Mahmoud Khalil's arrest comes as Trump vows to deport foreign students involved in protests against Israel's warA prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University's student encampment movement was arrested on Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who claimed they were acting on a state department order to revoke his green card, according to his attorney.Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned apartment, blocks from the private Ivy League university's main campus in New York when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press. Continue reading...
The Hindu nationalist prime minister's push could shift power northward to his political advantage but risks escalating political tensionsWhen Narendra Modi's alliance won a narrow majority in last year's Indian election, it signalled his waning popularity after a decade in power. A victory in 2029 may seem unlikely. Yet his government's push to redraw parliamentary constituencies using post-2026 census data could tilt the electoral field in his favour.The process, known as delimitation, ensures each member of parliament represents an equal number of voters - a principle of democratic fairness. Since 1976, however, it has been frozen to avoid penalising Indian states that curbed population growth. If delimitation proceeds, Mr Modi's populous northern strongholds will gain seats, weakening the political clout of India's economically dynamic and culturally distinct southern cone. Its five states are governed by different parties but, critically, none belong to Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). Southern states have long accused Mr Modi's government of bias in federal funding and project approvals. Last week's gathering of the south's political leadership in Delhi to protest against his move underscores the risk of backlash. Continue reading...
Most musicians can only make money on the platform by writing songs inoffensive enough to get on to one of its vapid playlistsIn the hands of some of its most gifted practitioners, songwriting is a kind of emotional alchemy. For the past week, I have been returning to a perfect example: Every Time the Sun Comes Up by the US singer Sharon Van Etten, which was released in 2014. Its lyrics might be fractured and fragmented, but it is an almost perfect portrait of self-doubt and downward spirals: one of those songs that captures feelings so deep that they go way beyond words.I went back to that song as I read a superb new book that has both educated and profoundly depressed me. Mood Machine, by the New York-based journalist Liz Pelly, is about the music-streaming giant Spotify, and how it attracted its current 615 million subscribers, making a billionaire of its Swedish co-founder and CEO, Daniel Ek. But its most compelling story centres on what Spotify has done to people's appreciation of songs and the people who make them - much of which is down to the platform's ubiquitous playlists.John Harris is a Guardian columnist. His memoir Maybe I'm Amazed, about his autistic son James and how music became their shared language, is published on 27 March. For more information, visit maybeimamazed.substack.com Continue reading...
Three of the fires are contained, while one is still burning in Westhampton, officials sayFirefighters in New York were continuing to battle at least one brush fire in a wooded stretch of Long Island on Sunday with the wealthy coastal enclave of the Hamptons vulnerable and officials warning that high wind gusts threatened to ignite further blazes.The state's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, declared a state of emergency on Saturday after four separate fires broke out. The flames were spreading across large swaths of the narrow strip of barrier land that stretches for more than 100 miles east from New York City out towards the Atlantic Ocean. Continue reading...
The charismatic sports news host has become an unlikely force in a party that needs critical friends and fresh ideasThe View, one of the US's most popular daytime television programmes, was a vital campaign stop last year for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This week, it played host to a cable sports channel personality who might be nurturing political ambitions of his own.Stephen A Smith was asked by co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin what he makes of hypothetical polls that show him among the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. Continue reading...
It's UGH week, the time when we all notice the many terrible things that have accumulated in our homes under the darkness of winter. But don't worry! You don't have to do anything silly like spring cleanI rarely have any wisdom to impart, but at this time of year I find myself itching to share one of the few snippets I have gleaned in my 50 years. So here goes.Have you found in recent days that everyone (in the northern hemisphere, anyway) seems stoked about spring - skittles and beer, carpets of crocuses, the prospect of sitting outside without having your face resurfaced by sleet - but you are not quite feeling it? Have any nascent joys of the changing seasons been crushed by a glimpse of yourself in a mirror, replaced by wondering how you got so dull and lumpy? Has your home become, seemingly overnight, a sticky nest of squalor - toothpaste dribbles on the mirror, mildewed grouting, sofa stains, dust (God, the dust)? Does nothing please you? Continue reading...
For the first time in decades, three major religious traditions - Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith - will observe their sacred fasting periods at the same time
The president, who derided Barack Obama for golfing while in office, even makes money off his Mar-a-Lago weekendsIt has become a familiar routine for the Palm Beach county sheriff, Ric Bradshaw, and his deputies. Almost every Tuesday in recent weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration has posted to its website a formal notice to airmen" advising of upcoming flight restrictions over south Florida, signaling once again to those who must protect him that Donald Trump is on his way to Mar-a-Lago for another weekend of golf.The president is at his waterfront mansion again this weekend, his sixth visit to Florida and the beloved golf courses he owns since his 20 January inauguration. Continue reading...
