President's directive stalls for a second time about a week before the first postal ballots are due to be sent outA federal judge on Thursday halted - at least for the moment - attempts to implement Donald Trump's executive order limiting mail voting.The president's directive stalled for a second time about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. In the US district court, Judge Indira Talwani placed a 14-day hold on the government implementing the order in a case that could be headed back to the supreme court, which on Monday overturned an earlier ruling of hers that had blocked Trump's order from taking effect. Continue reading...

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Decision allows manufacturers to begin shipping doses, but confusion remains about insurance coverageThe US Food and Drug Administration approved updated Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday, allowing manufacturers to begin shipping doses to pharmacies and doctors' offices across the country.The FDA approved Moderna, Novavax-Sanofi and Pfizer-BioNTech's updated Covid vaccines, the companies said on Thursday, after an advisory panel recommended that the shots should target the dominant XFG variant. Continue reading...

Three employees of Stars and Stripes, a government-funded news service, allege they were fired after reporting on USS Abraham LincolnThree journalists who were fired by the Pentagon from a US government-funded news outlet sued the Department of Defense in federal court on Thursday, arguing their dismissals were illegal and violated their first amendment rights to free speech.The three journalists were all employees of Stars and Stripes, which their court filing calls the U.S. military's independent news source since the Civil War with a long history of editorial independence, free from news management or censorship by military command". Continue reading...

Mark Carney rejects attempt to rename lake as did several US governors, with Tony Evers mocking the move

Newly obtained records indicate health secretary lied about Samoa trip during Senate confirmation hearings last yearA senior Democratic senator is calling for a criminal investigation into the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, following reporting by the Guardian that indicated he lied during Senate confirmation hearings last year.Ron Wyden of Oregon said: RFK's platform is built on lies and grifts that leave a trail of dead children in their wake. There are consequences for lying to Congress." Continue reading...

The US president signed order on 27 August amid growing trade war with Canada after the US enacted tariffs against its northern neighbor Continue reading...

Jes Staley made comments to US lawmakers investigating his links to the convicted sex offenderThe former Barclays boss Jes Staley has denied having sex with a woman dressed as Snow White, after being questioned about an infamous email exchange about Disney princesses with Jeffrey Epstein.The comments were detailed in newly released transcripts from a closed-door interview last month with US lawmakers as part of their investigation into Epstein, who died in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts and former officials say accounts are running dry, and funding a war with no clear endgame is the main challengeDonald Trump's war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to documents obtained by the Guardian, and interviews with navy officials, contractors and defense analysts.The US-Israeli operation, which has depleted US munitions stockpiles and prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East, is piling pressure on budgets across the military. Continue reading...

The state concludes: This wasn't a woman suffering from a lack of care' or a lack of resources'

One wonders when, if ever, a US broadcast can win the same plaudits presenting the English league with a more American voiceThere they were again, signaling with their unchanging faces and voices and their unchanging studio backdrop that another Premier League season had begun. On Friday afternoon, and again on Saturday and Sunday morning, Rebecca Lowe welcomed American viewers to what is somehow already the 14th season of the world's most popular sporting circuit to air on NBC.She was flanked, as ever, by her merry band of pundits, her gang of fellow British expats. The Robbies and the other ones. Also, Tim Howard as the token American, albeit one who spent 13 seasons of his goalkeeping career in the Premier League, deemed sufficiently English by osmosis to join the crew.Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University. Continue reading...

Move from USPS comes amid Trump administration's efforts to restrict mail-in voting in November's midtermsThe US Postal Service (USPS) said on Thursday that new requirements for mail-in voting are now in effect as Donald Trump seeks to crack down on the practice. The move is expected to trigger a new round of legal challenges.The Trump administration has sought to impose new rules requiring state election leaders to submit their voter rolls for inspection as part of a broader bid to increase federal government oversight over voting and elections. Continue reading...

