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Nayib Bukele disputed claims of Abrego Garcia's lawyers that he was tortured and deprived of sleep while in custodyThe president of El Salvador has denied claims that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was subjected to beatings and deprivation while he was held in the country before being returned to the US to face human-smuggling charges.Nayib Bukele said in a social media post that Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian national who was wrongly extradited from the US to El Salvador in March before being returned in June, wasn't tortured, nor did he lose weight". Continue reading...

We want to hear the experiences of scientists, researchers and students after hundreds of research grants have been abruptly cancelledThe Trump administration is dismantling the National Science Foundation (NSF), which critics say risks losing a generation of scientific talent and jeopardizes the future of US industries and economic growth.The NSF, founded in 1950, is the only federal agency that funds fundamental research across all fields of science and engineering. It has contributed to major scientific breakthroughs and innovations. Continue reading...

Dortmund's pursuit of younger brother included hotel visit and talk of a Club World Cup meeting with Real MadridJobe Bellingham was furious when he found out that the early yellow card he had been shown for a tackle on Nelson Deossa against Monterrey meant missing the next game of the Club World Cup and he was still furious the following day.The news hit hard when he heard it at half-time heading down the tunnel and the hurt was not going away in a hurry. This was not just the next game, it was Borussia Dortmund versus Real Madrid, the Bellingham brothers on the same pitch for the first time and the match so special Dortmund used it to convince him to move to Germany in the first place. That and a disguise. Continue reading...

The yearly commemoration has always marked a contradiction. But despair is not a strategy: this is a moment to create changeThe Fourth of July celebration of freedom rings hollow this year. The contradictions built into a national commemoration of our triumph over autocracy feel newly personal and perilous - especially to those who have, until now, felt relatively secure in the federal government's commitment to democracy and the rule of law.But the contradiction is far from new. Black, brown and Indigenous communities have always seen the gap between the ideals of American democracy and the lived reality of exclusion. Frederick Douglass's 1852 address What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? demanded that Americans confront the hypocrisy of celebrating liberty while millions were enslaved. Today, those contradictions persist in enduring racial disparities and policies that perpetuate segregation, second-class citizenship and selective protection of rights.Deborah N Archer is the president of the ACLU, the Margaret B Hoppin professor of law at NYU Law School, and the author of Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality. L Song Richardson is the former dean and currently chancellor's professor of law at the University of California Irvine School of Law. She previously served as president of Colorado College. Susan Sturm is the George M Jaffin professor of law and social responsibility and the founding director of the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School and author of What Might Be: Confronting Racism to Transform Our Institutions. Continue reading...

Advocates in Springfield, Ohio - a city thousands of Haitians now call home - fear the fallout of Trump's DHS revoking temporary protected status for Haitian nationalsInside a church a few blocks south of downtown Springfield, Ohio, about 30 concerned Haitians, church leaders and community members have gathered on a balmy summer evening to try to map out a plan.It's been just a few days since Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced that Haitian nationals with temporary protected status (TPS) would face termination proceedings in a matter of months. By 2 September, they would be forced out of the US. Continue reading...

House passes sweeping bill that will slash Medicaid and food stamps. Plus, Israel steps up Gaza bombing before ceasefire talks

Experts worry the tax-and-spending bill will gut healthcare and hospitals, especially in states like North CarolinaWhen Hurricane Helene drowned western North Carolina in muck and floodwater last year, it caught folks off-guard.Now, local leaders in places like Asheville expect the Republican-led reconciliation bill - called the big, beautiful bill" by Donald Trump - to bear down on rural America. And they wonder whether people are missing the warning signs. Continue reading...

Written after the revolution, the rare letter links the US fight for liberty to rising unrest across Europe in 1783A rare, handwritten letter by Thomas Jefferson, in which the founding father and third president expounds the right of citizens to bear arms in a revolutionary cause, has been uncovered in New England and offered for sale to mark the Fourth of July holiday.The holiday also marks the 199th anniversary of his death. Continue reading...

Key takeaways from data surrounding these issues from the group stage and last-16 matches of rebooted tournamentThe group stage and last-16 of the Club World Cup brought no shortage of storylines, ranging from the oppressive heat that impacted multiple games during the tournament to low attendances, to on-field matters, with different confederations clashing in official club competition. Here are some takeaways from data surrounding these issues, as gathered by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Officials in Pico Rivera say agents gathered before a raid and soiled parking lot after being asked to leaveA Los Angeles school district is demanding an investigation of an incident last month, during which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents gathered at a local high school before a raid and were seen publicly urinating on school grounds, not far from where elementary school students were attending summer classes.According to a statement from El Rancho unified school district, which also released video evidence in the form of surveillance-camera footage, the incident took place on the morning of 17 June at Ruben Salazar high school in Pico Rivera, in south-eastern LA county. Continue reading...