While it might save some politicians from public humiliation, it could also deprive Americans of opportunities to interact with their elected officialsAfter Roger Marshall, a senator from Kansas, was hounded out of his own town hall event last week, Republican party leaders had had enough. Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, and Richard Hudson, the chair of the GOP's fundraising body, decided the embarrassment had to end, and they told Republicans to stop holding the public events.But while that might save some Republican politicians from public humiliation, it could also deprive Americans of opportunities to interact with their elected officials, experts said, and prevent people from letting their representatives they are not happy with the increasingly divisive direction of the Trump administration. Continue reading...
Gestures of servility from administration members and world leaders alike are sickeningly common in the mad king's courtSycophancy is the coin of the realm. In Donald Trump's court, flattery is the only spoken language. He does not need an executive order to enforce it. Fear is the other side of the coin. Loyalty must be blind. Obedience is safety. Cronyism secures status. His whim is dogma. Criticism is heresy. Debate is apostasy. Expertise is bias. Objectivity is a hoax. Truth is just your opinion. Lies are defended to the death as articles of faith. New ones are manufactured on an industrial scale by his press office for social influencers to spread. Denying facts proves fealty. The rule of law is partisan. Russia is our trusted ally. Britain and France are random counties". Retribution is policy.The deeper the submission to madness, the greater his supremacy. The subjugation is more thorough if the things people are forced to accept are irrational or, better, the reverse of what they had believed. When previously held beliefs are abandoned to conform to their opposite, like the secretary of state Marco Rubio's formerly adamant support of Ukraine, which went to his core as the son of refugees from Castro's Cuba, the more Trump's dominance is demonstrated. Rubio has gone full circle, from his family fleeing one kind of tyranny to Trump sneering at him as Little Marco" to ambitious embrace of his tormentor. He finds himself as a supplicant to Trump complaining about Elon Musk's mindless wreckage of the state department. Formally the ranking constitutional officer of the cabinet, Rubio is below Musk in Trump's hierarchy. Continue reading...
My American accent inspired pity, empathy and utter confusion. I feel the same: it's as though we've entered hospice careTraveling abroad for the first time since November, I saw pity in the eyes of strangers when they heard my American accent. Pity, empathy, and utter confusion, as if to convey What the hell is happening to your country?" with a mere glance or a quiet sigh.Believe me, I'm American and I'm just as confused as you are.Shanti L Nelson is a writer and photographer Continue reading...
The gadfly-minded abuser has openly threatened Greenland, Ukraine and Europe. He, and America, are the enemy nowI'd say writing comedy about the ever-shifting opinions of Donald Trump, the Speedy Gonzales of on-the-hoof policymaking, is like playing pin the tail on the donkey, but it's unfair on donkeys. No donkey ever sexually assaulted someone in a department store changing cubicle.It's 4.30pm on Wednesday and I'm done. Last week I filed this column on Thursday, and then on Friday DJ Trump and JD Vance beat up Volodymyr Zelenskyy live on TV in the Oval Office to try to grab his minerals, as brazenly as Trump might grab a pussy, like a performatively cruel Tweedledum and Tweedledee in Sopranos suits.Stewart Lee tours Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf this year, with a Royal Festival Hall run in July Continue reading...
The documentary is both antisemitic and Israeli propaganda, according to critics. The truth is, it provides a rare glimpse of hopeIn 2009, Tony Blair visited Masafer Yatta, a collection of hamlets in the Palestinian West Bank. He had come to see a school that had gained attention for having been rebuilt in defiance of Israeli attempts to tear down the village. After he returned home, Israel cancelled the demolition order for the school. This," Basel Adra says, is a story about power."Adra is one of the directors of No Other Land, a documentary about the experience of living through, and attempting to defy, Israel's attempts to erase Masafer Yatta to create an IDF firing zone". Last week, it won an Oscar. In the 1980s, Israeli authorities designated part of the area as Firing Zone 918", a closed military area. In 1999, the government issued eviction orders against Palestinians in the area for illegally living in a firing zone". Two decades of court battles ended in 2022 when Israel's supreme court ruled the villagers could be expelled.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
Donald Trump's actions go against the Enlightenment values that gave rise to the constitution. His might-is-right politics have nothing to offer BritainThe founding fathers of the USA - James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin and more - were quintessential disciples of the European Enlightenment. Their intent was to embed Enlightenment values into the government and culture of the New World. America would be a republic of laws. Its constitution would ensure governance of the people, by the people, for the people. Through checked and balanced branches of government, it would expunge the possibility of monarchical discretionary power and inaugurate proper democracy.It would celebrate all liberties, from freedom of speech to freedom of worship. Their belief in science for the benefit of mankind in general", in Franklin's words, would imbue the republic's commitment to reason, the scientific method and the pursuit of truth. The dynamic economy and society that emerged, however imperfect, reflected those values. It has inspired billions and, for all its falls from grace, has been a force for good. Continue reading...
