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Move targets trans air force members with 15-18 years of service and forces them out of US military with no benefitsThe US air force is denying early retirement to all transgender service members with 15-18 years of military service, opting instead to force them out with no retirement benefits, according to a memo seen by Reuters.These longer-serving transgender service members will have the same choice as more junior ones: quit or be forced out, with corresponding lump-sum payments as they walk out the door, the 4 August memo says.Focus on the benefits you do retain (GI Bill, VA benefits, experience)"Emphasize this doesn't reflect on your service or character"Military & Family Readiness can provide counseling resources" Continue reading...

Intel share price drops after US president accuses Lip-Bu Tan of links to Chinese Communist partyDonald Trump has called on Intel's chief executive to resign, alleging Lip-Bu Tan had ties to the Chinese Communist party, sending the stock of the US chipmaker falling.The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately," Trump posted on Truth Social about Tan. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!" Continue reading...

Industry representatives warn of job losses and say decision could be nail in the coffin' for those exporting to the US

Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the healthcare conglomerate on Thursday citing a Guardian investigation

Six soldiers awarded medal after subduing Sgt Quornelius Radford who is accused of shooting five fellow officersHalf a dozen soldiers at a Georgia army base have been awarded medals for tackling an armed assailant accused of shooting five people and then giving aid to their wounded colleagues, three of whom have now been released from hospital.Sgt Quornelius Radford, 28, who was assigned to Fort Stewart, is accused of using a personal handgun to shoot five of his fellow soldiers on Wednesday before he was quickly tackled by other troops. Army officials would not speculate about a motive. Continue reading...

Fort Bliss could be largest US immigration detention facility as White House moves to use military bases for crackdown

Census has historically counted all residents regardless of citizenship status, as required by the 14th amendmentDonald Trump announced on Thursday that he has ordered the commerce department to conduct a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants from the official count.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the census would be based on modern day facts and figures" and use results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024". He added that people who are in our country illegally will not be counted". Continue reading...

Broad language could allow cities to lock up unhoused people as aid is cut and housing costs soar, experts warnDonald Trump's executive order that pushes local governments to remove unhoused people from the streets will exacerbate the issues already facing people who have unstable housing, mental health conditions and substance use disorders - and the vague wording could be used for wider action, experts say.It's one of the most harmful things to happen to folks who live outside in decades. It is not going to help anybody," said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center. Continue reading...

Cuomo also used the moment to attack Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over Hamas and defend himself in a NewsNation segmentThe US television host Chris Cuomo has been pilloried for falling for a clearly marked parody AI video of the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.On Wednesday Cuomo, a host on NewsNation and formerly of CNN, took to Instagram to share a video that was prominently watermarked as a deepfake" video, made using AI technology. It depicted a fake Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arguing on the floor of Congress that a recent Sydney Sweeney ad, which advertised her great jeans", was racist. Continue reading...

Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking accomplice was sent to a minimum security facility after meeting a top DoJ official who is Trump's ex-attorney - experts say this is not the end'When Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security prison camp last week, despite being convicted of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein, her move fueled ever-growing speculation about authorities' handling of the late financier's crimes.For many, the timing of Maxwell's sudden relocation from a Florida penitentiary to a Texas lockup known for its more campus feel and celebrity inmates was especially suspect - with two Epstein victims reportedly describing the event as a cover-up". Continue reading...

Vance Boelter, charged with killing top Democrat and her husband and wounding two others, to be arraigned in federal courtThe man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota house and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, is expected to plead not guilty when he's arraigned in federal court on Thursday, his attorney said.Vance Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, was indicted on 15 July on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations. The murder charges could carry the federal death penalty, though prosecutors say that decision is several months away. Continue reading...