Burnham has nothing to hide as he prepares to meet president he once called poisonous. It may actually win him more respectIt makes a pleasant change. Not so long ago, Keir Starmer was falling over himself in his efforts to keep things sweet with Donald Trump. Offering the US president a second state visit within minutes of meeting him. Everyone knows you should never put out on the first date: it only makes the other person think you're a pushover. Sure enough, The Donald banked the marching bands and the Windsor silver service, made polite conversation for three days and then went back to trash-talking him.Yet still, Starmer just sat there and took it. As if one word of criticism would be too much. Wittering on about the special relationship" as if Trump gave a moment's thought to the UK before he did anything. The rest of us wouldn't have put money on the US president even being able to locate Britain on a map. It was only latterly, when The Donald chose to bomb Iran, that the penny finally dropped for Keir. And even then he looked pained by the apparent betrayal, as he resisted the calls of Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage to join in the war. Continue reading...

American talks life on the professional circuit and those making sacrifices for a pay cheque, often compromising physical and mental welfareFor the American tennis veteran Mackenzie McDonald the players' ongoing push for greater prize money and welfare contributions from the grand slam tournaments could result in the difference between simply putting food on the table and making a decent living.After 10 years on the ATP Tour the 31-year-old is not pleading poverty but knows from personal experience that life on the professional circuit can be a hand-to-mouth existence, with players' physical and mental welfare often compromised due to their desperation to get back on court. Continue reading...

Judge rules Christian Castro, accused of shooting man and lying about it, cannot be held pending extradition requestAn Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail on Thursday, after a judge refused to order his return to Minnesota.Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and a reporter crowding around him and quickly got into an SUV that drove off. Continue reading...

Adam Kalkstein compared administration's order to trying to teach the law' without mentioning the constitution'The only climate scientist teaching at West Point, the US army's military academy, was fired after he resisted an order to stop teaching about the human causes of the climate emergency, a lawsuit claims.Dr Adam Kalkstein, a civilian professor of geography at the New York institution, was terminated after the spring semester this year, six months after a testy meeting with Brig Gen Shane Reeves, then dean of West Point's academic board, the court filing said. Continue reading...

Letters obtained by Guardian and AP contradict testimony that 2019 visit to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines'Newly obtained documents indicate that the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lied during two congressional hearings last year, when he told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that a 2019 visit to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines".Letters obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press contradict that testimony. In one he wrote to the Samoan prime minister before the trip, Kennedy explicitly said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the Pacific island nation. In it, he used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times. Continue reading...

It's about kitchen-table populism': focusing on Americans' day-to-day economic strugglesThis year's Democratic primaries look and sound a lot more populist than usual. Brian Poindexter, a union iron worker running on a workers first" message, won a House primary outside Cleveland. Sherrod Brown is mounting a Senate comeback in Ohio on the same rigged system" message that has allowed him to outshine other Democrats in Ohio. Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger who built his career fighting corporate landowners, is the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine. And Josh Turek, a self-described prairie populist", is on the Senate ballot in Iowa.In fact, according to research we've conducted through the Center for Working-Class Politics (CWCP), more than 70% of 2026 Democratic candidates now rely on populist rhetoric in their campaigns, laying the blame for our broken system on rich elites of one kind or another. Continue reading...

Plane was headed for airport in Seldovia from Anchorage, and was submerged in water after the crashA small plane carrying four people crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, according to officials.The Piper PA-24 was headed for the airport in the small town of Seldovia after taking off from Anchorage, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Public Safety. Seldovia's airport is about 136 miles (219 km) south-west of Anchorage. Continue reading...

Safety features including usage limits and night-time blocks to be set by default. Plus changes to famous French cheeses

Analysis by Institute for Policy Studies found that between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation increased 41.4%The average CEO of the US's 100 largest, lowest-paying corporations earned 614 times more than their average worker last year, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).IPS's latest executive excess report analyzed compensation at the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay. Between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation increased 41.4%, unadjusted for inflation, twice as much as the median worker pay increased at these firms during the same period, at 20.7%. Continue reading...

