Despite president's promise to preserve it, the eastern section of the building is now completely destroyedThe East Wing of the White House has now been completely destroyed to pave way for Donald Trump's $300m planned gilded ballroom, just days after the administration announced it would happen and contradicting Trump's earlier promise that the existing building would not be touched.Satellite images on Friday showed the historic building's eastern section reduced to rubble, to the outrage of historians, former White House officials and much of the public. Continue reading...
Two sweeping federal indictments have implicated big names in basketball and raised uncomfortable questions about who benefits from legalized gamblingThe NBA gambling scandal is the biggest story of the year in US sports, a culmination of the years-long embrace between professional leagues and the multibillion-dollar gambling industry that has now crossed the line from synergy into scandal.In two sweeping federal indictments unsealed in Brooklyn on Thursday, prosecutors charged more than 30 people - including the Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player and assistant Damon Jones - with schemes that turned inside information and rigged card games into engines of profit for organized crime. Continue reading...
New York attorney general appears in court in Virginia in case brought after Trump called for her prosecutionThe New York state attorney general, Letitia James, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of bank fraud and false statements brought after Donald Trump publicly called for her to be prosecuted in a move widely seen as political retribution.Not guilty judge to both counts," James told the judge as she made her first appearance in federal district court in Virginia. The case has been assigned to Judge Jamar Walker, who was nominated by Joe Biden. Continue reading...
San Francisco's mayor, along with Silicon Valley leaders, managed to stop the president's law enforcement surgeDonald Trump rarely has kind words for Democrats, especially those who stand in his way. But on Thursday the president offered something unfamiliar: a compliment.As federal agents mobilized at a US Coast Guard base in the Bay Area, Trump credited San Francisco's new mayor, Daniel Lurie, for very nicely" persuading him to stand down from a planned immigration enforcement surge" in the city this weekend. Continue reading...
by Victoria Clayton in Inglewood, California on (#70ZZA)
Inglewood's program had been chain-sawed by financial challenges and the pandemic, but Joseph Jauregui built it back up - and his students are winning scholarshipsJoan Rosas says educators as early as kindergarten flat-out told him he wasn't capable. I got horrible grades," he said. I could barely read until eighth grade when I figured out how to teach myself."The Inglewood high school sophomore says he received little meaningful support for his learning challenges and, under the circumstances, grew to dislike school. Eventually, he started acting out, trying things like smoking. Continue reading...
Incident occurred after ICE agents arriving at Alameda base were met by hundreds of protestersLaw enforcement officers in California opened fire on Thursday night at a vehicle that authorities say attempted to back into the entrance of the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, where protests had taken place earlier in the day over the arrival of federal immigration agents.In a statement, the Coast Guard said that at around 10.00pm local time on Thursday, Coast Guard security personnel standing watch on Coast Guard Island observed a vehicle driving erratically and attempting to back into Coast Guard Base Alameda. Continue reading...
Cory Booker, Ed Markey and others urge Linda McMahon to step in amid violent crackdowns near Chicago schoolsA group of Democratic senators have demanded that the Department of Education to stop immigration enforcement activities from taking place close to schools, following several violent crackdowns near school grounds in Chicago.Although the raids are conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the senators are making an appeal directly to the education secretary, Linda McMahon. Continue reading...
His patience exhausted, the US president has taken action that could bite, but is unlikely to alter Moscow's course in UkraineFor once, a phone call with Vladimir Putin did not lead to a thaw.By imposing sanctions on Russia this week, Donald Trump broke from his usual pattern of easing tensions with the Kremlin after conversations with the Russian leader, when threats of pressure often give way to talk of renewed dialogue. Continue reading...
by Maanvi Singh in San Francisco and Oakland on (#70ZT6)
As president backs down on his federal surge', volunteers and demonstrators remain prepared to respondIt was a whirlwind, disorienting 24 hours in the San Francisco Bay Area for local leaders and organizers, who were expecting a major immigration enforcement operation in the region on Thursday.But by mid-morning, Donald Trump announced he was calling off a federal surge" - and telling residents to stay tuned" for what would come next. Continue reading...