Latest wave of US levies has left governments around the world racing to try to reach deals to avoid job losses. Plus, former Superman actor Dean Cain says he is becoming an Ice agent

Authors have been imagining societal collapse for decades - but could the reality be as dreadful as they think?The man who claimed to have coined the word survivalist" called himself Kurt Saxon. The sinister godfather of survivalism was actually born Donald Eugene Sisco, a former journalist who spent the 1960s floating between far-right groups in California before deciding that none of them were serious enough. Sisco's passion for making his own bombs, which he advocated using on student demonstrators, cost him the fingers of his left hand. He liked to say that he was the reincarnation of a soul whose previous lives included a Roman legionary, a Nazi stormtrooper and the revolutionary philosopher Thomas Paine.Survivalism, or prepping, is experiencing a boom, from Silicon Valley billionaires to users of the Reddit board r/collapse. Elon Musk's entire career, for example, has been partly driven by apocalypse anxieties and his conviction that he alone can save the human race (details to be confirmed). The scenarios vary - climate catastrophe, renegade AI, another pandemic, nuclear war between authoritarian regimes - as do the responses. Some claim to be making rational preparations to survive in the event of civilisational collapse, while others seem unnervingly keen to see the world turned upside down. This can feel like a very 21st-century obsession, stoked by online conspiracy theories and the doomerism produced by 24/7 news, but Sisco was pioneering the doom business 50 years ago. Continue reading...

Elizabeth Warren and others pen letter over alleged plan to divert funds from nuclear arsenal to convert jet into Air Force OneLeading Democrats are sounding the alarm over Donald Trump's reported plan to divert funds from the US nuclear arsenal to convert a luxury jet gifted by Qatar into a new Air Force One.The US president provoked an outcry in May when it emerged that he would accept a $400m Boeing 747-8 jet as a free gift from the Qatari royal family. Stripping down and securing the plane so it can transport Trump for a few years will cost taxpayers an estimated $1bn. Continue reading...

Experts say settlements worth hundreds of millions will further embolden US president's use of coercive tactics'With the Trump administration's campaign to reshape US higher education in full swing, some top universities have agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle antisemitism claims; others may soon spend more and submit to major restrictions on their autonomy to avoid billions in funding cuts and other crippling measures.The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Brown University have reached settlements with the government in the past month, seeing millions in federal funding restored in exchange for adopting measures that advocates warn severely undermine their independence. Columbia also agreed to pay more than $220m to settle antisemitism allegations, including an employment discrimination claim that may qualify any Jewish employee who has allegedly experienced antisemitism to get a payout. Continue reading...

Advertising group halves interim dividend after pre-tax profit plunges to 98m in first half of its financial year

Trying to rationalize Maxwell's actions evades what is truly terrifying about the dark center of the Epstein sagaDays after Ghislaine Maxwell met with the deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, the convicted child sex trafficker and longtime Jeffrey Epstein girlfriend and procurer was moved from a women's federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to a so-called prison camp" in Texas, a dramatically more comfortable minimum-security environment with dormitory-style housing and fewer guards, sometimes called Club Fed".Maxwell's new camp primarily houses nonviolent offenders, and the inmates there are reportedly livid, and probably not a little bit frightened, to be imprisoned with one of the world's most notorious sex traffickers and alleged rapists. Maxwell, too, was not initially eligible for such a transfer, due to her sex offender status; connections at the Department of Justice had to waive a procedural requirement in order for the move to go through. Continue reading...

The president, who made his money in construction, takes on one of the biggest White House projects in over a centurySir, why are you up on the roof?"The question was shouted by a reporter on Tuesday as Donald Trump scaled new heights at the White House. The US president explained that he was scoping out a new ballroom and boasted: Just another way to spend my money for this country." Continue reading...

Umaymah Mohammad sued the Atlanta university, alleging discrimination during disciplinary hearings over her remarks about Israel and GazaUmaymah Mohammad, perhaps the only student in the US to be suspended from medical school for remarks about Israel and Gaza, has filed a federal lawsuit against Atlanta's Emory University, alleging discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, as well as additional complaints under state law.The lawsuit, filed on Monday morning in federal district court on Mohammad's behalf by the Council on Islamic-American Relations in Georgia (Cair-Ga), centers on Emory's alleged intentional discrimination and retaliation" during disciplinary proceedings against the medical-sociology dual degree student last year. It names the university, its board of trustees and John William Eley, a dean at the medical school, as defendants. Continue reading...

In difficult races, Democrats are leaning into economic populism with promising resultsAs Democrats continue to sift through the wreckage of the 2024 election, one truth should be impossible to ignore: they are bleeding support among working-class voters and Donald Trump's stumbles alone will not save them. From Black and Latino men to young and low-income voters, Trump's re-election made it clear that working Americans increasingly feel alienated from the Democratic party.Democrats today might not be as sanguine about sidelining the working class as Chuck Schumer was before the 2016 election, when he claimed that for every blue-collar voter Democrats lost, they could pick up two college-educated Republicans. But it's clear that many Democrats still don't see winning back working-class voters as essential - either to defeat Maga or to build durable, majoritarian progressive coalitions for the future. Continue reading...

