US news | The Guardian

The start of construction on the president's $250m ballroom marks a regression to his property wheeler-dealer days

Robert Garcia cited revelations from Virginia Giuffre's posthumous memoir in letter to the attorney generalThe top Democrat on a congressional committee investigating the government's handling of Jeffrey Epstein's case demanded on Wednesday that Pam Bondi, the attorney general, turn over files related to the alleged sex trafficker, citing revelations from the posthumous memoir of a prominent abuse survivor.Virginia Giuffre's memoir Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, published this week, details how Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell groomed and manipulated her. Continue reading...

Demonstrators were seen near a federal building after an unknown number of detainees were taken by agents

Group of 27 Congress members wrote to Marco Rubio to call for swift release' of 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim

Leaders of left-leaning groups behind mass protests against Trump administration map out their visionThe No Kings alliance, the left-leaning groups behind the mass days of protest last Saturday and in June, is building a nationwide rapid response network that will call on supporters to take new actions each week. Leaders of the organizations told the Guardian that there was energy for some type of disruption", and future actions could include targeted boycotts, campaigns at universities, more street protests, and electoral organizing in local communities.After an estimated 7 million people took to the streets last weekend, tens of thousands joined a national call on Tuesday to hear what's next for the growing movement. Leaders celebrated the broad turnout, saying it showed how much opposition to Trump there was in all corners of the US, and talked about how to sustain and grow a movement during an increasingly authoritarian moment for the country. Continue reading...

Graham Platner says he was never questioned about the skull-and-crossbones chest tattoo in the 20 years he had itGraham Platner, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine, said on Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.Platner said he got the skull-and-crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police. Continue reading...

Hochul, Schumer and the three mayoral candidates express outrage over federal operation in ChinatownLocal and state officials in New York are expressing outrage after dozens of federal agents carried out a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raid in Manhattan's Chinatown on Tuesday.Eyewitnesses accounts and video footage captured the chaotic scenes in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, where masked and armed federal agents were seen detaining several individuals near Canal Street, while crowds of New Yorkers gathered, protesting against the action. Military-style vehicles were also seen driving through the area. Continue reading...

President says government owes him a lot of money' for federal investigations during and after first termDonald Trump declared himself the arbiter of whether or not his own administration should pay him damages over past federal investigations, telling reporters that any such decision would have to go across my desk".The president insisted on Tuesday that the government owes him a lot of money" for previous justice department investigations into his conduct, while at the same time asserting his personal authority over any potential payout. Continue reading...

Combo of heavy surf and low tide causes partially translucent gelatinous creatures to litter the tideline'Thousands of sea cucumbers have washed up on the beach in the Oregon coastal town of Seaside thanks to a combination of heavy surf and low tide.The partially translucent gelatinous creatures are called skin-breathing sea cucumbers. They normally burrow into the sand along the low tideline and farther out. But on Tuesday, they were scattered across more than 2 miles (3.2km) of Seaside Beach, said Tiffany Boothe, the assistant manager of the Seaside Aquarium. Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom criticized Trump for endangering people's lives' as shutdown sets stage for delayed food benefitsGavin Newsom warned this week that Donald Trump's increasingly long government shutdown will impact those who rely on federal food support, likely delaying benefits as families are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving in November.On Wednesday, California's governor said he would set aside $80m in state support and deploy the California national guard to assist food banks. Continue reading...

Sequoia park zoo said staff were doing an inspection when they saw a wild black bear looking in at three captive bearsA wild bear in California has broken into a zoo and paid an unexpected visit to the bear enclosure.In a Facebook post, the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka in the northern part of the state said its staff were conducting a routine inspection of part of the complex when they spotted a wild American black bear leaning on a gate and looking in at three captive black bears in their enclosure. Continue reading...

Elite helicopter unit's part in military deployment comes as Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Nicolas MaduroThey call themselves the Night Stalkers and their unofficial motto hints at the group's lethal nocturnal line of work: Death Waits in the Dark." You can flee, but they will find you," warns a rare book about the US army's secretive 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR).Since the elite helicopter unit's creation in 1981, its daredevil pilots have taken part in some of the most dangerous missions in recent US military history: battling Islamic State during Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and Somali warlords during Operation Gothic Serpent; and spiriting Navy Seals into Pakistan to kill the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as part of Operation Neptune Spear. Continue reading...

Investigators searched car and deemed it safe after Secret Service officials took man into custody Tuesday nightA man was taken into custody late Tuesday after driving his car into a security barrier outside the White House, authorities said.The US Secret Service said the man crashed into the security gate at a White House entrance at 10.37pm on Tuesday. The man was immediately arrested by officers from the Secret Service's uniformed division, the agency said. Continue reading...