The president's purges and attacks on his enemies have developed into a system in which injustice is made routineDonald Trump's voracious desire for retribution has quickly evolved into a regular and predictable system. In the year since his election his rage and whims have assumed the form of policies in the same way that Stalin's purges could be called policies. Figures within the federal system of justice who do not do his bidding are summarily fired and replaced by loyalists. Leaders who have called him to account or are in his way may face indictment, trial and punishment. Opponents have been designated under Presidential National Security Memorandum No 7 as Antifa": anti-American," anti-Christian," and anti-capitalist," and threatened with prosecution as a terrorist". Meanwhile, many aligned with him escape justice, whether through the hand of the Department of Justice or the presidential pardon power. Now, he demands compensation for having been prosecuted to the tune of $230m from the Department of Justice (DoJ) budget.Each of the cases involving prosecution of Trump's enemies and, on the other hand, the leniency extended to his allies has its own peculiarities of outrage. But whatever their unique and arbitrary perversities, they are expressions of what has emerged as a technique. These episodes are not isolated or coincidental. Trump's purge of DoJ prosecutors and FBI agents, accompanied by his installment of flunkies in senior positions, started in a rush, quickly assumed a pattern, but has now been molded into a regime. The justice department and the FBI have been remade into political agencies under Trump's explicit command to carry out his wishes. Injustice is made routine. It is the retribution system.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
The US secretary of state has confirmed Donald Trump's announcement that all trade negotiations with Canada have been suspended. Marco Rubio spoke during a visit to a civil-military coordination centre in southern Israel
Stephany Gauffeny says her husband, Miguel Garcia-Hernandez, had his arms restrained to the bed and handcuffs on his feet' as he lay dying in the hospital
Muslim New Yorkers have steadily become a political force amid post-9/11 Islamophobic sentiment. Mamdani is their most accomplished expressionLife was never the same for New Yorkers after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, with every resident coping with the trauma and devastation of that day.But for Muslim New Yorkers there was an added burden: the suspicion and sometimes physical harm now lurking around every corner. Continue reading...
by Kellie Carter Jackson and Nicole Hemmer on (#70ZQS)
Podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather in Washington as the Trump regime wages war on historyOn 26 October, podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather on the steps of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for a teach-in in defense of history and museums.The teach-in comes at a moment when the Smithsonian system faces unprecedented attacks from the Trump administration, which has threatened to bar funding for any exhibits that touch on the darker sides of US history. The threats against the Smithsonian are part of the administration's war against history and historians: interfering in history curricula at schools across the country, redirecting federal grants to projects that promote American exceptionalism, and yoking the country's 250th anniversary celebration to the Maga agenda.Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise Kellen '68 associate professor and chair of the Africana studies department at Wellesley College. Nicole Hemmer is an associate professor of history and director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University Continue reading...
The Argentine has been as excellent as ever in his later years, but his presence and performance has yet to push MLS into the US mainstreamOK, show of hands. How many of you knew that Lionel Messi - a global superstar who has committed to spend his next three years in the United States - just completed the best individual season in Major League Soccer history?Be honest. Continue reading...
by Gabriel Baumgaertner, Alan Evans, Bryan Armen Grah on (#70ZQW)
It's the Toronto Blue Jays and the LA Dodgers in the 121st Fall Classic. Our writers assess how it will be decided, who will shine brightest and the eventual championHe is and it's hard to imagine that another player will even approach his accomplishments in this lifetime. In Game 4 of this season's NLCS, he struck out 10 hitters over six shutout innings and hit over a quarter-mile's worth of home runs. Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux may have summarized it best when said: He kind of reminds you of Nolan Ryan, and then he reminds you of freaking Barry Bonds." Gabriel Baumgaertner Continue reading...
The arrests of a prominent coach and player on Thursday were depressing but it is hard to have sympathy with a league that has embraced gamblingThe NBA scoreboard has turned into a stock ticker. Crowd chants, but half of them are watching their parlays instead of the play. Somewhere a coach calls timeout; somewhere else a bookmaker grins. This was always coming. The NBA invited gambling to the game when it signed lucrative sponsorship deals and paved the way for odds and offers to be splashed over our TV screens during games. So when the FBI finally showed up on Thursday, they were simply collecting the rent.Portland head coach Chauncey Billups, whose playing career ended with his induction in the hall of fame, and Miami guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday in connection with an FBI investigation into allegations of illegal gambling and rigged poker games. Former player and assistant coach Damon Jones, who allegedly provided inside information" about NBA games to bettors, was also taken into custody. Continue reading...
