US news | The Guardian

The initial failure of coalition members to back the new chancellor in sufficient numbers was a bad beginning at a treacherous moment for the nationThe election of Friedrich Merz as chancellor by German legislators on Tuesday morning was meant to end months of political instability, since the collapse of OlafScholz's government half a year ago - itself the result of bitter infighting at the top. Many fear that this could be the last chance to keep out the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD). But the humiliatingresult of the first ballot - in which MrMerzbecame the first chancellor designate to fail tosecure the majority needed in the Bundestag since the secondworld war - was a bad beginning.It was supposed to be a straightforward confirmation; instead, he was hobbled by rebels fromhis own coalition. Only 310 of its 328legislators backed him, short of the 316 required. He was approvedby 325 in a hastily scheduled secondvote, hours later. Continue reading...

Mark Carney said country was not for sale' in much anticipated summit between leaders at White House

Canada's newly-elected prime minister, Mark Carney, told Donald Trump that 'some places are never for sale', including Canada. Carney's comments were made during a meeting in the White House when the US president said he still believed Canada should become the '51st state'. In response to Carney's remarks, Trump told reporters: 'Never say never'

John J Reilly, a highway superintendent, allegedly fired shots at a driver who stopped to ask for directionsAuthorities have arrested a New York official for shooting a lost DoorDash delivery driver over the weekend.On Sunday, New York state police announced the arrest of 48-year old John J Reilly of Chester, New York, after he allegedly shot a driver who got lost while attempting to deliver food to a residence in the Valerie Drive neighborhood on Friday evening. Continue reading...

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected appeals from Grupo Pachuca and potential replacement club AlajuelenseMexican soccer club Leon finally lost their legal match against Fifa on Tuesday and are officially out of the Club World Cup. Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC or another Mexican team, Club America, will likely be the late replacement in the United States next month after a yet-to-be-scheduled one-game playoff.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

California governor unveils idea after president threatened tariffs on films made abroadThe California governor, Gavin Newsom, has proposed a $7.5bn tax credit program and offered to work with Donald Trump to boost US film production after the president threatened to slap 100% tariffs on films made abroad, alarming industry executives in Hollywood and abroad.Newsom - who has had an often fractious relationship with Trump - unveiled his idea after Hollywood reacted nervously to the president's tariffs plan, which sent share values in some film and media companies plummeting. Continue reading...

Investigation under way in what is believed to be the first fatal mauling of a human by a bear in the stateWildlife officials in Florida are investigating what is believed to be the first fatal mauling of a human by a bear in the state.The body of the black bear suspected in the death of 89-year-old Robert Markel was removed from woodland near the unincorporated community of Jerome, close to Florida's Big Cypress wildlife management area, on Monday night, according to the Naples Daily News. Continue reading...

White House axed grants even as college agreed to demands including ceding control of Middle East studies departmentNew York's Columbia University is slated to cut 180 staffers whose work was supported by federal grants that have now been revoked by the Trump administration, the college's acting president, Claire Shipman, announced on Tuesday.We have had to make difficult choices and unfortunately, today, nearly 180 of our colleagues who have been working, in whole or in part, on impacted federal grants, will receive notices of non-renewal or termination," Shipman said in a lengthy notice posted on Columbia's website. Continue reading...

Federal government restarted collecting on defaulted loans, ending a five-year pause that began during CovidThe federal government resumed collecting on defaulted student loans on Monday, ending a five-year pause that began during the Covid-19 pandemic.The Department of Education says federal student loan borrowers who fail to pay on time could damage their credit scores and even have their wages garnished, their tax refunds seized, and even see reductions in social security benefits beginning on 5 May. Continue reading...

