presidents. Instead, in a turn of events magazine cover artists have delighted in, Musk as a special government employee" has seemingly taken the reins of the executive branch - a de facto co-president or perhaps a vice, while JD Vance busies himself with his duties delivering social media clapbacks and jeremiads about wokeness to European leaders.For weeks now, the Doge's fleas have been hopping from agency to agency, gaining access to key administrative and financial systems, including databases filled with sensitive information on ordinary Americans and infrastructure at the treasury that disburses trillions in payments across the federal government. One member of the team Musk installed there, Marko Elez, resigned after it was revealed he had written posts supporting, in his words, Indian hate" and a eugenic immigration policy" as recently as December. After defenses from Vance and Trump, he was reinstated. Meanwhile, fired leaders across the government are now seeking employment; about 75,000 federal workers have accepted a buyout from the administration. USAid has been gutted, putting the health and sustenance of countless vulnerable people around the world in immediate jeopardy, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education are now under assault. Words and whole areas of inquiry are being banned for researchers; government-wide, anything that smacks even vaguely of diversity and equity recruitment and training isn't long for this world. What's more, all of this comes on the heels of Trump's extraordinary freeze on federal loans and grants - justified as a step towards rooting out Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies" in government - which threatened programs like Medicaid, Head Start and even Meals on Wheels before it was blocked in court.Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Jim Jones, who joined Food and Drug Administration in 2023, says layoffs would make it fruitless' to continue in roleThe head of the food division at the US Food and Drug Administration has quit in protest over sweeping staff cuts that he warns will hamper the agency's ability to protect public health.Jim Jones, who joined the agency in September 2023, cited indiscriminate" layoffs to 89 staff members, including key technical experts. In his resignation letter to the acting FDA commissioner, Sara Brenner, seen by Bloomberg News, Jones said the cuts would make it fruitless" to continue in his role given the Trump administration's disdain for the very people" needed to implement food safety reforms. Continue reading...
Claudia Tenney's bill combining Flag Day with Trump's birthday could face steep odds of success in CongressA Republican congresswoman has proposed making Donald Trump's birthday a public holiday, in an effort probably doomed to failure in Congress but obviously intended to curry favor with the president.Claudia Tenney, a representative from New York's Finger Lakes region, introduced legislation on Friday aiming to combine the US annual commemoration of Flag Day with a new observance of Trump's birthday on 14 June, arguing that the president is the most consequential ... in modern American history". Continue reading...
Michelle King opts to retire after 30 years rather than grant request by department of government efficiency'The acting head of the Social Security Administration (SSA) left the agency after she refused to give billionaire Elon Musk and the so-called "department of government efficiency" (Doge) access to sensitive information about beneficiaries.The SSA processes retirement and disability benefits for more than 71 million Americans - and it uses sensitive personal information, such as banking information and tax information, to do so. Continue reading...
Five people charged with murder in Sam Nordquist's death in upstate New York also identified as LGBTQ+, say officialsAuthorities investigating the alleged torture and murder of Sam Nordquist in upstate New York say they have found no evidence the transgender man's killing was a hate crime, pointing out that five people recently charged in connection with the slaying also identified as LGBTQ+.We urge the community not to speculate into the motive behind the murder as we work to find justice for Sam," authorities said over the weekend in a joint press release from the Ontario county district attorney's office and New York state police. At this time, we have no indication that Sam's murder was a hate crime." Continue reading...
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