Americans able to buy deadly gangster weapons' again as lobbying forces key concession from Trump officialsUS citizens are free once more to buy some of the country's most deadly firearms and gun accessories, after relentless lobbying by the gun industry and Republican politicians forced a concession from the Trump administration under the federal government shutdown.As of this week, gun owners will be able to restart purchases of some of the most highly regulated weapons in the US, with the return to work of federal employees responsible for regulating the items now reclassified as essential". They include silencers, short-barreled rifles and vintage machine-guns produced before 1986. Continue reading...

The MLS postseason starts on Wednesday night. We assess the contenders for the championship, and take a look back at the talking points from the regular seasonHow little there was between the top teams. When all was said and done, just seven points covered the top six teams in the standings. The Supporters' Shield race was settled with a game to spare, but any one of several sides could have finished top of the pile, which bodes well for the playoffs. Even by MLS standards, the field is wide open. GR Continue reading...

Gaza's media office says Israel killed at least 80 Palestinians since ceasefire deal took effect. Plus, Trump's pick for whistleblower office drops out after racist textsGood morning.JD Vance has expressed great optimism" over the Gaza truce plan, which he described as durable" and going better than expected" during a visit to Israel on Tuesday, two days after Israeli airstrikes killed 26 Palestinians.What are the ceasefire violations? On Sunday, Israel launched lethal airstrikes in Gaza that killed 26 Palestinians after two Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack the army blamed on Hamas. The militant group said it was not responsible because it had not had contact with fighters in the area since communications were cut off in March. The Israeli military later said it had resumed enforcing the ceasefire.What is Israel alleging about Hamas? Israel has accused Hamas of delaying the return of hostages' bodies. Hamas has sent back 15 bodies but still needs to hand over 13 more. The group has said locating the remains will take time as many are buried under rubble. Continue reading...

DEI is being used as a smokescreen to roll back progress and consolidate power. The goal is to rewrite our nation's storyDemocracy flourishes when Black Americans advance. The evidence is clear: birthright citizenship, constitutional due process, anti-discrimination laws from education to housing to employment and equitable small business investments, are all byproducts of the systemic corrections known today as DEI. Yet, in recent years, DEI has been used as a smokescreen by cynical politicians and activists to roll back progress and consolidate power. Across classrooms, museums, boardrooms and federal agencies, the key pathways to opportunity and success are under attack through a coordinated disinformation campaign of erasure, distortion and suppression.The impact of these tactics is concrete and undeniable. Since the start of this year, Onyx Impact's research has found, 306,000 Black women have lost their jobs and $3.4bn in grant programs investing in Black communities has been slashed - including $9.4m in sickle cell disease research, $42m in programs designed to address Black maternal mortality and $31m in cuts to address asthma rates and air pollution harming Black children. Continue reading...

Message sent to fundraising site led investigators to man accused of stabbing Evin Paulos about 30 timesA tip sent to an online fundraising campaign recently allowed investigators to jail the prime suspect in a deadly 2017 stabbing in Arizona - a case which otherwise appeared as if it might not yield any arrests, according to authorities.The remarkable chain of events, which began with a tip to a page on the GoFundMe platform in September, led to the 15 October arrest in Mexico of Michael Anthony Arredondo, who is accused of stabbing Evin Paulos about 30 times and killing him while the two were traveling together. Continue reading...

An immigration enforcement sweep targeting vendors on Canal Street in the Chinatown district of New York City turned chaotic on Tuesday, as bystanders and protesters surrounded federal agents and attempted to block them from carrying out raids

This live blog is now closedThe Central Intelligence Agency is providing the bulk of the intelligence used to carry out the controversial lethal air strikes by the Trump administration against small, fast-going boats in the Caribbean Sea suspected of carrying drugs from Venezuela, according to three sources familiar with the operations.Experts say the agency's central role means much of the evidence used to select which alleged smugglers to kill on the open sea will almost certainly remain secret. Continue reading...

Paul Ingrassia dropped out of consideration after racist text messages he sent surfaced this week. Key US politics stories from 21 October 2025 at a glanceDonald Trump's nominee to lead a federal watchdog agency, Paul Ingrassia, withdrew on Tuesday following a report that Ingrassia described himself as having a Nazi streak."Ingrassia said in a social media post that he was pulling out of a scheduled Thursday hearing before a Senate panel that was set to consider his nomination because I do not have enough Republican votes at this time." Continue reading...