The rise of a resurgent American white supremacism is reaching around the globe, often with deadly consequencesBy many accounts, Hilliard, a leafy suburb west of downtown Columbus, is a midwestern success story: its progressive school district gives a vacation day for all students to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr - the first in Ohio to do so - and its homes are highly sought-after by a growing number of diverse families where locals enjoy shopping at the oldest Asian grocery in the state.But it is also where Christopher Brenner Cook, a convicted terrorist, grew up. In April 2023, Cook and two others were sentenced for conspiring to attack America's electrical grid, and he was given a 92-month prison term. Continue reading...

For centuries, the academy was exclusive to the Christian elite. When that began to change, an onslaught beganIn 2021, JD Vance, then a candidate for Ohio senate, gave a provocative keynote address at the National Conservatism Conference. Vance's lecture was an indictment of American higher education: a hostile institution" that gives credibility to some of the most ridiculous ideas that exist in this country". The aspiring politician did not mince words before his receptive rightwing audience: If any of us wants to do the things we want to do ... We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities." The title of Vance's keynote was inspired by a quote from Richard Nixon: The universities are the enemy."The Maga movement, of which Vance, the vice-president, is now at the forefront, has been unabashedly on the attack against campuses, professors and students. Donald Trump characterizes colleges as dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics", and student protesters as radicals", savages" and jihadists" who have been indoctrinated by faculty communists and terrorists". He has already delivered swift vengeance against campus protesters and non-protesters alike with visa terminations and deportations. This administration has gleefully withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to force colleges to crack down on student dissent. Continue reading...

Group demands university cut ties with Boeing over company's military contracts with IsraelMore than two dozen pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested on Monday night at the University of Washington in Seattle after they occupied an engineering building and set dumpsters on fire.The protest group, called Super UW, occupied the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building to demand that the university sever its ties with Boeing, as the aerospace company has military contracts which the students say are used by Israel in their US-funded genocide of Palestinian people". Continue reading...

The unpredictability of the US president's tariff policy on Mexico has already cost ranchers millions in profit lossesBandanas veiled ranchers' mouths and noses, shielding them from heavy dust clouds kicked up by the Mexican herds of cattle crossing the United States-Mexico border. The scene looks timeless, routine. The uncertainty isn't.In Donald Trump's first 100 days, the borderland's cattle industry faces a huge challenge: threats of a trade war that's already hitting consumers in the gut with rising beef prices, from Texas to New York. The on-again, off-again tariff impositions and worries in February and March jolted Mexican cattle producers with mounting economic losses. Continue reading...

Niosh has been protecting workers' health and safety for 50 years, affecting everyone from coalminers to firefightersAs Donald Trump announced his tariffs in the White House Rose Garden last month, he proclaimed: We're standing up for the American worker." While it remains to be seen what impact these tariffs will have on American workers, his words were belied by the fact that just a day before this announcement, hundreds of workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) - an organization that has stood up for US workers since 1970 - discovered that they had been laid off.Niosh was founded as part of the Occupational Health and Safety Act with the purpose of developing and establishing recommended occupational safety and health standards". The organization has been on the frontline of protecting worker health and safety ever since. Its work has focused on understanding the risks faced by millions of workers throughout the country who put their safety on the line every day to perform their jobs. For example, Niosh's Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program investigates fatalities to understand their circumstances and make recommendations, ensuring that more of these workers, who risk their lives for others daily, can be safer in the line of duty. Continue reading...

Lawmakers on key committee have quoted Hitler and are associated with calls for Jews to convert to ChristianityA number of Republican legislators set to grill university presidents in a congressional hearing on antisemitism this week are associated with calls for Jews to convert to Christianity, have quoted Adolf Hitler, or have reportedly threatened to burn a synagogue to the ground.A group of Haverford professors, most of them Jewish, has raised concerns about the legislators, pointing to statements they have made in the past and antisemitic incidents in their districts that the professors say they have not forcefully condemned. Continue reading...

