US news | The Guardian

We're vulnerable to presidential whims - and that's opened the door to the far right. We urgently need to build a Sixth RepublicWhen Emmanuel Macron called a shock election after the French far right's victory in the 9 June European elections, he gambled on one of the shortest and most high-risk electoral campaigns in our country's history. At a moment when the far right had just gained a record number of seats in the European parliament, the president's unilateral and reckless act - deciding to dissolve parliament three years before elections were due - plunged the country into fear and uncertainty.Macron was certainly not banking on the left forming a new alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP) and putting a solid programme together in record time to contest the elections. In the end, enough voters mobilised against the far right as a threat to the republic, and the election led to the consolidation of three parliamentary blocs in the national assembly. The NFP came first, beating Macron's centre-right alliance, Ensemble, into second place. Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (the National Rally) came third. Continue reading...

Some have noticed the Minnesota governor bears a resemblance to several former Australian PMs, as one website dubs the VP candidate Oz-coded'Kamala Harris's newly minted running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, has had a whirlwind week, in which he's been variously characterised as a teacher, a veteran, a football coach and now, the most Australian prime minister looking American politician" of all time.When US vice-president Kamala Harris chose Walz as her running mate, Australians instantly saw something familiar in him. Continue reading...

As fewer Britons have children, more will be left to navigate our threadbare social care system and overstretched hospitals aloneIt was visiting time at the hospital, and the corridors were full of dutiful middle-aged sons and daughters. The woman who held the ward door open for me was balancing a formidable stack of Tupperware boxes: home-cooked food, in case the nurses were too busy to make sure her elderly father ate. Why hadn't I thought of that? But there's always something more you probably should be doing; always a ball you might have dropped.So much about looking after ageing parents reminds me of early motherhood, that old juggling act that, in retrospect, looks almost like a rehearsal. Hello again, my old friend nagging guilt. And hello again, that sense of needing to be in two places at once - except now it's three, if you are so madly ambitious as to want a job, children and parents.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Prosecutors in court filing ask Tanya Chutkan for additional time to sort through impact of absolute immunity' rulingDonald Trump's criminal prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election is expected to be delayed by another month after special counsel prosecutors said they had not finished assessing how the US supreme court's immunity decision would narrow their case.On Thursday, the prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith's team told Tanya Chutkan, the US district judge presiding over the case, that they needed her to delay until 30 August a deadline to submit a possible schedule for how to proceed with a complicated fact-finding mission ordered by the court. Continue reading...

Candidates will face off for first time after Trump had previously cast doubt about debating Harris on the networkKamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off for the first time in a televised debate on 10 September, ABC News has confirmed.The event is expected to draw a huge viewership, and could be a make-or-break moment for both candidates in what polls indicate is an extremely close race. Continue reading...

This blog is closing for now. You can find the latest US politics coverage here.In a new tweet on Thursday ahead of her address with workers from the United Auto Workers union in Detroit, Michigan Kamala Harris wrote:This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. Our campaign is about fighting for the future." Continue reading...

Second activist also arrested during summer of heat' protest against second largest financier of fossil fuelsA 63-year-old climate activist and professional cellist faces up to seven years in prison after being arrested on Thursday while performing a Bach solo outside the headquarters of one of the world's largest fossil fuel financier Citibank in downtown New York.John Mark Rozendaal, a former Princeton professor, and Alec Connon, director of the climate nonprofit group Stop the Money Pipeline, were arrested for criminal contempt in the public park at the bank's global headquarters as the crackdown against nonviolent climate protesters escalates. Continue reading...

Officials say unnamed woman, 57, was discovered entangled in conveyor belt system in baggage roomA dead woman was found entangled in machinery in a baggage-processing area at O'Hare international airport in Chicago on Thursday.Larry Langford, a spokesperson for the Chicago fire department, said firefighters were called to the airport at about 7.45am for a report of a person pinned in machinery used to move baggage. He said they discovered the woman entangled in a conveyor belt system in a baggage room. Continue reading...

The American confirmed her status as one of the most dominant athletes of the modern era with victory - and a world record - in the 400m hurdles final

Company behind Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and CBS writes down value of its cable networks by nearly $6bnThe entertainment conglomerate behind Paramount Pictures is to cut about 2,000 jobs in a bid to reduce costs ahead of a merger with the independent film studio Skydance.Paramount Global, which also owns CBS, Nickelodeon and the UK's Channel 5, announced plans to cut about 15% of its US workforce alongside its latest earnings on Thursday. Continue reading...

Storm system brings heavy rain and flooding to Carolinas after making first landfall in FloridaTornadoes spawned by Tropical Storm Debby leveled homes, damaged a school and killed one person early on Thursday, as the system dropped heavy rain and flooded communities across North and South Carolina.It only took 15 seconds for a tornado to devastate Genesis Cooper's home in Lucama, North Carolina, a small town about 40 miles (64km) east of Raleigh. He almost slept through it - if not for an alert on his wife's phone. Continue reading...

Former president attacks Democratic rival in rambling press conference and complains media is favoring herStruggling in the polls and charged with running a lackluster presidential campaign, Donald Trump faced reporters on Thursday for an hour-long press conference that swiftly descended into a familiar mess of freewheeling invective, outlandish claims and outright lies.Nobody was killed on January 6," the former president and Republican presidential nominee said, of the day in 2021 when he incited an attack on Congress now linked to nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides and the shooting by a police officer of Ashley Babbitt, who Trump voters widely claim as a martyr. Continue reading...