Donald Trump has canceled plans for a deployment of federal troops to San Francisco that had sparked widespread condemnation from California leaders and sent protestors flooding into the streets. The Bay Area region had been on edge after reports emerged the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city in the East Bay, as part of a large-scale immigration-enforcement plan. It prompted hundreds of protesters to mobilize outside the Coast Guard base
US president accuses Canada of egregious behaviour' after release of ad featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffsDonald Trump has said he is ending all trade negotiations" with Canada after the release of a television ad opposing US tariffs. The US president accused Canada of egregious behavior" aimed at influencing US court decisions.The Thursday night post on Trump's social media site came after Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country's exports to countries outside the US because of the threat posed by Trump's tariffs. Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey, Shrai Popat and Tom Ambrose on (#70YWP)
This live blog is now closed.More than half of Americans, including about three in 10 Republicans, believe president Donald Trump is using federal law enforcement to go after his enemies, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that also found growing concern about US political divisions nine months into his second term in office.Some 55% of poll respondents in the six-day poll, which closed on Monday, agreed with a statement that the Republican president is using law enforcement to target his enemies, while 26% disagreed and the rest were unsure or did not respond. Continue reading...
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, accused of starting devastating fire that destroyed more than 6,800 structuresThe Florida man charged with starting the Palisades fire pleaded not guilty in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday.Earlier this year, the Palisades fire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures, turning swaths of western Los Angeles into a wasteland. Continue reading...
Anthony Boyd, 54, says I didn't kill anybody' as Justice Sonya Sotomayor writes excoriating dissenting opinionAn Alabama man convicted of helping to burn a man alive was executed by nitrogen gas - a form of suffocation which defense lawyers have described as cruel and unusual punishment - on Thursday shortly after the US supreme court signed off on the seventh execution using the contested method.Anthony Boyd, 54, was sent to the death chamber at the William C Holman correctional facility on Thursday evening. Continue reading...
Donald Trump will travel to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea for the Apec and Asean summits. Will he meet Xi Jinping, and what tariff deals might be secured?Donald Trump is about to embark on a tour of Asia that many hope will ease trade tensions with countries in the region and repair damaged ties with China. Trump will begin his trip on Sunday at a meeting of south-east Asian nations in Malaysia, before flying to Japan to meet its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, early next week.But the most important stop on his itinerary will come at the end of the month, when he is expected to discuss trade, and possibly Taiwan, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Apec summit in South Korea. Continue reading...
by Maanvi Singh in San Francisco and Dani Anguiano on (#70Z3X)
Protesters flood streets in show of resistance, as president calls off deployment after speaking with city's mayor and Silicon Valley leadersDonald Trump canceled plans for a deployment of federal troops to San Francisco that had sparked widespread condemnation from California leaders and sent protesters flooding into the streets.The Bay Area region had been on edge after reports emerged on Wednesday that the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city in the East Bay, as part of a large-scale immigration-enforcement plan. By early Thursday morning, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the Coast Guard base, holding signs with slogans such as No ICE or Troops in the Bay!". Continue reading...
President says San Francisco mayor and Silicon Valley leaders asked him to give the city a chance' - key US politics stories from Thursday 23 October at a glanceDonald Trump has cancelled plans for a deployment of federal troops to the San Francisco Bay Area that had sparked widespread condemnation from California leaders and sent protesters flooding into the streets.The region had been on edge after reports emerged on Wednesday that the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, across the Bay from San Francisco, as part of a large-scale immigration enforcement plan. Continue reading...
Exclusive: unanimous ruling calls administration's push to halt reviews of disability appeals an extreme request'A panel of US judges has rejected an effort by the Trump administration to delay court rulings on claims by veterans who say they have been unfairly denied disability benefits and other compensation tied to their military service.The 9-0 ruling, handed down on Wednesday by the court of appeals for veterans claims, was led by chief judge Michael Allen, a Trump appointee. The action is the latest example of the growing number of federal judges pushing back against Trump administration moves. Continue reading...
Adams revealed decision in a New York Times interview a month after calling Cuomo a snake and a liar'The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, will endorse Andrew Cuomo in the city's mayoral race, following months of tension between the two Democrats turned independents.Adams revealed his intention in an interview with the New York Times a month after he ended his own re-election campaign which saw him register poor polling numbers. Continue reading...
FBI says years-long operation that led to arrest of Heat's Terry Rozier and Trail Blazers' Chauncey Billups also connected to mafia familiesThe NBA, one of the world's most prominent sports leagues, found itself associated with illegal gambling again on Thursday after two prominent stars were arrested in a sweeping federal investigation. Chauncey Billups, a Hall of Fame player who is now coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was arrested in connection with a poker operation linked to the mafia, while Miami Heat star Terry Rozier is accused of taking part in a scheme to manipulate games.Today, we are here in New York to announce a historic arrest across a wide sweeping criminal enterprise," the FBI director, Kash Patel, said at a news conference on Thursday unveiling the charges. This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years." Continue reading...