Commissioner Gary Bettman and Panthers captain Matthew Tkachuk are on the US president's sports council. It's hardly a sign of social progressDiverse representation within inclusive environments is proven to advance innovation, creativity, and decision-making - all of which are critically important to the growth of the sport and our business," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wrote in his introduction to the NHL's first - and only, so far - diversity and inclusion report, which it released in 2022. Recognizing these facts, we are working to better understand and accelerate our engagement across all layers of diversity - including nationality, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion - and their nuances and intersections," Bettman continued.Last week, Bettman was named alongside NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, Florida Panthers' captain Matthew Tkachukx6x and various representatives of other sports as a member of Donald Trump's sports council. The council will be responsible for - among other things - playing an important role in restoring tradition to college athletics, including ... keeping men out of women's sports." Not what you'd call an opportunity for Bettman et al to gain a better understanding of the nuances of gender identity, by the sounds of it. Continue reading...

Self-help homilies seem out of place in this era of Starmer and Trump. In fact, applied to government, they can offer new solutions for global problemsIf there is one thing that has marked the first year of Keir Starmer's premiership, it is a propensity for control - whether it's managing his own party, cracking down on civil liberties and protest, or instilling fear and anxiety in marginalised groups. For a centre-left party, the authoritarian strain Starmer has shown isn't exactly in line with the change" from the Tories that was promised.Governments seek to control populations, politicians seek to control their parties: this is nothing new and has been explicitly promoted since Machiavelli's The Prince was published in 1532. When leaders understand holding power as an end in itself, and see the method as controlling those they have power over, they block themselves from being able to bring about real change, because not losing control" becomes more important than any change they seek to create. And attempting to tightly control outcomes is ill suited to an increasingly complex and unstable world.Fran Boait is a leadership coach, freelancer and writer Continue reading...

Mark Raymond Gibbon, in US on holiday, charged with attempted second-degree murder and batteryA British man has been charged by US police with the attempted murder of his daughter-in-law after allegedly trying to drown her in a swimming pool while on holiday, local authorities have said.Mark Raymond Gibbon, 62, of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, allegedly tried to drown the 33-year-old woman after they had an argument about his grandchildren in their rental home at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, Florida, on Sunday, the Polk county sheriff, Grady Judd, said on X. Continue reading...

We won't deepen our understanding of the Holocaust with vanity projects like Juergen Teller's misguided new workTo say that a picture speaks a thousand words might no longer ring true. As images proliferate at an unprecedented rate online, they risk losing their meaning, especially as AI poses a growing threat to the truth of what we see. We might ask why images of the relentless killing and devastation in Gaza, there for all to see, have not yet halted the slaughter of Palestinians.Into this situation comes Juergen Teller, enfant terrible" of 1990s fashion photography, who has produced a coffee-table book about the Nazis' concentration and extermination camp in Auschwitz. This goes some way beyond his usual remit. Teller is known for his knack for making pretty things look ugly, as a shorthand for authenticity", associated with the grunge aesthetic and so-called heroin chic", which made him the most in-demand fashion photographer of his era. Continue reading...

Ground stops were issued nationwide including at hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark and San FranciscoUnited Airlines has said a technology issue that led to the grounding of flights for a few hours and major delays across its network in the US has been resolved.While we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations," the airline said in a statement late on Wednesday. Continue reading...

President's plan expected to increase cost of electronics and household goods but US-produced chips to be exemptDonald Trump said he would impose a 100% tariff on foreign computer chips, likely raising the cost of electronics, autos, household appliances and other goods deemed essential for the digital age.We'll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors," Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge." Continue reading...

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Trump may meet Putin as early as next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, White House officials have said - key US politics stories from 6 August 2025US president Donald Trump may meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as early as next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, White House officials have said.The development comes as senior administration officials have also warned that serious impediments" remain to achieving a ceasefire. Continue reading...