Lewis Hamilton took a swipe at Ferrari in Miami showing again how broadcasting team chats enlivens racesHave a tea break while you're at it" was Lewis Hamilton's sarcasm-drenched reply to his Ferrari team as they dallied over making a strategy call at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. It was the stuff of soap opera, enlivening what was in racing terms a McLaren walkover at the Hard Rock Stadium.Broadcasting team radio is one of the best innovations in the modern era of F1 and for all that it is considered a serious tool by drivers and teams, it is always at its best when vituperative or funny. Better still, both at once. Continue reading...

Amid outrage over far-fetched' plans to revive Alcatraz, Trump is pushing to expand Ice detention to other closed lockups marked by scandalsDonald Trump's proposal to reopen Alcatraz, the infamous prison shuttered more than 60 years ago, sparked global headlines over the weekend. But it isn't the only notorious closed-down jail or prison the administration has sought to repurpose for mass detentions.The US government has in recent months pushed to reopen at least five other shuttered detention facilities and prisons, some closed amid concerns over safety and mistreatment of detainees. While California lawmakers swiftly dismissed the Alcatraz announcement as not serious" and a distraction, the Trump administration's efforts to reopen other scandal-plagued facilities are well under way or already complete, in partnership with for-profit prison corporations. Continue reading...

Stars donned their Monday best at the blue carpet for this year's Met Gala. This year's theme was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style which looked back at 300 years of Black fashion alongside the history of Black dandyism. Guests were treated to a show by a gospel choir at the start of the night and surprised by Rihanna's announcement of her third pregnancy as she walked alongside co-host partner A$AP Rocky

White House proposes giving out $5,000 checks to address falling birthrates amid growing pronatalist' movementOne of Donald Trump's priorities for his second term is getting Americans to have more babies - and the White House has a new proposal to encourage them to do so: a $5,000 baby bonus".The plan to give cash payments to mothers after delivery shows the growing influence of the pronatalist" movement in the US, which, citing falling US birthrates, calls for traditional" family values and for women - particularly white women - to have more children. Continue reading...

With tipping reported at self-checkouts, drive-throughs and even vending machines, some consumers are pushing backWhen Garrett Petters, a 29-year-old architect in Dallas, and his girlfriend travelled to Paris last year, one of their favourite parts was eating out. They enjoyed French duck, andouillette, plenty of bread, cheese and coffee and even escargot.But it wasn't just Paris's cuisine they admired. It was also the different tipping culture. We were talking about how nice it is in Europe that they pay their waiters and waitresses and we don't have to tip because of it, and isn't that cool," Petters said. It felt very different from back in the US, where tipping culture felt out of control". Continue reading...

University told by education secretary research grants will not be provided.' Plus, 45% of Americans say third world war likely in five to 10 yearsGood morning.The Department of Education told Harvard University yesterday that it was ending billions of dollars in research grants and other aid unless the school acceded to a list of demands from the Trump administration that would effectively cede control of the nation's oldest and wealthiest university to the government.What impact might the funding suspension have? In its lawsuit fighting against the Trump administration, Harvard said the government's funding cuts would have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff [and] researchers" by ending crucial medical and scientific research.What is Israel's plan for seizing Gaza? Netanyahu, accused of prolonging the war for his own political survival, did not say how much territory would be seized by soldiers, but said Israeli troops would not go into Gaza, launch raids and then retreat quickly. The intention is the opposite of that," he said.What is the latest with the Israeli aid blockade on Gaza? Hunger is being used as a weapon of war", according to a Guardian editorial on Sunday. Flour is said to cost 30 times more than before the war. Aid warehouses are empty. UN World Food Program bakeries closed a month ago when supplies ran out; essential community kitchens are now following. This is despite the strong legal consensus that occupying powers have an absolute duty under the Geneva conventions to permit food to be given to a population in need. Continue reading...

