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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...

The new season begins this week with 14 Australians storylines to watch out for as the season unfoldsThe NBA tips off this week with Australia's two biggest basketball names - Ben Simmons and Patty Mills - without a roster spot for the first time in a decade.Their absence signals a changing of the guard, as Boomers' backcourt duo Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels emerge as key starters for playoff aspirants, with recently signed nine-figure contracts making them some of Australia's highest sporting earners. Continue reading...

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has met with the US president, Donald Trump, officially for the first time in person. At a meeting in the White House, Trump heaped praise on Albanese's leadership as the pair signed a US$8.5bn rare earths deal and Trump assured Australia of the US's commitment to the Aukus submarine deal. It wasn't all rosy - Trump told former Australian PM Kevin Rudd, who is now the ambassador to the US, 'I don't like you and I probably never will'. Trump was asked about Rudd's former negative comments about the president. Trump also chided three Australian reporters, but praised one for his haircut.Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Administration has pushed nine universities to sign a deal that seeks to make changes in line with conservative ideasThe University of Arizona has become the seventh US university to reject a Trump administration proposal that would grant schools funding priority if they agreed to support the administration's conservative agenda.The decision follows the administration's push for nine universities to sign a Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education," which seeks to make sweeping changes to campus culture, hiring and admissions practices and foreign student enrollment. Demands from the Trump administration's 10-point compact include reforms to the way race or ethnicity are used in admission and hiring practices, as well as a commitment to strict definitions of gender, among others. Continue reading...

Kada Scott was missing for two weeks before anonymous tip led police to wooded area with remains in shallow graveRemains found buried in a wooded area behind an abandoned school are those of Kada Scott, a 23-year-old woman who had been missing for about two weeks, prosecutors in Philadelphia said on Monday.Authorities said an anonymous tip led police back to the area they previously searched and they found the remains in a shallow grave. DNA tests confirmed her identity. Continue reading...

Ex-congressman calls major renovation utter desecration' as demolition in East Wing reportedly under wayConstruction crews have started demolishing part of the East Wing of the White House to make way for Donald Trump's planned ballroom, prompting widespread criticism on social media and beyond.One former lawmaker even called the renovation an utter desecration". Continue reading...

Daughter Ashley calls father, 82, so damn brave' after treatment at UPenn clinic for aggressive cancer formJoe Biden has finished a round of radiation therapy treatment, a spokeswoman for the former president confirmed to CBS News.The president originally reported a metastasized prostate cancer diagnosis in May, and announced he was receiving radiation therapy earlier in October. Biden's May diagnosis labeled him as having an aggressive, high-risk form of cancer. Continue reading...

Ruling marks an important legal victory for Trump - key US politics stories from Monday at a glancePresident Donald Trump claimed a key victory in a US appeals court Monday as a divided three-judge panel decided he is allowed to deploy federal troops to the city of Portland, Oregon.Trump had claimed the right to send the national guard to the liberal stronghold for the purported purpose of protecting federal property and agents. The ruling marks an important legal victory for Trump as he continues to send military forces to Democratic-led cities. Continue reading...

Eleventh vote fails on 50-43 tally as Congress remains deadlocked on legislation after weekend No Kings protestsOne of the longest government shutdowns in US history just got longer after the Senate again failed to pass a funding resolution after a majority of Democrats continued their pressure campaign after the No Kings nationwide weekend protests.The Senate vote fell for the 11th time with a vote of 50 to 43, with no new defectors from the Democratic side.This article was amended on 20 October 2025. A previous version said the No Kings protests drew tens of thousands of demonstrators. The actual number was in the millions. Continue reading...

The US president, Donald Trump, and the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, signed an agreement on rare earths and critical minerals on Monday at the White House. Albanese said the deal would 'take our relationship to that next level' while Trump said it had been negotiated over four orSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTubefive months

Special counsel nominee Paul Ingrassia also said holidays commemorating Black people should be eviscerated'A Donald Trump nominee who is scheduled for a confirmation hearing this week told other Republicans he has a Nazi streak" and that holidays commemorating Black people should be eviscerated," according to a report based on a private group chat.Trump nominated Paul Ingrassia to serve as special counsel of the United States, a role charged in part with safeguarding federal whistleblowers from retaliation. His confirmation hearing is set for Thursday. Continue reading...

