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Engelbert helped vault the league to new financial heights, but still draws the ire of stakeholders. A co-commissioner for player relations would be a welcome add

The administration's proposed agreement met a scathing response. But universities must remain vigilantThe Trump administration has quietly abandoned the poisonous deal it tried to foist on American universities. Under its so-called Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, the administration offered select universities privileged access to federal grants if they agreed to conform with Donald Trump's ideology on how they should be run.Universities widely pilloried the proposal, demonstrating the power of a collective defense. Higher education in the United States certainly needs reform, as many university leaders and the public would acknowledge, but not according to the dictates of Trump.Kenneth Roth is a Guardian US columnist, a senior fellow at Yale University, and former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments Continue reading...

Haley Stevens trails progressive in Senate primary as counting continues. Plus, meet the man who names cockroaches after Tolkein and Pokemon charactersGood morning.A Democratic Senate primary in Michigan remains too close to call, with Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, holding a narrow lead over the establishment-backed congresswoman Haley Stevens. The battleground state is crucial to the party's hopes of winning back control of the Senate in November.Who won in the crowded primary in Washington state? The Democratic representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez secured one of two spots in the all-party primary, overcoming criticism from both the left and the right. She will face the Republican state senator John Braun in November.Why are citizens being denied a voice in Missouri? The state's top election official has rejected a petition seeking a statewide referendum on redistricting. Hundreds of thousands of petition signatures had been submitted in an effort to force a vote on whether to use a new US House map approved by the Republican-led state legislature. The Republican secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, said the number submitted did not matter because challenging a congressional map was unconstitutional under Missouri law.What is the dispute about? The US Department of State said Viotti's visa had been cancelled in retaliation for Brasilia's refusal to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador to Brazil and its decision last month to deny visas to two US diplomats. Brasilia swiftly condemned the decision, calling it part of a deliberate campaign to influence the outcome of the presidential election in Brazil this October. Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive term against Flavio Bolsonaro, the senator son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro and a close political ally of Trump. Continue reading...

Union exploring options to oppose program that would put US airport screening into hands of private contractorsThe labor union representing workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is raising alarms over a new program that will expand privatizing security checkpoints at three airports.The agency informed the union last month of plans to enact the TSA Gold+ program, which would shift security and control of the screening technology into the hands of private contractors at airports in Tampa, Charleston and Des Moines. Union workers are expected to lose their union contract and benefits once a contractor takes over. Continue reading...

Larry Berg will have plenty of things on his to-do list when he officially starts as the league's commissioner in JanuaryAs Larry Berg fielded his first wave of questions as MLS commissioner-elect, he tried to make clear his ambitious vision to take the league to another level. Until a question about the league's broadcasting plans came up, that is. To his right sat Don Garber, whose 28-year tenure in the role will conclude at year's end.Well, as the incoming commissioner, I'm allowed to kick it to the current commissioner to answer that question," Berg said with a laugh as he briefly reclined in his chair at the league's headquarters in Manhattan. Only for a few months," Garber said. Continue reading...

The AI company apparently found destructively scanning all the books in the world' easier than dealing with copyright in its quest for training dataShould we destroy all the books in the world?An answer to this question can be found in the court documents of Bartz v Anthropic PBC. The northern California district court case, decided in late July this year, highlighted the improbably named Project Panama", one of the AI company Anthropic's efforts to improve its large language model Claude. What is Project Panama?" court exhibit 21 asks, in an internal memo. The answer: Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world." The memo advises discretion: Why use a codename? ... [B]ecause we don't want it to be known that we are working on this." Continue reading...

More than half of tariff income refunded after supreme court ruled Trump's levies were illegal

Amid stop-and-start threats and with a divided staff, it's clear Trump has no idea how to end a war that shouldn't have begunOn Thursday, 23 July, after weeks of escalating attacks between the US and Iran, Donald Trump told a reporter that Iran hadn't received enough pain yet", and he leveled a threat. I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before," he warned. I am close to making a decision." Then, on Monday 27 July, he called it off.A few days later, on Friday 31 July, Trump said: We'll be hitting them very hard. At some point, they're going to say: We just can't take it any more.'" This time, it took him just one day to back down. Continue reading...