In Operation Trojan Horse', masked officers in unmarked vehicle arrest 16 people, despite court order halting raidsUS border patrol agents carried out a raid outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles on Wednesday, with officers jumping out of an unmarked rental truck and chasing and arresting more than a dozen people.Videos of the operation, and federal officials' statements boasting about the detentions, have raised questions about whether the US government was complying with a federal court order halting indiscriminate raids in the region due to evidence of racial profiling. That ruling, upheld last week by an appeals court, followed reports of Latino US citizens getting swept up in LA raids and accounts of undocumented people being targeted based on their appearance and whether they spoke Spanish. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Incident raises questions of exploitation of public services, but Secret Service says it was requested for safe navigation'JD Vance's team had the army corps of engineers take the unusual step of changing the outflow of a lake in Ohio to accommodate a recent boating excursion on a family holiday, the Guardian has learned.The request from the US Secret Service was made to support safe navigation" of the US vice-president's security detail for an August outing on the Little Miami River, according to a statement by the US army corps of engineers (USACE). Continue reading...

School is first public university whose funding is targeted by White House over allegations of civil rights violationsIn a sweeping escalation of its attacks on institutions of higher education, Trump administration has suspended $584m in federal funding for the University of California, Los Angeles - nearly double the amount that was previously expected, the school's chancellor announced on Wednesday.UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action. It represents an expansion of the administration's months-long campaign targeting largely private, Ivy League colleges. Continue reading...

Seven-time grand slam winner is back on the US circuit with aim of being the best she can be despite health strugglesStill haven't seen the Rolling Stones," says Venus Williams, smiling, as she reminisced about her unforgettable professional tennis debut at the age of 14 in Oakland, California, an occasion that justified years of hype surrounding her stratospheric potential. Her first ever professional tennis match took place next door to a Rolling Stones concert. Now, 31 years later, at 45 years old, Williams is still here.Three weeks after returning to professional tennis for the first time in 16 months with a straight sets singles victory over the then world No 35 Peyton Stearns at the Citi Open in Washington, which marked her as the second-oldest woman in history to win a WTA Tour-level singles match and also silenced criticisms about her enduring presence on the tour, Williams now takes her comeback to the Cincinnati Open. Continue reading...

Lawmakers had been sheltering in Illinois after denying Texas Republicans quorum for gerrymandering schemeTexas Democrats who left the state say they experienced a bomb threat at their Illinois hotel on Wednesday morning amid an ongoing clash with Texas Republicans over their effort to block a new congressional map from going into place.John Bucy III, a Democrat who represents Austin in the state legislature, confirmed the threat on X on Wednesday and said the lawmakers had been evacuated. This is what happens when Republican state leaders publicly call for us to be hunted down'. Texas Democrats won't be intimidated," he said. Continue reading...

Parts of base were on lockdown earlier, as base says all five victims are in stable condition and expected to recoverAn active-duty soldier opened fire at Fort Stewart military base in south-east Georgia on Wednesday, wounding five other soldiers before being taken into custody.All victims are in stable condition and expected to recover. Three of the soldiers required surgery, and two were transferred to Memorial Health University medical center in Savannah, the top-level trauma center for coastal Georgia. Continue reading...

Fallout goes beyond deaths and injuries, including lung damage and deaths caused by healthcare disruptionsNew research looking at the aftermath of some of the deadliest wildfires to have struck the US in recent years has shed light on the devastating effects the disasters have on human health, with impacts that extend far beyond the official death toll and injury counts.Three studies published this week examine the long-term fallout from the Maui and Los Angeles wildfires, including depression, suicide and overdose deaths, lung damage, and deaths caused by healthcare disruptions. Continue reading...

Men's pro competition plunged into further uncertainty with Miami Sharks' withdrawal after merger and NOLA exit last weekMajor League Rugby was reduced to eight teams on Wednesday by the withdrawal of the Miami Sharks, just a week after a founding team quit the competition and two California teams merged.Miami and MLR did not immediately comment but multiple league sources confirmed that the Sharks' withdrawal after two years in the league was finalized on Tuesday.Martin Pengelly writes on Substack at The National Maul, on rugby in the US. Continue reading...

Gathering reportedly to include Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Susan Wiles to discuss strategy for dealing with scandalJD Vance will reportedly host a meeting on Wednesday evening at his residence with a handful of senior Trump administration officials to discuss their strategy for dealing with the ongoing scandal surrounding the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The vice-president's gathering, first detailed by CNN, is reportedly set to include the attorney general, Pam Bondi; the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche; the FBI director, Kash Patel; and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Continue reading...