Report on Paul Ingrassia featured messages where he allegedly described himself as having a Nazi streak'Paul Ingrassia, Donald Trump's nominee to oversee federal whistleblower protections, has dropped out after racist text messages he sent surfaced this week.Ingrassia, currently a White House liaison at the Department of Homeland Security, was the subject of a report on Monday published in Politico. The report featured text messages where he allegedly described himself as having a Nazi streak" and suggested Martin Luther King Jr Day should be tossed into the seventh circle of hell". Continue reading...

Adelita Grijalva was elected last month but Republican House speaker has so far blocked her from taking seatArizona's attorney general is suing to force the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, to swear in Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who won a congressional special election in September.Grijalva was elected on 23 September in the southern Arizona district that her father, Raul Grijalva, held until his death earlier this year. Continue reading...

Investigation after federal officers shot at man during targeted traffic stop' and agent was hit by ricochet bullet

Grounds, including governor's office, searched after authorities found what appeared to be a homemade objectThe Wyoming capitol building, including the governor's office, was evacuated on Tuesday after a suspected explosive device was found. The grounds were being searched with drones and bomb-sniffing dogs.The evacuation that began at 9.30am was still ongoing at mid-afternoon. Continue reading...

State house set to pass map to turn 10-4 Republican split into 11-3 - and state law does not give governor a vetoNorth Carolina Republicans in the state senate passed a new congressional map on Tuesday, intent on contributing more Republicans to the US Congress as the national redistricting battlefield widens.Currently, North Carolina has a 10-4 partisan split in favor of Republicans in Congress. The new map would result in an 11-3 split, replacing congressman Don Davis, a Democrat, with a Republican. Continue reading...

Graham Platner says he didn't know historical associations of skull-and-crossbones tattoo he got on his chest in 2007

Johnson's House has been in recess since shutdown, delaying petition to force vote on making documents public

Nearly all of Kipnuk's 700 residents were evacuated, but when they return the effects of climate crisis will still loomSilver-lined clouds hung over the Yup'ik village of Kwigillingok the Thursday before a weekend storm was forecast to pass through.Dan Winkelman was at the community health clinic for a ground-breaking ceremony, a commemoration of the facility's much needed expansion. The renovation - part of a $100m effort by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) - was an example of the non-profit matching its money to its mission: to represent the healthiest people" in south-western Alaska. Continue reading...

Laker Jackson was wrongly identified as female at birth, but high school in Mesa won't let him play basketball with boysAn Arizona boy was reportedly barred from trying out for his school's boys' basketball team and instead ordered to play with the girls' team after an error with his original birth certificate.Laker Jackson's case is the latest to highlight the US's debate over school athletics and gender identity amid increasing attempts by elected Republican leaders to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports. Continue reading...

Columbia University graduate and legal US resident says Trump administration wants to make an example of me'

Ingrassia, Trump's pick to lead the office of special counsel, allegedly described himself as having a Nazi streak'

Christopher Moynihan, pardoned by Trump for his role in Capitol attack, allegedly threatened House minority leaderA man who was pardoned by Donald Trump for his conviction in the US Capitol attack carried out by the Republican president's supporters in early 2021 has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill the Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, according to authorities and the New York representative himself.Christopher Moynihan, 34, was arrested by New York state police on a felony count of making terroristic threats, the agency announced. Continue reading...

The US president's efforts to consolidate power are strikingly similar to historical authoritarian moves in CaracasHere in the Americas, we have a peculiar tradition. Every time there is a major election, prominent figures on the right find themselves compelled to repeat some version of the vaguely menacing prediction: if the candidate for the left wins, we will become the next Venezuela".Whether Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia or Ecuador, countries throughout the western hemisphere keep this tradition. Donald Trump has also participated in this ritual, proclaiming during the 2024 election cycle that if Kamala Harris won, our country would become Venezuela on steroids". Continue reading...

Host often criticized Hunter Biden's business on her show and said he capitalized on his father's presidency for deals

Documents indicate they came from Sde Teiman. Plus, the last voyage of the Scandies Rose

The celebrated film largely still holds up and inspires, But, with a sequel in the works, its handling of a player/coach dynamic shows how times have changedIn the proposed upcoming sequel to the feel good", uplifting" film Bend It Like Beckham (one of the Guardian's best movies about football), a leading character has been banned from the game for life. At least that's what could, and probably should be revealed, preferably as early as possible.Seem dramatic? It isn't. Though Bend It Like Beckham brilliantly tackles issues around racism, gender norms, homophobia, culture, immigration, and feminism with an endearing comedic twist, a core point of the plot rests on an adult coach pursuing a romantic relationship with a teenage player. In 2025, after multiple high-profile instances of inappropriate player/coach relationships have been reported in women's soccer, and after the harm inherent in those relationships has been exposed, the normalization of one in a celebrated film is hard to ignore. Continue reading...