Toast the cat escaped his namesake fate when blaze ripped through building and displaced more than 40 familiesA pet cat quite fittingly named Toast survived a devastating fire that recently gutted an apartment complex in Utah by hiding in a closet - and then safely endured a days-long wait before being rescued, according to officials.Beside prompting comments across the news and social media landscapes about cats having nine lives, Toast's death-defying story provided a slight measure of glad tidings surrounding a blaze that ultimately displaced hundreds of residents. Continue reading...

Uncertainty around the investigation into the death of the 18-year-old, whose body was found after a 4 July boat trip with friends, has led some to question whether justice will be meted out equallyAlmost a month after his body was found, mystery still shrouds what happened to Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old college student from Ocean Springs, Mississippi.There are the facts: Wells was alive on the morning of 4 July when he and a group of friends took a boat out to Horn Island, a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi. Hundreds of people were on the island, enjoying a last hurrah before returning to work or school after the holiday weekend. Wells was due to report to Southwest Mississippi Community College the following Monday for football camp, but he never returned home with his friends that day. The last known photos of him were taken around 4pm that afternoon. Continue reading...

Shouldn't the health secretary have his hands full with the cyclosporiasis outbreak, measles or rabbit fever? Not when there are crispy salmon cakes to prepare ...The US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has got his work cut out for him. A cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce has the entire country playing salad roulette: one bad leaf and you could become very unwell. The condition isn't normally deadly, but, on Monday, officials in Michigan confirmed the first two fatalities. Meanwhile, it's the worst year for measles in the US since 1991. A disease that was once eliminated now looks as though it's back with a vengeance - thanks in part, according to experts, to anti-vaxxers such as Kennedy himself. And this week New York officials are warning about a rare tick-borne illness called rabbit fever (tularemia).Still, despite having rather a lot on his plate, Kennedy has found the time to front a new cooking show, hosted on YouTube. It's called The Real Food Show and it's supposed to help Americans prepare healthy, affordable meals at home. The first episode features the chef and TV personality Andrew Gruel (perfect name) teaching the US to prepare crispy salmon cakes with ... salad. Which is certainly a bold way to kick things off. Continue reading...

Fifty summers after the ABA-NBA merger, George Gervin, Ralph Simpson and others reflect on the league whose swagger and innovations changed basketball foreverAfter practice, George Gervin wanted to go home. He was a rookie playing for the Virginia Squires of the upstart American Basketball Association, and the sleek, Detroit-born hooper didn't yet know what being a pro quite meant. He didn't know that the real workouts often started after practice. But his teammate Julius Dr J" Erving quickly showed him the ropes.Doc would say, Hey, young fella! Where you going? Me and you ain't done!'" Gervin tells the Guardian. Me and him would play one-on-one after practice. It was beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful experiences I had as a young pro." Continue reading...

We need an enlightened US president to make the case for global AI regulation. Donald Trump is the exact opposite of what is neededWhen I am woken by the sound of my dog whining, I understand that she is hungry and wants me to get up. When my alarm clock goes off, I don't consider its needs. It is following an instruction to rouse me at a certain time but it doesn't care if I stay in bed. It doesn't try to get me up by other means. The dog, on the other hand, will go to plan B. She barks.This capacity for autonomous action was once a difference between animals and machines. AI has blurred the line. Advanced models devise their own strategies to reach a goal. The task might be defined by a human master, but the machine weighs its options for delivery. It can make its own choices. Given rules, it can break them. Continue reading...

Abdul El-Sayed and his opponent Haley Stevens were both optimistic late in the evening, and said the results of the state's Democratic primary might take until Wednesday morning to arriveThe marquee race for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan remained too close to call on Tuesday night, with Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, holding a narrow lead over Congresswoman Haley Stevens.The battleground state is crucial to the party's hopes of winning back control of the Senate in November's midterm elections. The winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary will face the Republican nominee, former representative Mike Rogers, in November, to succeed the retiring Democratic senator Gary Peters. Continue reading...

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Two-term Democrat faced attacks from the left and right while defending a House seat in a territory Trump wonThe Democratic representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez secured one of two spots in the state of Washington's crowded, all-party primary, overcoming criticism from both the left and the right to advance in one of November's most closely watched US congressional races.The two-term Democrat - known for bucking her party on key issues - heads into the general election as she seeks to defend a district carried by Donald Trump in 2024 and a district that remains central to the battle for control of the House of Representatives. She will face the Republican state senator John Braun in November. Continue reading...