Lindsey Halligan, who's brought cases against James Comey and Letitia James, allegedly violated records-retention lawsA top federal prosecutor's use of an encrypted messaging application with messages set to be automatically deleted after eight hours was potentially illegal, two watchdog groups said.Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, used Signal earlier this month to communicate with Anna Bower, a journalist for Lawfare, about the criminal case she is pursuing against the New York attorney general, Letitia James. Bower published the full conversation on Monday evening and said Halligan had set messages to auto-delete after eight hours. Continue reading...
Retribution, by Jonathan Karl, describes backroom squabbling over Kristi Noem and Sean Duffy appointmentsDonald Trump picked Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary as a personal favour to his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski despite objections that she was obviously unqualified", according to a new book.The factional infighting behind Trump's cabinet selection, where inexperience was no barrier to success, is detailed by journalist Jonathan Karl in Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America. The Guardian obtained a copy. Continue reading...
Darren Bailey's son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren all killed in accident in MontanaA former Illinois state senator running for governor in 2026 is mourning the deaths of four family members killed when their helicopter crashed in Montana on Wednesday.Darren Bailey's son Zachary, daughter-in-law Kelsey, and grandchildren Vada Rose, 12, and Samuel, seven, all perished in the incident, according to an announcement from his campaign on Thursday. The couple is survived by their 10-year-old son Finn, who was not on the aircraft. Continue reading...
Family was forced to swim to small island where they were stranded for two days before boat's radio washed ashoreA family was rescued by the Coast Guard off Cape Cod after their 30ft pleasure boat caught fire and they were forced to swim to a small island where they sheltered in a barn for almost two days.When the mother, father and their son didn't return as expected on Tuesday night, a relative contacted authorities. The Coast Guard, along with the Falmouth police and Falmouth Harbormaster, began a search throughout the night. Calls to the family went to voicemail. Continue reading...
A negotiated settlement would be unfair and frustrating. But after nearly four years of fighting, it may be the best optionOn Wednesday, President Trump imposed substantial new sanctions on Russia's giant oil and gas companies, and lifted restrictions on the use of certain long-range missiles by Ukraine, which will now be able to strike more freely into Russia itself. These moves come on the heels of Trump's conversations last week with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after which the US president expressed his frustration at both side's intransigence. Trump had hoped to end this war long ago. Will this be enough?When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US and its allies chose a strategy that aimed to use Washington's awesome political, economic and military power to impose such high costs on Russia that the Kremlin would sue for peace on Ukraine's terms. This cost-imposition" strategy makes sense in theory. The problem is that, in practice, it has slowed Russia's progress but not persuaded Putin to end his aggression.Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow and director of the American statecraft program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...
US vice-president has criticised Israel's parliament vote on West Bank annexation, calling the move a 'stupid political stunt' after a bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, a move tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel's parliament on Wednesday. Speaking on the tarmac of Tel Aviv's international airport before departing at the end of his visit to Israel, JD Vance insisted that 'the policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that but we certainly weren't happy about it,' adding:'I personally take some insult to it'
Freedom of speech requires freedom of thought - and the American political climate poses a serious threat to itFor all the opinions about free speech and censorship that rage around us, there is remarkably little argument about what the free" in free speech means. Most defenders of free speech" only seem to care about the freedom to express themselves. They fight for the right to say anything, not whether the speech itself comes from a position of freedom.Focusing on what makes free speech free is fundamental to our moral and political futures. Because free speech, properly conceived, is not just about the right to say what one wants. It is also about being the kind of person who has been so conscientious in their thinking, learning and discussion that they have become a free subject whose speech is directed toward the pursuit of truth. And there are serious threats today against the freedom of thought on which free speech relies. Continue reading...
by Tom Silverstone, Laurence Topham, Mei-Ling McNamar on (#70YWR)
Tina Frundt is one of Washington DC's most experienced specialists in protecting children from sex trafficking. Many of the youths she supports are targeted and exploited on social media platforms, which give traffickers unprecedented levels of access to their victims. Fighting to break this cycle, Tina works closely with law enforcement, social workers and parents to create an environment where some of America's most vulnerable children can feel safe again Continue reading...
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