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer won final grand slam titles at the same age. The odds of beating that mark seem long, but the Serbian has always been ruthlessly determinedOn a clear September New York evening in 1981, following a soul crushing loss to John McEnroe in the US Open final for the second consecutive year, Bjorn Borg disappeared into the night and vanished from the sport. He was only 25. He had accumulated an extraordinary 11 grand slam titles by then, but it left one to wonder how many more championships he could have amassed had he not retired so young. His conqueror that day had a much longer career and played until he was 33. But McEnroe, like Borg, won his last grand slam singles title at 25.Back in those old days of the first phase of Open tennis (which I'll date from 1968-1985; most of the top pros didn't start playing the Australian Open regularly until the mid-1980s), players reached their peaks in their mid-20s and winning majors as one approached 30 was considered unusual. Continue reading...

Because of the blockade, hunger is part of our daily reality now. It is deep and cruel, and there is no reliefIt has been more than 30 hours since I last ate. At times, I go as long as two days without food. For most people around the world, the word hunger is a fleeting feeling, easily fixed with a trip to the kitchen or a nearby store. Saying I'm hungry" is routine, almost meaningless. But imagine if every time you felt hungry, there was nothing to eat - no food, no relief, just emptiness. This has been my daily reality in the Gaza Strip for over a month.Since the beginning of the war, the Israeli occupation has controlled the quantity and type of food allowed into Gaza. When a ceasefire was agreed, I hoped that everything I had endured was behind me. I held on to the hope of a better life, convinced that hunger would become something in my past. But just as I began to regain my health, the bombing and destruction returned - and with them, the starvation.Aya Al-Hattab is a writer in Gaza Continue reading...

The US president's bizarre talk of 100% levies on films from foreign lands' combines trolling with a hazy grasp of factsAnother day, another bizarre, mischievous, headline-hogging pronouncement from the US president.Steve Bannon famously advised him to flood the zone with shit - a Maga-Maoist permanent revolution of provocative, toxic nonsense. Trump is flooding the zone with tariffs, then he pauses, walks back and climbs down on tariffs, and then adds more tariffs. The latest is his bizarre plan to hit movies made in foreign lands" with 100% tariffs. He has solemnly announced his grave concern that Hollywood was dying" at the hands of foreigners like the UK, who give tax breaks to multinationals. Continue reading...

Toy company Mattel says it will reduce imports into the US from China to below 15% by 2026

Visitors to one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations point to cost, feasibility and its legacy of Indigenous incarcerationIn the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay, on a windswept rock, lies a crumbling former federal prison that's now at the center of Donald Trump's latest real estate proposal: REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" he announced on Truth Social over the weekend, to serve as a symbol of Law, Order and JUSTICE."On Monday, the day after Trump's declaration, throngs of tourists queued up for the ferry at Fisherman's Wharf to visit the island. Continue reading...

Dressing to this year's theme of Superfine: Tailoring Black Style', Anna Wintour and her co-hosts Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams button up and pull out the umbrellas for the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art exhibition

This blog has now closed. Read our latestDonald Trump's bombshell announcement that Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands" will be subject to a 100% tariff has certainly caught the attention of Hollywood, as well as the international film industries it seems to be aimed at - principally Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, as well as European countries such as Hungary and Italy that have often acted as bases for US film production.Vague and grandstanding at it is, the chaotic rollout of previous Trump tariffs has triggered feverish speculation, as well as defiance, in the film industry in exactly how this might play out. Continue reading...

Two children believed to be among missing as search continues for people believed to be migrantsThree people were killed and seven others, including two children, were missing after a small boat capsized in choppy waters off the coast of San Diego, California, on Monday.The fatal disaster appeared to be an apparent migrant smuggling attempt, officials said. Four other people were rescued after the panga"-style open fishing vessel washed ashore near Torrey Pines state beach were transported to hospital, according to US Coast Guard officials. Continue reading...

University told by education secretary Linda McMahon research grants and other aid will not be provided'The US Department of Education informed Harvard University on Monday that it was ending billions of dollars in research grants and other aid unless the school accedes to a list of demands from the Trump administration that would effectively cede control of the nation's oldest and wealthiest university to the government.The news was delivered to Dr Alan Garber, Harvard's president, in a deeply partisan letter from Linda McMahon, the education secretary, which she also posted on social media. Continue reading...