Wesley Bell wins in St Louis rematch dominated by Israel-Palestine issueUS politics live - latest updatesThe Democratic congressman Wesley Bell won his primary in the St Louis area on Tuesday, ending the progressive former representative Cori Bush's bid for a comeback and blunting the momentum pro-Palestinian candidates have shown in recent elections.Bell unseated Bush, a democratic socialist who opposes aid to the US ally and accuses it of committing a genocide in Gaza, in the Democratic congressional primary two years ago with the help of millions of dollars in spending from pro-Israel groups. Their rematch this year came amid a spate of primary defeats of Democratic incumbents at the hands of progressive outsiders. Continue reading...

Jeanine John Taele allegedly took photos and videos of property days before president's visitLos Angeles county sheriff's deputies arrested an armed California man over the weekend who was seen surveilling Donald Trump's golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, days before the president was set to arrive there for an event with the Republican National Committee (RNC).Plainclothes federal agents reported Jeanine John Taele, 38, as a suspicious individual", after they observed him on Sunday taking photographs and videos of the golf grounds, located in a coastal town south of Los Angeles, according to county officials. Continue reading...

Missouri's top election official has rejected a petition for a referendum on new congressional districtsMissouri's top election official has rejected a citizens' petition seeking a statewide referendum on the state's redistricting plan backed by Donald Trump.Supporters of the referendum had submitted hundreds of thousands of petition signatures in an effort to force a November election on whether to use a new US House map approved by the Republican-led state legislature. But the Republican secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, asserted on Tuesday that the petition was void because congressional redistricting plans cannot be subject to voter referendums. Continue reading...

Move is retaliation for Lula's government refusal to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador in BrasiliaDonald Trump's administration has revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to the US in a sharp escalation of a diplomatic feud with the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.The US state department said Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti's visa had been cancelled in retaliation for Brazil's refusal to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador in Brasilia and its decision last month to deny visas to two US diplomats seeking to visit ahead of an October election. Continue reading...

Trump loyalist, who also has president's endorsement, has spent millions trying to prove 2020 election was stolen'Mike Lindell is leaving his role with the MyPillow company to focus on his campaign to become the next governor of Minnesota. In a social media post published on Tuesday, Lindell said that the company was strong enough to withstand his departure.This decision is not about walking away. It is about stepping forward to serve. I am putting Minnesota above myself, my title, and my business interests so I can give this campaign and the people of our state my full time, energy, and attention," Lindell said. Continue reading...

Demonstrators stage tree sit' in Arizona town to stop felling of ancient cottonwood grove to make way for border wallProtesters are staging a tree sit" in a tiny Arizona town to prevent the destruction of a grove of ancient cottonwood trees as federal contractors race to build a row of two 30ft walls along the border with Sonora, Mexico.The gathering ramped up last week in the town of Lochiel, in the remote San Rafael valley of south-east Arizona. On 27 July, contractors working for Fisher Sand and Gravel crushed three of the largest cottonwoods with excavators. Continue reading...

Miller calls women accusing him liars as Republican senator Bernie Moreno says former son-in-law unfit for CongressMax Miller, the beleaguered US Republican representative from Ohio, has vowed to defy a rising groundswell of resignation calls from his own party over domestic abuse allegations after his ex-father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, a GOP senator, said he was unfit to serve in Congress.In a combative interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Miller turned the tables by attacking Moreno, accused three women - including his ex-wife - of lying by saying he had been violent towards them, and invoked Donald Trump in insisting that he would not resign. Continue reading...

Disturbing' footage shared by California detainee surfaces amid wider complaints about conditions in ICE detentionAttorneys for a man detained in a California immigration detention center have released footage showing him holding up a bottle of water from inside the facility that appeared to be contaminated with worm-like creatures.The footage came from a video call with Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a Los Angeles man who has been detained for months at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, north-east of LA. Continue reading...

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Ruling vacates convictions of founder Stewart Rhodes and other militia members who took part in 2021 Capitol attackA US judge on Tuesday granted the justice department's bid to dismiss cases against members of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia who took part in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, according to a court filing.The ruling from Washington-based US district judge Amit Mehta tosses out convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members of the group who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the transfer of power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Continue reading...