US has reportedly rejected Canadian proposal to tackle Russian shadow fleet', Republican bill trims everything aside from defense - key US politics stories from Saturday at a glanceThe US has reportedly rejected a Canadian proposal to establish a task force that would tackle Russia's so-called shadow fleet" of oil tankers and pushed to soften language on Moscow ahead of a G7 foreign ministers meeting this week.In negotiations to agree a joint statement on maritime issues, the US is pushing to strengthen language about China while watering down wording on Russia, the reports said. Continue reading...
Free training classes for firefighters and other first responders are provided through Fema at the Maryland siteThe country's pre-eminent federal fire training academy canceled classes, effective immediately, on Saturday amid the ongoing flurry of funding freezes and staffing cuts by Donald Trump's administration.The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that National Fire Academy (NFA) courses had been canceled amid a process of evaluating agency programs and spending to ensure alignment with Administration priorities", according to a notice sent to instructors, students and fire departments. Instructors were told to cancel all future travel until further notice. Continue reading...
State agencies responding around Pine Barrens, where homes, chemical factory and Amazon warehouse are at riskQuick-moving brush fires burned through a large swath of land on New York's Long Island on Saturday, fanned by high winds that spewed thick grey smoke into the sky and prompted the evacuation of a military base and the closure of a major highway.Kathy Hochul, the state governor, declared a state of emergency and said state agencies were responding to the fires around the Pine Barrens, a wooded area that is home to commuter towns east of New York City. Continue reading...
US pushes to remove references to sanctions and Russia's war in Ukraine from a Canadian draft statementThe US has rejected a Canadian proposal to establish a task force that would tackle Russia's so-called shadow fleet" of oil tankers, according to reports last night.Canada, which has the current Group of Seven presidency, proposed the measure ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Quebec later this week. Continue reading...
Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press recalls experience of watching Brad Sigmon die for 2001 murdersA reporter for the Associated Press who watched as South Carolina executed a convicted murderer by firing squad has described the experience, saying that the killing was now etched" in his mind.Jeffrey Collins, who has witnessed executions in South Carolina for the news agency for 21 years and has seen 11 people killed using three methods, wrote a short essay about the experience. Continue reading...
Supreme court justice who frequently votes alongside conservative colleagues branded DEI judge'Amy Coney Barrett, the Donald Trump-appointed conservative supreme court justice, has been branded a DEI judge" by furious rightwing figures, after she voted to reject Trump's attempt to freeze nearly $2bn in foreign aid.Coney Barrett, part of the court's rightwing majority, split with her fellow conservative justices this week. She and John Roberts, the chief justice, voted to leave in place a ruling from a US district judge that ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the nearly $2bn in aid for foreign aid work that had already been performed, and that had been approved by Congress. Continue reading...
Strategy is not likely to earn Democrats' votes, so Trump is leaning on Republicans to force it throughUS House Republicans unveiled a spending bill Saturday that would keep federal agencies funded through 30 September, pushing ahead with a go-it-alone strategy that seems certain to spark a major confrontation with Democrats over the contours of government spending.The 99-page bill would provide a slight boost to defense programs while trimming non-defense programs below 2024 budget year levels. That approach is likely to be a non-starter for most Democrats who have long insisted that defense and non-defense spending move in the same direction. Continue reading...
Performance is all for the US president, who is intent on creating a world dreamt of by global libertarian thinktanksFor six weeks we watched as Donald Trump - primped with golden hair, bronzer, fat pens and a zigzag signature - played the lead role in his new series, The Strongman. It was solid, not great, television, driven by an unspoken, looming threat - what will he do next?This makes sense if you understand that on the way to creating a new world order of unfettered, red-blooded, male-dominated American capitalism, there is also a cultural revolution. As Stephen Marche writes in the Atlantic: Washington today can be understood only as a product of show business, not of law or policy." Continue reading...