Man wrote I raped you' after 2013 assault at Gettysburg College, which the victim said reopened years of traumaA man who sent a Facebook message that said So I raped you" to a woman he had sexually assaulted in college in Pennsylvania in 2013 was sentenced on Monday to between two and four years in prison.Ian Cleary faced up to 10 years in prison for the attack - and the prosecution and defense had initially proposed a four-to-eight-year sentence. Continue reading...

Jean-Pierre explains in her memoir Independent why she decided to leave the Democratic party after two decadesWhen CJ Cregg exits the White House for the last time, a passing tourist asks her if she works there. No," she replies in the final episode of The West Wing, No, I'm sorry I don't." The former press secretary casts a wistful glance back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, knowing life will never be the same.The evanescence of power is now familiar to Karine Jean-Pierre, who in real life served as White House press secretary for two and a half years under the presidency of Joe Biden. She was the first Black person, first openly gay person and - born in the Caribbean to Haitian parents - first immigrant to hold the title. Continue reading...

Impeachment and 25th amendment offer routes for removal - but experts say system is set up to protect the presidentDonald Trump looked out across the White House ballroom at his audience of wealthy donors and business figures - people who had given millions of dollars to his extravagant plan to build a vast ballroom attached to the building's East Wing.The president, 79, told the crowd he had enjoyed a really historic trip" to the Middle East, and indulged in some of his familiar patter: saying his tariffs were successful, and claiming that under Joe Biden, countries were literally emptying out insane asylums into our country". Continue reading...

I fled war at 14 and decades later became a US citizen. Now I fear racism and exclusion could become official policyLast week, leaked documents from the Trump administration reportedly revealed plans to gut the US refugee program, not only capping refugee resettlement at a record low of 7,500, but also transforming it from a life-saving humanitarian system into one that favors white South Africans and Europeans over the world's most vulnerable people. As a refugee who found safety and belonging in this country, I broke into a sweat reading the news. Memories of my own journey rushed back, now mixed with a deeper fear that racism and exclusion are not just social undercurrents, but official policy.I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and fled war at 14, spending nearly two decades in a refugee camp in Uganda before finally being resettled in the United States. Here, I reunited with my family, built a new life, and became a citizen. My story is one of patience, resilience and gratitude for a country that gave me safety and the chance to rebuild my life and give back.Bahati Kanyamanza is a former refugee who spent about 25 years in a Ugandan refugee camp and as a refugee in the US before he became a naturalized US citizen. He is the global partnerships director at the International Refugee Assistance Project Continue reading...

Richard Osthoff says commutation was not the first time Trump did something disrespectful to a military veteran

Exclusive: sources say the agency is providing real-time intelligence collected by satellites and signal interceptsThe Central Intelligence Agency is providing the bulk of the intelligence used to carry out the controversial lethal air strikes by the Trump administration against small, fast-going boats in the Caribbean Sea suspected of carrying drugs from Venezuela, according to three sources familiar with the operations. Experts say the agency's central role means much of the evidence used to select which alleged smugglers to kill on the open sea will almost certainly remain secret.The agency's central role in the boat strikes has not previously been disclosed. Donald Trump confirmed last Wednesday that he had authorized covert CIA action in Venezuela, but not what the agency would be doing. Continue reading...

Pushback has come from judges appointed by Republicans and Democrats - and has slowed some extreme policiesUS district and appeals courts are increasingly rebuking Donald Trump's radical moves on tackling crime, illegal immigration and other actions where administration lawyers or Trump have made sweeping claims of emergencies that judges have bluntly rejected as erroneous and undermining the rule of law in America.Legal scholars and ex-judges note that strong court pushback has come from judges appointed by Republicans, including Trump himself, and Democrats, and signify that the administration's factual claims and expanding executive powers face stiff challenges that have slowed some extreme policies. Continue reading...

Our writers give their verdicts on the new season, which tips off Tuesday. Can New York or Houston thwart an OKC repeat? And which youngster will make the superstar leap?If we're lucky, a fully healthy campaign from Victor Wembanyama. He's already shown flashes of his insane ceiling in his previous two seasons. He's such a difficult matchup with the ball in his hands, and on defense, he changes the entire calculus of opposing teams' schemes with his length. Jakub Frankowicz Continue reading...