Suspect had a prior conviction for reportedly shooting his father in Arizona, after he told his son to do the dishesAuthorities on Monday charged a man in Washington state with starting a wildfire that has consumed almost 4,000 acres and forced tens of thousands from their homes.Aaron Farinacci, 37, of Spokane, was arrested and charged with first-degree arson for setting the Old Trails fire, the largest of three devastating wildfires burning through the region. Continue reading...

After a bumpy confirmation hearing, Clayton replaces acting director Bill Pulte to head US intelligence agencies

Mount Vernon official is accused of driving getaway car after son allegedly opened fire outside Bronx courtA New York state police department fired its deputy commissioner on Tuesday after she allegedly acted as a getaway driver for her son in what is being investigated as an attempted murder.The city of Mount Vernon said in an Instagram post that it had terminated Jennifer Lackard, deputy police commissioner for safety, for conduct unrelated to her duties". Continue reading...

Investigators pin blame for Eaton fire, which killed 19 people and ruined thousands of homes, on electrical arcing events' at out-of-service towerThe deadly 2025 Eaton fire in the Los Angeles area was caused by equipment belonging to the utility company Southern California Edison, fire officials said in a report released on Tuesday.Los Angeles county fire officials found that the cause of the fire that killed 19 people and destroyed or damaged more than 9,000 homes and businesses was a tower that was not in service, according to the report. Continue reading...

DHS said pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret overstayed visa and arrested him at Dallas-Fort Worth airportAn instructor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore who only just received a teacher of the year" award has been arrested by federal immigration agents under the command of the Trump administration.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detained Berhanu Kibret, an instructor at the university's pharmacy school, at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in Texas, according to multiple news reports. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, confirmed Kibret's arrest, citing an expired visa - but it stopped short of providing a location. Continue reading...

Ohioans of Indian heritage will see one of their own take center stage in race for governor, but their support amid a rocky campaign is not a guaranteeAt the Hindu Temple of Dayton in south-west Ohio, there's no little pride for gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy - he and his parents have been coming here to pray for decades.On a quiet recent Tuesday afternoon, a priest lights incense sticks at the altar of the temple. Outside, a group of first-time visitors take a relaxed walk around the grounds. Continue reading...

Gianni Infantino's reign as Fifa president is in severe peril after the collapse of his plans to sell off parts of the World Cup to private investment. Many Concacaf countries are considering following Europe's lead by formally removing their support for the Fifa president, and there are widespread calls to remove him from his post. Lucy Hough speaks to columnist Jonathan Liew Continue reading...

Blanche, one of Trump's most trusted legal aides, confirmed in writing that $1.8bn slush fund for president's allies was deadThe US Senate judiciary committee voted along party lines to advance Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general after he confirmed in writing that a planned $1.8bn slush fund for Donald Trump's allies was dead. Experts say, however, that Trump could easily reverse the deal.His nomination will now proceed to the full Senate, where it will likely face intense skepticism from Democrats. Continue reading...

Judge puts hold on mask ban while allowing state law prohibiting cooperation between police and ICE to standA New York law banning US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from wearing face coverings and requiring that they wear visible identification has been put on hold by a federal judge. But a state law prohibiting cooperation between local police departments and ICE has been allowed to stand.The mask ruling comes after federal judges have blocked similar laws in California, Virginia and Pennsylvania that sought to ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces. They are still required to wear agency identification badges and badge numbers. Continue reading...

At Color Splash Out, LGBTQ+ kids can play, create and connect without judgment, especially in a state that passed seven anti-trans bills last year

Color Splash Out provides a safe space in a state that has targeted and demonized trans people

The vocal vaccine sceptic and wife of Trump's deputy chief of staff turned to the former US science adviser when she was worried about Covid. Now, she's claiming it was a cunning planYou should keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and Stephen and Katie Miller as far away from your general vicinity as humanly possible. Many people will not need to be told this. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, is famous for masterminding the first Trump administration's family separation policy and Muslim ban. His wife, Katie, is similarly enthusiastic about mass deportation and has reportedly said she didn't feel compassion for families separated at the border. Stephen met Katie when they were both working in government, but she has since left politics to start a podcast. Now she asks guests such as JD Vance important questions such as: is a hotdog a sandwich?While I may not need to inform you that the Millers are bad news, it seems Dr Anthony Fauci is only just getting the memo. The former top US government science adviser, who helped guide the country's Covid-19 response, was forced to appear at a US Senate committee hearing last week. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky framed the hearing as an investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Really, however, it was an opportunity for Republicans to harass Fauci, who is widely loathed among the Maga base. He has become such a target of vitriol that Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci before leaving office in case he was prosecuted by the Trump administration. Continue reading...