As Trump upends old alliances, Keir Starmer's collaboration with EU leaders is welcome and should extend beyond defenceBritain and Europe are together facing a watershed moment, a turning point, a second Zeitenwende, a paradigm shift, a new world order. Regardless of which of these overused phrases best describes the dramatic shifts unfolding since Donald Trump began his second US presidential term in January, politicians, diplomats and analysts all agree: nothing will be the same again. The key question now is what, in practical terms, Europe and Britain can and will do to meet this challenge. Is this Europe's moment, when it finally comes of age as a global player? Or will the EU and its close neighbours collectively fail to rise to the occasion, condemning their citizens to an era of domination by bigger, rapacious and more determined powers?Donald Trump is in the process of attempting, rashly, to do three extraordinary things. First, he is trying to force Ukraine, which has spent more than three years under murderous assault, to accept a peace deal" on inimical terms dictated by himself and the aggressor, Vladimir Putin's Russia. Second, in a stunning reversal of US policy, he is seeking a rapprochement with Moscow that includes re-establishing full political and diplomatic relations, lifting sanctions and launching joint economic partnerships. Third, he is telling Europeans they must henceforth defend themselves, that the US, in effect, is no longer a loyal, reliable partner or even necessarily a friend, and that Nato, for 76 years the solid bedrock of transatlantic security, is dispensable. Continue reading...
Former vice-presidential candidate claims pair should have held more in-person events around the USTim Walz has said that he and Kamala Harris were too safe" during their 2024 election campaign, with the former vice-presidential candidate claiming they should have held more in-person events around the US.We shouldn't have been playing this thing so safe," Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said in an interview with Politico, as Democrats seek to learn the lessons of Donald Trump's win in November, which has sent the party into the political wilderness. Continue reading...
With Love, Meghan is bad TV, but there are worse ways for a former royal to bring in the bucks than cooking up crostiniSo what is it, exactly, that we want from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex these days? We know what we don't want, which is, basically: everything the couple have done so far. We disapproved of the tell-all Oprah interview, and Harry's memoir, Spare - they were too revealing, too appallingly frank. We hated their tell-nothing Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan - far too boring, what was the point?And we particularly loathe the new Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, which garnered what must be a record number of terrible reviews last week - an exercise in narcissism", toe-curlingly unlovable TV". Whereonce the pair were ridiculed for their whining self pity, now they are diagnosed with the opposite problem - critics find the new venture desperately upbeat".Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
The Brooklyn neighborhood has garnered global attention, largely due to its sarcastic' fashion trends and all-night parties. But as fascination grows outside its borders, the forces of gentrification are pushing out its longtime residents. On a recent weekend, two photographers documented its changing dynamics. Read the full story here:
The ex-state governor, who quit amid sexual harassment allegations, sees an opportunity as Eric Adams strugglesAbraham Rios, a 76-year-old army veteran and retiree, regularly meets friends at a coffee shop around the corner from his home in Brooklyn, and that is about all he does, he says.The Puerto Rican native who served in the Vietnam war is satisfied with the money he gets from social security and enjoys life, but he would like to see more police in his Clinton Hill neighborhood, where he has lived since 1964. Continue reading...
Whatever the buzz about their recent film performances, few actors will show they think their statuette is as good as wonThe awards season for films ended last Sunday with the Oscars. Though I make absolutely zero claim on having any Mystic Meg capabilities, this time around it turned out that I had interviewed both Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison, respective winners of this year's best actor and actress, for the Observer.Asked whether they believed they were in with a chance they answered the only way an actor can in their situation: by not really answering the question at all. Madison noted that her film Anora wasn't even out yet, so it was weird talking about awards. Brody, star of The Brutalist, mumbled: If that day comes...". Continue reading...
Look-back window results in nearly 100 allegations against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church.A three-year look-back legal window that allows adult survivors of sexual assault to file claims in California has produced almost 100 allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Mormon leaders. Continue reading...
The secretary of state was once a prominent Ukraine supporter and called Putin a war criminal' - not any moreMarco Rubio, the US secretary of state, looked on as Donald Trump demanded more gratitude from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and accused the embattled leader of gambling with world war three".You right now are not in a very good position," Trump chided Zelenskyy during their confrontation in the Oval Office last week. Continue reading...