The senator's remarks reflect a turning point in Democrats' attacks on the president. What should we make of them?Apparently, he likes to say her name with a French accent. Na-tah-lee!" the president cries out, in that affected tone of faux-formality that one might use with a person they love but do not quite respect, and she comes running, her thin legs teetering on her heels.Natalie Harp, Trump's 35-year-old executive assistant", was an odd recurring character in the latest blockbuster Trump administration book, Regime Change, by the New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. In the book, Harp features like a silent sentinel, ever present but eerily quiet as Trump rants and raves. It's not exactly clear what the scope of her responsibilities are; though, as Jamelle Bouie points out, the fact that she evidently helps run the president's social media accounts, which can sway markets and influence his foreign counterparts, makes her one of the most powerful people in the federal government. Continue reading...

Ryan Mackenzie, running for re-election, is accused of fabricating' a career in the real estate industryThe Republican congressman Ryan Mackenzie has been accused of embellishing his resume with private sector experience in real estate sales amid an acrimonious showdown over his Pennsylvania seat.Mackenzie, who has previously been accused of lying about his age on Tinder, was a real estate salesperson licensed in PA", according to his LinkedIn profile, and biographies have consistently listed it has his former profession. Continue reading...

The race was at its peak when American riders were regularly challenging for titles. Its return could help prompt a revivalAfter a decade-long absence, the beloved Philadelphia International Cycling Classic is set to return this weekend, with some of the world's best bike-racing teams taking to the famous circuit around the city's leafy Art Museum, Manayunk, and Roxborough areas on Sunday.The race is one of just a handful of events on American soil sanctioned by UCI, cycling's international governing body, and will feature squads such as EF Education EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, Lotto-Intermarche, and Jayco AlUla in the men's race, and powerhouses CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto and Human Powered Health in the women's event. It is classified as a 1.1 race, meaning it's two levels below the top-flight WorldTour, whose races include the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.The Philadelphia Cycling Classic will be livestreamed on Channel 6 ABC, with the women's race kicking off at 8.30am Eastern. The men will follow at 12.30pm. Of course, you could always trek to Philly and become part of the party yourself. I highly recommend snagging a spot somewhere along The Wall. Continue reading...

Tim Curry was a versatile performer on stage and screen who made his name as the flamboyant Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Curry's best-known roles often required a considerable physical transformation, to the extent that he was unrecognisable in some of them. As Frank-N-Furter, Rocky Horror's eccentric scientist, he was daubed in garish makeup and dressed in stockings and suspenders. In Ridley Scott's fantasy Legend, he sported giant horns and scarlet skin as the Lord of Darkness, and, in 1990, Curry was transformed with full-face clown makeup to play Pennywise in the TV miniseries It, based on Stephen King's novel

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Jes Staley told US House committee he also was at one point named a trustee of convicted sex offender's estateFormer JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley told US lawmakers he repeatedly shared confidential and market-sensitive bank information with Jeffrey Epstein and was at one point named as a trustee of his estate, according to a transcript released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday.These admissions come as lawmakers investigate the late convicted sex offender's ties with political and business elites. Staley appeared before the committee in July as part of its investigation into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Transcripts from the meeting were released on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Democrat Eric Hafner, to be released in 2036, also ran for seat in 2024, securing spot on that general election ballotA man who is serving time in a federal prison in New York advanced on Wednesday from the primary for Alaska's lone US House seat.Eric Hafner, a registered Democrat, also ran for the seat in 2024 and secured a spot on the general election ballot that November despite a challenge brought by the Alaska Democratic party. Continue reading...

Then House candidate joined Democratic Socialists of America in 2018 but didn't renew membership after a yearAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has rejoined the Democratic Socialists of America after not renewing her membership for seven years, amid speculation that she might run for president in 2028.The 36-year-old New York representative and one of the country's most prominent democratic socialists renewed her membership in the group's national organization after reports emerged earlier this month that it had lapsed. Ocasio-Cortez initially joined the group in 2018. Continue reading...