A piece of history burned down in the Los Angeles wildfires. Project Chimney is salvaging what's left to honor the architecture - and eventually create a memorialBy mid-morning last Thursday, Evan Hall was standing near the top of Monument Street in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades, looking out over the Pacific Ocean. He was running out of time.Hall stood in the charred ruins of a 1953 home designed by the modernist architect Richard Neutra. Beside him, a handful of hard-hat-clad preservationists, masons and construction workers all looked up at the same thing: a chimney. Continue reading...

A new short film turns the focus on the everyday runners at the back of the New York City Marathon pack - the underdogs who finish in darkness but still change their livesDrive To Survive, the seminal Netflix docuseries which introduced a new generation to Formula One, also unleashed a wave of sports shows that swept across virtually every streaming platform.Many follow the same playbook, carefully painting a behind-the-scenes portrait of elite athletes pursuing greatness - from cyclists confronting the steepest climbs of the Tour de France and surfers hunting vast waves to tennis players vying for grand slams and track sprinters for medals. Continue reading...

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib condemns major policy bill as disgusting' as party vows to mobilize and fight back'Democrats have erupted in a storm of outrage over the passage of the Donald Trump's budget bill, delivering scathing critiques that offered signs of the attack lines the party could wield against Republicans in next year's midterm elections.Party leaders released a wave of statements after the sweeping tax and spending bill's passage on Thursday, revealing a fury that could peel paint off a brick outhouse. Continue reading...

The bill steals from the sick, elderly and hungry, and gives to billionaires and jackboots. But Republicans will follow their leader anywhereThe budget reconciliation bill that passed the US House of Representatives on Thursday and was promptly to be signed into law by Donald Trump represents the particular perversity of national politics in America: seemingly no one wants it, everyone hates it, and it is widely agreed to be devastating for staggering numbers of Americans. And yet, the bill felt inevitable: it was a foregone conclusion that this massive, malignant measure was something that everyone dreaded and no one had the capacity to stop.They didn't really even try. In the Senate, a few conservative Republicans made noise about the bill's dramatic costs: the congressional budget office estimates that the bill will add $3.3 tn to the deficit over the coming decade, and the senator Rand Paul, a budget hawk from Kentucky, declined to vote for it for this reason. But other Republicans, who used to style themselves as fiscally responsible guardians against excessive government spending, engaged in a bit of freelance creative accounting in order to produce an estimate that falsely claimed the cost of the bill would be lower. Most of them quickly found themselves on board. Continue reading...

Letters to be sent to countries without a deal in place before end of 90-day pause on 9 July

On first anniversary of Labour taking power, prime minister says it is in the national interest' for pair to connectKeir Starmer has spoken about his good relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, and their shared family values.To mark the first anniversary of the Labour government coming to power on Friday, the prime minister spoke to the BBC podcast Political Thinking and said it was in the national interest" for the two men to connect. Continue reading...

As the IOC ushers in new leadership, Donald Trump's second term is already wreaking havoc on LA 28 - and turning a global celebration into a national security crackdownWhen the International Olympic Committee first handed Los Angeles the 2028 Summer Olympics back in 2017, IOC president Thomas Bach called it a golden opportunity" for all involved. Fast forward to last month when Kirsty Coventry took the reins from Bach at the IOC. So much has changed.In January, LA was hit with deadly wildfires. That same month a different sort of natural disaster took shape as Donald Trump returned to the White House. Bach had previously praised LA for its strong foundation", but that foundation has crumbled under the weight of the wildfires, a citywide budget crisis and an erratic president whose marauding Immigration and Customs Enforcement look like they arrived straight from robbing a liquor store to instill fear across Los Angeles. Continue reading...

With their illiberal attitudes and ever more draconian use of technology to crack down on protest, it is ministers who now imperil our rightsNo one can be trusted with power. Any government will oppress its people if not constantly and inventively challenged. And the task becomes ever-more urgent as new technologies of surveillance and control are developed.The UK government is run by a former human rights lawyer. Its home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has expressed her admiration for the Suffragettes in parliament. Yet such credentials do nothing to defend us from attacks on our fundamental rights. With a huge majority, no formal constitutional checks and a ruthless, scarcely accountable governing machine, this administration is abusing its power to an even greater extent than its Conservative predecessors. Continue reading...