Former vice-president says tariffs not a win for the American people' and predicts public pressure will growDonald Trump's tariffs policy will trigger a price shock" and possible shortages, and lead to public pressure on him to change his approach, the former vice-president Mike Pence has said.In one of his most wide-ranging critiques yet on the policies of the president he used to serve, Pence, speaking to CNN, derided the White House's wavering" support for Ukraine and declared - in direct contradiction of repeated assurances from Trump - that President Vladimir Putin of Russia doesn't want peace". Continue reading...

DHS claims participation in self-deportation' scheme may help legal re-entry later; administration says no final decisions' made on film tariffs - key US politics stories from Monday 5 May at a glanceThe Trump administration will offer undocumented immigrants $1,000 to leave the US as part of its latest crackdown on immigration, drawing criticism for saying that participation in the program may help preserve the option" for an individual to re-enter the US legally in the future".It is an incredibly cruel bit of deception for DHS [Department of Homeland Security] to be telling people that if they leave they will maintain the ability to return to the US legally in the future'," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a social media post. Continue reading...

Lawsuit by Republican-led Missouri, Kansas and Idaho says FDA acted improperly by easing restrictions on abortion pillDonald Trump's administration on Monday pushed forward in defending US rules easing access to the abortion drug mifepristone from a legal challenge that began during Democratic former president Joe Biden's administration.The US Department of Justice in a brief filed in Texas federal court urged a judge to dismiss the lawsuit by three Republican-led states on procedural grounds. Continue reading...

Chuck Schumer calls Federal Aviation Authority a mess' over days of problems at the major New Jersey airportOne of America's most important airports continued to be hit by delays and cancellations on Monday as the Senate's top Democrat called for an investigation into the chaotic crisis.The problems at Newark, a busy airport in New Jersey that acts as one of the main hubs for New York City and the surrounding region, have persisted since last week, causing serious issues for tens of thousands of travelers. Continue reading...

Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, White House cronies with very different backgrounds, are up for Mike Waltz's old postThe race is officially on to become Donald Trump's next national security adviser - but in this White House, the personalities and egos surrounding the president can matter far more than the titles they hold.Speaking from Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump suggested secretary of state Marco Rubio could continue to double-hat as the interim national security adviser. But he also praised Stephen Miller, whom he said was at the top of the totem pole" for the appointment and said he was in effect already doing the job. Continue reading...

Dana Nessel acts after Guardian report detailed her extensive links to university regents calling for prosecutionMichigan's attorney general, Dana Nessel, announced on Monday that she was dropping all charges against seven pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested last May at a University of Michigan encampment.The announcement came just moments before the judge was to decide on a defense motion to disqualify Nessel's office over alleged bias. Defense attorney Amir Makled said the motion largely stemmed from an October Guardian report detailing Nessel's extensive personal, financial and political connections to university regents calling for the activists to be prosecuted. Continue reading...

DHS claims payment will be issued after individuals leave the US and it has been confirmed through their app

Plan to expand and reuse long-shuttered penitentiary off San Francisco described as not serious' by Nancy PelosiDonald Trump has said he is directing the administration to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on an island off San Francisco that has been closed for more than 60 years.California Democrats called the idea absurd on its face" and part of the US president's strategy of political distraction. Other officials pointed to the closure of the prison complex in 1963, known for its brutal conditions, due to operational expense and the high number of (unsuccessful) escape attempts. Continue reading...