Ex-FBI director claims he is victim of selective prosecution and charges were filed by unlawfully appointed attorneyFormer FBI director James Comey has formally asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against him, arguing he was the victim of a selective prosecution and that the US attorney who filed the charges was unlawfully appointed.The record as it currently exists shows a clear causal link between President Trump's animus and the prosecution of Mr Comey," Comey's lawyers wrote in their request to dismiss the case, calling a 20 September Truth Social post in which he disparaged Comey and called for his prosecution smoking gun evidence". They continued: President Trump's repeated public statements and action leave no doubt as to the government's genuine animus toward Mr Comey." Continue reading...

The US president's attempts to broker a deal fail to distinguish between the aggressor and the victim. No just agreement is possible on that basisIt wasn't quite the calamity of February, when Volodymyr Zelenskyy was publicly humiliated in the Oval Office by Donald Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance. But the Ukrainian president's latest visit to the White House on Friday was, by all accounts, a disquieting experience. Mr Trump's public musings before the meeting suggested that his stance had hardened towards Vladimir Putin, to the strategically significant extent of being willing to sell long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv. But by the time MrZelenskyy arrived in Washington, the US president had changed his mind, instead lecturing his guest on the need to make territorial concessions to Russia.So far, so familiar. Since being re-elected, Mr Trump has repeatedly resiled from following up tough talk on Russia with meaningful action. Faux deadlines for Mr Putin to make substantive steps towards peace have come and gone, treated with indifference by the Kremlin. Last week, the US secretary of war, PeteHegseth, stated that Washington was ready to impose costs" if Russia continued the conflict. But atwo-hour phone call at Mr Putin's request was enough to defuse that threat, and for Mr Trump to onceagain position himself as a neutral arbitrator between two warring parties. Continue reading...

US president says I want to be good to China' after Pentagon previously warned China may attempt takeover of Taiwan

President has previously posted deepfake videos and AI images like this one, which JD Vance called funny'

President claims on Fox News they want us in San Francisco' despite opposition from city officials

Scores of DIY cycling enthusiasts on Saturday took over an NYC side street for the 21st annual Bike Kill, a chaotic block party dedicated to biking mayhem Continue reading...

The violence Republicans seemed to want did not materialize. Instead the event showcased liberal-democratic consensusOver the past week or so, it seemed as if some Republican leaders were hoping that Saturday's No Kings demonstrations - the marches and rallies hosted by a coalition of liberal groups across the country and worldwide - would turn violent. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, called them Hate America" rallies, a moniker that was quickly picked up by other Republicans, and described the No Kings protests as a crucible of potential riots, representing all the pro-Hamas wing and, you know, the antifa people". You're gonna bring together the Marxists, the socialists, the antifa advocates, the anarchists, and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat party," he said. Tom Emmer, a representative for Minnesota, described the rallies as a product of the terrorist wing" of the Democratic party. And Roger Marshall, a senator from Kansas, fantasized that the protests would require action by the national guard. Others, such as the attorney general, Pam Bondi, mused about who might be paying the protesters to show up - an idea that seemed to dismiss the notion that anyone might oppose Donald Trump's agenda for principled, rather than cynical, reasons.At times they sounded almost wistful. Republicans, the president himself chief among them, have been fervently endeavoring to cast those who oppose their authoritarian consolidation of power as enemies - contemptible un-Americans who lack virtue, common values, or the protection of the law. In a world where it was once considered the height of inappropriate partisanship for Hillary Clinton to refer to a basket of deplorables" among Trump voters or Barack Obama to mourn the conservatives who cling to guns or religion", it barely registered as news on Thursday when the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News: The Democrat party's main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals." Continue reading...

Trump administration argues that federal law prohibiting drug users from having firearms is justifiable restrictionDrinking alcohol regularly does not disqualify you from owning a gun in America. Smoking marijuana does. The supreme court agreed on Monday to take up a case challenging that distinction.The case is an attempt by the Trump administration to reverse an appeals case ruling in favor of Ali Danial Hemani, who was charged with felony gun possession after he acknowledged being a regular marijuana user. Federal prosecutors in Texas had been investigating Hemani, alleging illegal ties to the Iranian regime, and found a gun and drugs during a search of his house. Continue reading...

Typhoon from 11 October weekend destroyed 90% of structures and displaced 1,500 people in south-west AlaskaSenator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska warned over the weekend that it could take years for some of her state's communities to recover after they were devastated by a powerful storm recently.Speaking at the Alaska Federation of Natives' annual convention on Saturday, the Republican shared her experience visiting Kipnuk, a village where officials estimate 90% of structures were destroyed amid flooding and other extreme conditions, describing the widespread devastation and long road" ahead for rebuilding. Continue reading...