US president cites youth crime in call to strip the capital of local rule, despite declining violence and local oppositionDonald Trump is threatening to strip Washington DC of its local governance and place the US capital under direct federal control, citing what he described as rampant youth crime following an alleged assault on a federal employee who worked for the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge).In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president said he would federalize" the city if local authorities failed to address crime, specifically calling for minors as young as 14 to be prosecuted as adults. Continue reading...

Jesse Calhoun, indicted last year after three bodies found in 2023, charged over death of Kristin Smith in November 2022A man accused of killing three women in the Portland area and dumping their bodies has been indicted on a fourth murder charge.A grand jury has indicted Jesse Calhoun in the November 2022 death of 22-year-old Kristin Smith, the Multnomah county district attorney, Nathan Vasquez, said on Tuesday. The new indictment, which comes roughly two and a half years after Smith's remains were found, adds one count each of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse to Calhoun's case. Continue reading...

Incineration of $9.7m of contraceptives to lead to 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions, IPPF saysA decision by the US government to incinerate more than $9.7m (7.3m) of contraceptives is projected to result in 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions in five African countries.More than three-quarters of the contraceptives (77%) were destined for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali, according to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), an NGO global healthcare provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive rights. Continue reading...

President repeats threat to bring in levies within next week or so' in attempt to get companies to move production to USShares in European pharmaceutical companies have sunk to a four-month low, after Donald Trump repeated his threats to introduce tariffs on drug imports within the next week or so".Europe's STOXX Healthcare index slid by 2.8% on Wednesday, falling to its lowest level since mid-April, shortly after the US president's initial liberation day" tariff announcements. Continue reading...

The Republican senator and vocal abortion foe supported Trump's baseless claims of fraud during the 2020 electionThe Republican senator Marsha Blackburn announced on Wednesday she will run for governor of Tennessee.A staunch ally of Donald Trump who represents a state he carried by nearly 30 percentage points, Blackburn would become the first female governor in Tennessee's history if she wins next year. The vocal abortion foe supported Trump's baseless claims of fraud during the 2020 election, and was considered one of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives during 16 years representing a district in middle Tennessee. Continue reading...

Report from senator Jon Ossoff's office found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since Trump's inaugurationA new report has found hundreds of reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centers.The alleged abuses uncovered include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food and water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and child separation. Continue reading...

US president has been unusually reticent about plans to punish Russia if it does not agree to end Ukraine war

Amid a year of hardships, thousands flock to Pasadena for kitty adoptions, crocheted beds and community at CatConIt's been a difficult year in southern California, with deadly wildfires, immigration raids that have that left communities in fear and thousands of soldiers deployed to Los Angeles. In downtown Pasadena over the weekend, though, the region received a badly needed dose of joy.On Saturday and Sunday, thousands of cat lovers flocked to the city for a weekend dedicated to all things feline. Inside the city convention center, there were 200 kittens waiting to be adopted and hundreds of vendors selling everything a cat lover could dream of: treats, charmingly kitschy tees, crocheted beds and medieval period-inspired portraits of regal cats. Continue reading...

In a 2019 case, John Roberts said federal courts shouldn't intervene in such matters. Trump's team is taking advantageWith Texas Republicans rushing to fulfil Donald Trump's wish to gerrymander to the max, many Americans are no doubt wondering why there isn't some referee to stop this hyperpartisan race to the bottom that is poisoning our democracy. The supreme court should be the referee that puts a halt to this ugly, undemocratic mess, but in a shortsighted, 5-4 ruling in 2019, the court's conservative majority essentially told state legislatures that anything goes when it comes to gerrymandering. Their message was: no matter how extreme the gerrymandering, we'll look the other way.Writing the majority opinion in that case, Rucho v Common Cause, chief justice John Roberts declared that gerrymandering was a political matter that federal courts shouldn't intervene in (unless it involves racial discrimination). Many legal experts said the conservative justices were defaulting on the court's responsibility to prevent absurdly unfair, undemocratic elections, where the fix is in even before people vote. In a prescient dissent, justice Elena Kagan warned that the huge permission slip the court was giving to gerrymandering would encourage a politics of polarization and dysfunction" and might irreparably damage our system of government".Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues Continue reading...