At a rally in Iowa, the president said he hates' lawmakers who opposed his signature bill, and looked ahead to plans to mark the 250th anniversary of AmericaDonald Trump has celebrated the passage of his signature tax and spend legislation by declaring there could be no better birthday present for America" on the eve of the 4 July holiday.The US president took a victory lap during an event in Des Moines, Iowa, that was officially billed as the start of a year-long celebration of America's 250th anniversary, in 2026. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Read our story on the megabill hereJeffries has just passed the five-hour mark and has no intention of stopping: We still got some ground to cover."We are going to continue as Democrats to take our sweet time on behalf of the American people because the issues are too significant to ever walk away from," Jeffries said, to cheers from the Democrats in the chamber. Continue reading...

Ward Sakeik, 22, who came to US aged eight, tells of joy and a little shock' after more than four months in detentionWard Sakeik, a stateless Palestinian woman who was detained in February on the way back from her honeymoon, was released from immigration detention after more than four months of confinement.I was overfilled with joy and a little shock," she said at a press conference on Thursday. I mean, it was my first time seeing a tree in five months." Continue reading...

Madre fire, one of at least a dozen in the state, has burned more than 50,000 acres in San Luis Obispo countyA fast-growing wildfire in central California has become the largest in the state this year, surpassing the size of January's wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles, as the flames spread in hot, windy conditions.The Madre fire had exploded to more than 50,000 acres by Thursday morning, after breaking out in San Luis Obispo county on Wednesday afternoon and tearing through grasslands as dry. Extreme heat has raised the fire risk for large portions of the state before the Fourth of July holiday. Continue reading...

After days of debate and backroom wrangling, the measure overcame Republican objections and passed the House. Key US politics stories from 3 July 2025The US House of Representatives passed Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill on Thursday, handing the president the first major legislative victory of his second term, with the bill expected to supercharge immigration enforcement and slash federal safety net programs.For decades, Republicans have argued that the US would be better off if taxes were low, and programs to help low-income Americans were harder to access. Thursday's bill will in effect make this a reality, fundamentally reordering two major social safety net programs, slashing funding and imposing new work requirements. Nonpartisan estimates say it will cost millions of people their benefits and the ripple effects, experts say, will be felt across the country, and not just by the poor. Continue reading...

The Republican fantasy of lower taxes and hard-to-access social safety net programs will now be a realityFor decades, Republicans have argued that the US would be better off if taxes were low, and programs to help low-income Americans were harder to access. With Donald Trump's marquee tax and spending bill now set to become law, the country will find out what it's like to live under that sort of system.The massive legislation that Trump plans to sign Friday will make his campaign promises a reality by extending tax cuts enacted during his first term, and creating new deductions aimed at the working-class voters who backed his re-election. Continue reading...

Court halts ruling that allowed migrants to challenge removal to countries where they could be in dangerThe supreme court has allowed the Trump administration to deport the eight men who have been held for weeks at an American military base in Djibouti to war-torn South Sudan, a country where almost none of them have ties.Most of the men are from countries including Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. Just one is from South Sudan. Continue reading...

With narrow majorities and intra-party splits, Republicans faced a battle to give Trump his bill to sign - but they did itJust a few months ago, analysts predicted that Republicans in Congress - with their narrow majorities and fractured internal dynamics - would not be able to pass Donald Trump's landmark legislation.On Thursday, the president's commanding influence over his party was apparent once again: the bill passed just in time for Trump's Fourth of July deadline. Continue reading...

The El Rancho unified school district released video that allegedly shows Ice and border patrol agents urinating in the grounds of the Salazar high school in Pico Rivera on the morning of 17 June. Campus cameras captured some of those agents urinating on the school's premises, school district leaders said Continue reading...

Dan Rather laments sad day for journalism' after company settles for $16m over 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interviewA former CBS News anchor and 60 minutes correspondent, Dan Rather, has blasted the $16m settlement between Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, and Donald Trump, calling it a sad day for journalism".It's a sad day for 60 Minutes and CBS News," Rather, a veteran journalist who was a CBS News anchor for over 20 years, told Variety in an interview published on Wednesday. I hope people will read the details of this and understand what it was. It was distortion by the president and a kneeling down and saying, yes, sir,' by billionaire corporate owners." Continue reading...

Album launch party was ending when three people in an SUV began firing on a crowd outside a nightclubFour people were killed by gunfire and 14 others hospitalized overnight after a drive-by shooting outside a private nightclub event in Chicago, police said on Thursday.At least three were in critical condition. City news outlets reported that the incident happened after a launch party for the new album by the local rap star Mello Buckzz and that her boyfriend was one of those shot. Continue reading...