In her Hall of Fame induction speech, the World Cup winner opened up about the new perspective she has gained from retirement and motherhoodIt's been almost four years since Carli Lloyd announced her retirement as a player, and it appears to have been a transformative time for the two-time World Cup champion.In a speech at her induction to the US Soccer Hall of Fame on Sunday, Lloyd struck a different tone than the one she used so often throughout her playing career, apologizing to her teammates for not being fully present as she single-mindedly pursued her goals as a player. Saying she wasn't there to make friends" and that she avoided unnecessary drama," Lloyd was well known by the end of her career for her steely demeanor that ran counter to some of her era's more outgoing personalities like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. Continue reading...

Behind the slogans and tariffs lies a calculated strategy - fuelled by elite interests, eroding labour rights and stoking global recessionThe White House, eager to win a trade war it barely understands, has yanked the emergency brake on China-US trade without checking who's inside the vehicle. Donald Trump's early April trade decree has taken a month to hit the economy - that's how long Chinese containers need to reach Los Angeles. And on cue, US pacific ports registered a 45% drop in container bookings this week from China. When warehouses fall quiet and trucks idle in California, the silence will creep eastward. Unemployment will surely tick upwards.Even if Washington reverses course by the end of May, and Beijing plays nice, the best-case scenario is delayed damage. Some goods are being rerouted to avoid charges, but you can't reboot global logistics overnight. This isn't strategic decoupling - it's economic self-harm. By the time the Trump administration notices, it will be too late. The consequences of the US president's rash tactics will reverberate through Main Street. Mr Trump offers a flippant excuse: blame 11-year-olds with too many dolls- not his own tariffs - for rising hardship. Continue reading...

Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount shares fall as studios reel from announcement

By insisting tariffs on films at least partly produced outside the US, the president is trying to limit the important worldview of cinemaAdd movies to the ever-expanding list of areas where Donald Trump has no expertise or even passing knowledge, but assumes problems can be solved through tariffs and maybe a little racism, as a treat. Citing a threat to national security" from movies that aren't shot in the United States, Trump announced that he would be enacting a 100% tariff on movies made anywhere else.Characteristically, this proclamation was not so bold as to make any sense whatsoever, lacking as it was any sign that Trump understands the difference between movies that are produced (at least partially) by US companies and shot in other locations, and foreign films that are produced elsewhere but released in the US (by, of course, US companies who obtain distribution rights). But the consensus seems to be that Trump is referring mainly to purportedly American productions that are lured to shoot in various international locations by tax credits that allow for substantial savings on big budgets. Andrew Pulver has detailed analysis of how that may work on a financial level, sifting through the detritus of Trump's all-encompassing ignorance to explain why so many US films shoot overseas. Los Angeles film productions have declined in recent years so naturally, rather than creating incentives for more US shoots in the heart of the American film industry, Trump figures the best way to go about it is make it more expensive to shoot elsewhere. Continue reading...

The declining power of the Murdoch press is part of the wider story of the waning influence of mainstream media

Industry says levies would hit supply chains, making medicines potentially unaffordable for some US patientsAmericans would suffer most if Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imports of pharmaceuticals, as medications would become more expensive and potentially unaffordable for some people, drugmakers have warned.Drugmakers have been braced for targeted border taxes - similar to the 25% levies on steel, aluminium and car imports - after the US president threatened to hit the sector and announced an investigation last month. Last week, Trump hinted at a possible reprieve for companies, saying they would be given time to move their operations to the US, But after that it's going to be a tariff wall put up, and they won't be happy about it," he added. Continue reading...

Is their motto never complain, never explain' or never stop complaining, never stop explaining'? Either way, it's not working for themThe royal family's motto has been never complain, never explain" for as long as anyone asking anything as tedious as a question can remember. Royal watchers trot it out as a devilish smart move by a public relations master-breed. They've cracked the code of how to retain their dignity, their mystery, their effortless superiority and, maybe in a fair wind, even divinity: simply never say anything.Personally, I always found it a bit of an impediment to having any feelings for them. Sure, don't explain if you don't want to, but complaining to each other is 90% of human intimacy. It's hard to have a relationship without it, even an imaginary one. Continue reading...