The predictions market is planning to allow betting on clinical trial results and regulatory decisions as our family fights for his survivalMy son is 12 years old. No matter how many Legos we get him, he will only build robotic mechs. He draws haunting pictures in pen and ink but refuses to take an art class. He was devastated to learn that Chuck E Cheese is phasing out its animatronics. His guidance counselor says he's so kind, he's really hard to say no to. He sneezes when he steps out into the sunlight. And he also has a very aggressive tumor growing inches below his heart.Further, if Kalshi has its way, you could soon be able to bet on health treatments that could be essential to his survival.Joshua Pederson is professor of humanities at Boston University and the author of Sin Sick: Moral Injury in War and Literature Continue reading...

Kevin Warsh would rather stay out of the fray - and thus devalue the Fed's credibility as an economic stewardIt must feel strange to argue that government action is inevitably counter-productive - illegitimate even - when the government is you.For the last half century, the Republican party has been comfortable with the contradiction. It's framed in that clever quote from Ronald Reagan's 1981 inaugural: Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Solutions, in this view, are delivered by free, unencumbered markets.Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack Continue reading...

This crude lack of thought is influencing crucial budget decisions on HIV programmes, which were cut by 25% worldwide in 2025At the end of July, thousands of scientists, advocates and policymakers gathered at Aids 2026, the 26th International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, to advance the global HIV response. But during one high-profile session, a jarring moment threatened to derail our focus: a slide presented by a senior US state department official displayed a map of Africa with country names glaringly scrambled and mislabelled.While the mistake apparently occurred due to an over-reliance on AI tools, it carried a painful symbolic weight for many of us. It reinforced a longstanding frustration: that too many political leaders treat Africa as a monolithic abstraction rather than a continent of 54 distinct sovereign nations. Continue reading...

US president takes aim at profits as oil companies worldwide benefit from US-Iran conflict. Plus, can you tell if someone is secretly filming you with Meta's glasses?

On Tuesday, a human rights commission will hold an extraordinary hearing over the administration's alleged attacks on protesters, journalists and othersWe are constitutional law, civil rights, and human rights scholars and practitioners who have spent decades litigating government abuse cases in the United States. Despite the US legal system's flaws, our work - from securing a record civil settlement for George Floyd's family to holding Bolivia's ex-president accountable in US federal court for the massacre of Indigenous protesters - has demonstrated that US courts can reign in state power and provide a path to accountability. But this pathway is narrowing.As Donald Trump attacks the courts, weaponizes the Department of Justice, and targets attorneys who challenge his administration, we have been forced to seek justice beyond our borders. Continue reading...

Lockheed P-38 Lightning nicknamed Marge' and flown by Richard Bong crashed in 1944 over what is now Papua New GuineaA wingtip of a downed fighter jet once flown by second world war ace pilot Richard Bong has been taken to his home state of Wisconsin from Papua New Guinea, where it crashed more than 80 years earlier.The piece of the plane named after the pilot's girlfriend, Marge Vattendahl, underwent a remarkable journey by air, land and sea before its procurement by the Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin. Continue reading...

Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life's great joysFar beyond the fires raging across Europe and North America, the smoke, dangerous to breathe, hangs in the air, dimming the view, changing the very color of sunlight into something grimly unsettling.An estimated 20,000 are said to have died in the extreme heat in Europe earlier this year, and heat is climate change's quiet killer, compared to the dramatic violence of death by fire or flood. In eastern Washington, 600 homes have just burned down, and in both Europe and North America, firefighters have died in the effort to contain the climate-fueled firestorms. Continue reading...

Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, was arrested in New Jersey in June, and died after a medical emergency', agency saidAn immigrant being held at a New Jersey ICE detention center died on 1 August, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, is the 22nd person to die in ICE custody this year, according to agency data.Lopez-Cornejo, who is originally from El Salvador and first came to the US in 2006, was arrested by ICE agents in Plainfield, New Jersey, on 18 June and sent to Delaney Hall detention facility to await deportation. Less than two months later he suffered an unspecified medical emergency", and was later pronounced dead by University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, ICE said. Continue reading...

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