Marin Cilic beats Jack Draper but there are wins for Iga Swiatek, Mirra Andreeva, Barbora Krejcikova, Jannik Sinner and Novak DjokovicNavarro isn't messing around. Twelve minutes in, the 10th seed leads 3-0, and has hit only once unforced error.Pinnington Jones, looking like the 2002 champ Lleyton Hewitt with his backwards cap and diminutive frame, has begun his match too, but it's been an inauspicious start. The Brit is broken in the opening game, to 30, after three successive errors: on the forehand, the backhand and then a double fault. Cobolli consolidates the break and it's 2-0. Continue reading...

A look back at the career of the celebrated actor, who has died at his home in Los Angeles age 67 Continue reading...

Donald Trump's sweeping legislation boosts the wealthy, funds a border wall and risks $3tn deficit before his term endsThe US House of Representatives on Thursday passed Donald Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill after Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly passed it, with JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.Here's what's in the final version of the bill, which now heads to Donald Trump's desk: Continue reading...

Trump's judicial nominee Emil Bove echoed a Mafia code of silence as Senate Republicans shielded him from scrutiny.In The Godfather, a Mafia turncoat appears before a Senate committee in order to testify as a protected witness about its operations. Frank Pentangeli, Frankie Five Angels", a capo allied with the old godfather, Vito Corleone, has had a falling out with the new one, his son Michael Corleone, who attempted to assassinate him. As Pentangeli is about to speak at the hearing, he notices his brother Vincenzo, a mafioso from Sicily, seated behind him. Michael has arranged his grim looming presence. Pentangeli is suddenly reminded of his oath of omerta, the code of silence. He recants on the spot, saying that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear".On 25 June, Emil Bove, Donald Trump's former personal attorney, whom he had named associate deputy attorney general, and now after five months seeks to elevate as a federal judge on the US third circuit court of appeals, appeared before the Senate judiciary committee for his confirmation hearing. He faced, at least potentially, a far-ranging inquiry into his checkered career. Continue reading...

J Michael Luttig tells how disappointed' he is in his friend the chief justice for not taking a stand against the presidentJ Michael Luttig, a conservative former federal judge, has said how he is disappointed" in his friend John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, for an unforgivable reticence" about Donald Trump.Luttig was long considered a possible supreme court nominee himself. He shepherded Clarence Thomas through his contentious supreme court confirmation hearing in 1991 and was a mentor to the Texas senator Ted Cruz. Continue reading...

Midfielder's suspension may mean shifting Fernandez and risking raw talent in quarter-final against PalmeirasMoises Caicedo was still going strong. There were 108 minutes on the clock at the Bank of America Stadium - not taking into account the lengthy weather delay - when the Chelsea midfielder won possession in Benfica's half, found Cole Palmer and surged forward.Palmer advanced towards a back-pedalling, understaffed defence. He waited for support before finding the overlapping Caicedo. Benfica, tiring with 10 men, were defeated by Caicedo's power. The 23-year-old shot, Anatoliy Trubin made a mess of his save and the ball squirmed loose to Christopher Nkunku to score the goal that sent Enzo Maresca's side into the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup. Continue reading...

American hellfire Pentecostal preacher brought down by sex scandals who tearfully begged for forgiveness on TVThe American televangelist hellfire preacher Jimmy Swaggart, who has died aged 90, fell by the wayside not once but twice with sex workers, spectacularly ending his previously successful TV ministry that screened in 140 countries and was reputed to bring in $150m a year in merchandising sales.On the first occasion, when he was filmed with a woman at a motel near his church in the suburbs of New Orleans in 1988, he prayed for forgiveness in a tearful TV address. On the second occasion three years later in California when he was caught with a woman in his car, he just told his congregation: The Lord told me it's flat out none of your business." Continue reading...

The 18-year-old says it's very difficult' to focus on Palmeiras as he knows his time with the club is coming to an endWho would have thought that two Brazilian clubs would reach the Club World Cup quarter-finals? If Fluminense beat Al-Hilal in Orlando on Friday and Palmeiras get the better of Chelsea a few hours later in Philadelphia, one of them will make it to the final. Chelsea have already been embarrassed by one Brazilian side at the tournament - they were trounced 3-1 by Flamengo a fortnight ago in the group stage - but they are still favourites to beat Palmeiras in the quarter-finals.The English side came out on top when the teams met in the final of the Club World Cup three years ago, winning 2-1 thanks to a 117th-minute penalty converted by Kai Havertz. At that point, a young prodigy known as Messinho", or little Messi, was taking his first steps in the Palmeiras academy having joined from Cruzeiro. When the teams meet again on Friday night, Estevao Willian will be the central focus. The 18-year-old is inextricably linked to both clubs, having turned professional at one before agreeing to join the other in a deal that could be worth up to 52m. Continue reading...