The strange warmth between the leaders has sent a chill globally at the prospect of a troika of authoritarian statesDonald Trump's sinister affinity for Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has long been the subject of intense speculation. Former KGB officers claim Trump was recruited in Moscow in 1987 and cultivated as an asset in the years prior to his 2016 US election victory.Two retired Russian spies weighed in again last month, alleging that the then 40-year-old Trump, codename Krasnov", was personally compromised in an active measures" operation and has secretly danced to Putin's tune ever since.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
Tina Smith is leaving at the end of her term, and says she would call Musk a dick even if she had to face re-electionThe American people can see in Elon Musk and in Donald Trump" the kind of jerk boss who just doesn't respect the work that anybody does," said the Democratic senator Tina Smith of Minnesota.Smith has been bluntly calling out Musk and Trump since she made a strikingly rare decision in February for someone elected to one of the country's top positions: she will leave her job, by choice, without some kind of scandal, at the end of her term. Continue reading...
The general reaction is that this was yet another stunning example of how spineless and performative the Democrats areHappy International Women's Day (IWD), everyone! I've got some good news and some bad news to mark the occasion. Continue reading...
by Vanessa Mártir, Michelle Lhooq, Alaina Demopoulos on (#6VSAT)
Bushwick is a dizzying, thrilling place to be.At Maria Hernandez park men pack into the volleyball courts, shouting over matches in Spanish, while children chase soccer balls around shirtless skateboarders. Reggaeton plays from passing cars and techno leaks out of nightclubs under the M train. Recent art school grads throw rooftop parties and split rent four ways, and European tourists roam the neighborhood's industrial sections to snap photos of street art. Continue reading...
The silence from former occupants of the Oval Office has been deafening as the incumbent cuts a destructive pathThe stadium announcer called on the crowd to give a warm welcome to a very special guest". A cheer went up as basketball fans realised that Barack Obama was in their midst. The former US president rose to his feet, smiled and waved before watching the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.It was a jarringly normal scene at a profoundly abnormal time. The previous evening, Donald Trump had delivered the longest ever presidential address to Congress, a dark, divisive tirade strewn with lies and insults - he called Joe Biden the worst president in American history" and Senator Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas". Continue reading...
As the anti-woman influencer sees it, domination is its own end. Is it any surprise he's a supporter of the president?Andrew Tate is now a free man.The rightwing anti-woman influencer landed in Florida last week after being held detained for over two years in Romania on rape, sex trafficking and money laundering charges. The Romanian courts abruptly reversed their previous refusal to allow Tate to leave the country after several high-level Trump administration officials took an interest in his case - including Trump's son Donald Trump Jr, who called Tate's arrest in Romania absolute insanity". The Romanian foreign minister, Emil Hurezeanu, was reportedly approached by a Trump envoy about Tate's case at a security conference in Munich in February; Tate arrived in the US within weeks. When asked if Trump had played a role in Tate and his brother's release, the Tates'lawyer Joseph McBride said: Do the math. These guys are on the plane." Continue reading...
Wellspring center in Casper pauses services after conservative legislature passes tough new restrictionsThere's a small, unremarkable beige building in downtown Casper, the heart of Wyoming's oil country, tucked between a Sinclair gas station and a local dry cleaner. Most days of the week, the building attracts a small throng of protesters.In May 2022, it was burned down just three weeks before a new business was set to open in the building. Since it finally opened in 2023, Wyoming lawmakers have passed a number of laws designed specifically to shut it down. Continue reading...
Pharmacies are struggling with supplies as fatal outbreak expands and health secretary sows disinformationAs measles cases continue to grow in Texas and New Mexico, with a second death, an unvaccinated adult, reported on Thursday, some Texas cities are seeing shortages amid soaring demand for the highly effective vaccine and as the top US health official, Robert F Kennedy Jr, sows disinformation and mistrust about vaccines.Ann and Paul Clancy were picking up medications at their local Walgreens in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday and decided to ask the pharmacist about getting the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Continue reading...
Liz Oyer's former office leads reviews of clemency requests and makes pardon recommendations to White HouseDonald Trump's administration on Friday fired at least two senior career officials at the US justice department, including the head of the office that handles presidential pardon requests, according to a social media post and sources familiar with the matter.Liz Oyer served as pardon attorney since 2022, a career justice department position. Oyer was fired effective immediately," according to a memo she shared on LinkedIn, which cited Trump's executive authority under the US constitution. Continue reading...
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