FBI psychiatrist Gregory Saathoff says he has treated only two women with postpartum psychosis, both decades earlierTestimony finished in the Lindsay Clancy trial on Wednesday, as a final witness for the prosecution laid out that he believed the Massachusetts mother knew right from wrong when she took the lives of her three young children before attempting to commit suicide in 2023.Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday. The jury will then start deliberating. Continue reading...

Christian Castro charged with assault after allegedly shooting Venezuelan man and remains in custody in Texas

Victoria Hicks, mother of Alexandra Hicks, told reporters that she feels 'justice is possible' after Meta settled in its US trial over teen addiction. On 26 August in a Oakland, California, federal courtroom, Meta agreed to establish safeguards for teenagers and pay up to $17bn. Dozens of US states had accused the tech giant of addicting and harming children with dangerous products Continue reading...

President denies visit was to gain support for Iran sanctions or due to fears that Putin plans to test Nato resolve'

The US president expected Ottawa to bow to tariff demands, but Canada is striking back - and it could cost Americans

US labels group global terrorist' as Palestine Action challenge against proscription in UK nears supreme court hearingThe US has issued sanctions against the UK-based direct action organisation Palestine Action, describing it as a transnational terror group".The US Department of the Treasury labelled Palestine Action a specially designated global terrorist on Wednesday, which allows the US to freeze the assets of foreign individuals and entities. Continue reading...

Tributes have poured in for Dolly Parton, the pioneering country music singer, songwriter and actor, who has died aged 80. Stars including Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey and Paul McCartney have paid tribute to one of the world's greatest music artists, with many praising her lifelong philanthropy and advocacy for literacy and LGBTQ+ rights. Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian deputy features editor Jenny Stevens Continue reading...

We need some new leadership,' says the Democratic nominee for governor in Iowa, Rob Sand

Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Wesley Bell to join as Jared Moskowitz becomes ranking member on sub-committeeThree pro-Israel Democrats have been given key roles on a powerful congressional body overseeing US foreign policy in a move rounding sharply counter to popular sentiment within the party and likely to anger leftwing activists.The appointments to the US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee follow a succession of wins in party primaries for progressive candidates who put criticism of Israel and its actions in Gaza at the core of their campaign messages. Continue reading...

This is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,' Ken Paxton saysA federal judge has, for a second time, struck down a Texas state law banning drag performances in settings where children may be present.In a ruling issued on Tuesday, US district judge David Hittner said Texas cannot enforce its drag show ban. He said that the measure improperly restricts speech and violates the first amendment of the US constitution. Continue reading...

After the musician and philanthropist died at age 80 on Tuesday, people came out in droves to celebrate her life Continue reading...

In this episode of Guardian Australia's US politics podcast Decoding America, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad explore why datacentres in the US have provoked such anger - and whether that could harm Republicans in the midterms given Donald Trump is such a supporter of the growing industry.They also look at why the US and Canada are fighting over tariffs. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, is pushing back and both countries could be on the cusp of a full-blown trade war.Finally: why does the Trump administration's secretary of transportation Sean Duffy have his very own YouTube show - and is he the only one?Read more:Canada announces retaliatory tariffs on wide range of US goodsTrump-backed Ken Paxton unveils Texas first' datacenter plan aimed at negative impact' Continue reading...

In states like Montana, range riders can play a key role in a wild landscape where livestock and predators navigate life togetherFor most people, the word cowboy" still summons a figure from Western folklore - a rough rider with a weathered face and a steely gaze, a self-reliant loner who answers to nobody, is fearless in the face of danger, and protects his lands from predators - animal and human alike.But over the past 15 years, a new range rider has emerged in the American West, one that is out on a wholly different mission: to live in a wild landscape where livestock and predators can co-exist. Continue reading...