Details include how White House staff thought ex-president was a prick' who disrespected and mistreated BidenBarack Obama, the former US president, sounded the alarm about Joe Biden's ailing re-election bid almost a year before polling day, warning his former vice-president's staff your campaign is a mess", a new book reveals.The intervention came amid tensions between the Obama and Biden camps as they braced for a tough fight against Donald Trump. In the end, the ageing Biden withdrew from the race in favor of his vice-president, Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump. Continue reading...

Justices will hear Idaho and West Virginia appeals on laws barring trans girls from female public school teamsThe US supreme court announced on Thursday that it will consider a bid by West Virginia and Idaho to enforce their state laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams at public sector schools.The decision means the court is prepared to take up another civil rights challenge to Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people. Continue reading...

Marshall Freeman promoted software and owned stake in company while working for police, violating disclosure laws, says ethics officeA top Atlanta police department (APD) official worked as a consultant for a tech company whose software is key to the city's massive surveillance system, according to an investigation from Atlanta's office of ethics.The official's activities included meeting with police departments across the country about the company's products while also investing in the company and going on to serve on the company's board. Continue reading...

Edward Kelley, a veteran pardoned by Trump, was found guilty of trying to kill officers who investigated himA US military veteran, previously pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, was sentenced to life in prison this week for plotting to attack an FBI office and assassinate other law enforcement officers.Edward Kelley, 36, was found guilty last November of trying to attack officers who investigated him over his actions at the US Capitol in Washington DC when pro-Trump supporters tried stormed the building in hopes, ultimately in vain, of stopping the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory over Trump in the 2020 election. Continue reading...

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Key rule approved at 4am after Republican holdouts agree to move forward on debate. Plus, fragments show Israeli military used US-made 500lb bomb in strike on Gaza cafe

Residents formed a safety watch after a neo-Nazi march in Lincoln Heights, but racist incidents still cause turmoilDespite its proximity to a busy highway, Lincoln Heights' rolling hills, parks and well-kept lawns are pictures of calm suburban life north of Cincinnati.Today it's home to about 3,000 mostly African American people a few miles from Kentucky and the Ohio River, which divided free northern states from the slave-owning south. In the 1920s, Lincoln Heights became one of the first self-governing Black communities north of the Mason-Dixon line. Continue reading...

Mark Richards was fired from St Francis Xavier school after an obituary identified him as his late husband's widowerA longtime music teacher at a New Orleans-area Catholic school who was essentially fired for being listed in an obituary as another man's widower says he refused to suffer quietly because it's just time" for bullying and homophobic discrimination to stop".If I can put this out there and bring attention to it and make it easier for some other young, gay educator to stand up to it - then, yeah, I'll do that," Mark Richards told the radio show Talk Louisiana With Jim Engster on Tuesday. I have nothing to lose. Continue reading...

I was at a conference about Palestine shortly before he was killed. None of the Israelis I spoke to were willing to publicly name these horrorsIt has been less than two months since my niece Juri - a bright, giggling six-year-old - was killed in Gaza. We buried her while her sister recovered from her injuries and her father tried to walk again on shattered legs. Just a week ago, I was struck by another unbearable loss. My 16-year-old nephew Ali was killed: a drone-fired rocket tore through him and six members of our extended family while they were sitting outside the last house we had left - the only one that hadn't yet been reduced to dust.Ali was split in two. That's not a metaphor: it's literally what the rocket did to his body. A child trying to escape the stifling heat inside a home without electricity, without water, without safety. A child whose only crime was sitting on a plastic chair in a corridor with his uncles - men in their 60s - trying to breathe, trying to live, trying to find a sliver of comfort in a place where even comfort has become a threat. Continue reading...

Donna Kashanian, 64 and a community service volunteer, arrived in 1978 on a student visa and has no criminal recordKaitlynn Milne says her mother is usually always up first thing in the morning, hours before the rest of the family. She enjoys being productive in the quiet hours around sunrise. It's an especially optimal time to do yard work, when the rest of her New Orleans neighborhood still sleeps and she can count on peacefully completing chores.Gardening and rearranging the shed is how an average morning would go for Madonna Donna" Kashanian, a 64-year-old Iranian mother, wife, home cook, parent-teacher association (PTA) member and lifelong community service volunteer. Continue reading...