Former House speaker on how she concluded the president couldn't beat Trump and should step asideNancy Pelosi has never been that impressed" with Joe Biden's political operation", the former US House speaker said, discussing a judgment that helped her conclude the president could not beat Donald Trump and should step aside.They won the White House [in 2020]. Bravo. But my concern was: this ain't happening, and we have to make a decision for [Biden's withdrawal] to happen," Pelosi told the New Yorker, in an interview published on Thursday. Continue reading...

Overall number of people sickened rises to 43 as CDC says additional death happened in VirginiaThree people have now died in a listeria food poisoning outbreak linked to Boar's Head deli meats, federal food safety officials announced on Thursday, and the overall number of people sickened rose to 43.The additional death happened in Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release on Thursday. The other two deaths were in New Jersey and Illinois. The CDC also said nine more cases were reported since a 31 July release about the outbreak, which started in late May. Continue reading...

Make sure you don't miss a thing with our full, updating localised guide to the dates and times of all the events at Paris Olympics 2024Follow all the latest action live | Support the GuardianSearch for every event and start time at the Paris Olympics with our comprehensive live schedule. From the football pitch to the pool, via track and field and much more, use our filter tool to pinpoint the sports and disciplines you want to follow most so that you don't miss a thing. Continue reading...

Find out who is leading the way at the Paris Olympics, and drill down to see which events each country has won medals forFollow all the latest action live | Support the GuardianAs is traditional, the table prioritises the number of gold medals won. On this basis at the 2020 Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021, the United States led the field with 39 golds, with China second on 38 and Japan third with 27. If countries have the same number of gold medals, the order is then dictated by which has the most silvers, and finally bronze if the numbers are still identical. Continue reading...

New photos and data show Trump met with Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts in 2022Donald Trump shared a private flight with the head of the rightwing thinktank behind Project 2025, the Washington Post reported, publishing evidence including a picture of the two men in airplane seats, grinning.The flight was on its way to a conference organized by the thinktank, at which Trump told group members they would lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do". Continue reading...

TV was important as we lay rotting on the couch, but it was another modern advance in technology that I have been appreciating mostAfter a horrible two-week battle with the influenza A (A stands for annoying") virus, I am in the home stretch to victory, and as such have entered the final stage - gratitude.This is when, after many days of thinking that you are probably never going to feel good again and all your loved ones should just forget about you and block your number, you start to improve. Everything around you becomes bathed in a warm glow (which isn't your fever for once). Continue reading...

Trump said What they did in Minneapolis was incredible' as Republicans continue to attack Walz for handling of eventsDonald Trump previously praised Tim Walz for his response to rioting in the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd, audio showed, even as Republicans continued to attack Kamala Harris's running mate for his handling of such events and Trump claimed to have personally saved the Minnesota governor from rightwing protesters.What they did in Minneapolis was incredible," Trump, then president, said in a White House phone call with Walz, the Minnesota governor, and other state leaders on 1 June 2020. They went in and dominated, and it happened immediately." Continue reading...

Court sides against group, whose members say they do not believe in Satan in the literal sense but fight authoritarianismWhenever the city council of Boston meets, a speaker gives opening remarks: sometimes a sermon, sometimes a poem - but usually a prayer, as the majority of the speakers come from Christian organizations.In 2016, the free speech group that styles itself the Satanic Temple asked to be included, offering to give an invocation". When it was denied, the group sued the city, arguing religious discrimination under the first amendment. Continue reading...

Harris expresses openness to discussing Israel-Gaza stance with movement leaders, who are torn over Walz as VP pickLeaders of the uncommitted" campaign spoke with Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, before a rally in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.Harris shared her sympathies and expressed an openness to a meeting with the Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo", the organization said in a statement. Continue reading...

The racists have done one constructive thing: rallied support for the thriving communities they sought to destroyWhen three little girls, Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar, were so callously killed in Southport last week, I - along with the entire country - was sickened and shaken to the core. But there was no time for their families to grieve in peace, or space for the solidarity that arises from a period of national sorrow. Instead, the tragedy was violently hijacked by far-right thugs on the basis of flagrant lies, emerging from a climate of Islamophobia and racist, divisive rhetoric that has always been a threat to us all.Over the past week, my mobile phone has been pinging with messages conveying anxiety and fear from family, friends and colleagues. Clips have been circulating of Muslim businesses torched, ethnic minority members of the public being attacked and chants of Pakis out" at passersby on the streets. Continue reading...

The US once dominated weightlifting before a long period in the doldrums. The balance of power could be shifting again thoughCould a caffeine-fueled 20-year-old from Georgia who doesn't have a driver's license and trains out of his family's garage be at the fore of an American weightlifting resurgence? It might be too early to say, but there's a smouldering optimism about the US camp which only grew on Wednesday when Hampton Morris became the first men's lifter from the United States to win an Olympic medal in four decades by taking bronze in the men's 61kg division.Morris, the youngest US weightlifter at the Olympics since Cheryl Haworth in 2000, ended a long-running American hoodoo by hoisting a combined weight of 298kg (about 657lb) between the snatch and clean-and-jerk segments of the contest, becoming the first male US lifter to reach the podium since Mario Martinez and Guy Carlton took silver and bronze respectively at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Li Fabin of China won the gold with a combined total of 310kg, becoming the first lifter to win consecutive Olympic titles since Turkey's Naim Suleymanoglu won three straight from 1988 through 1996, while Theerapong Silachai of Thailand took silver (303kg) in the leadoff event of the five-day weightlifting competition. Continue reading...

Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, was labor secretary under FDRJoe Biden has been asked to designate a national monument to the former US labor secretary, Frances Perkins, by members of Congress and groups including the National Park Conservation Association.Perkins, who served three terms under Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945, was the first woman to be appointed to a presidential cabinet and the longest-serving secretary of labor in US history. Continue reading...

The ex-president is chatting with Logan Paul, Adin Ross and others with vast followings as the demographic shifts right

After decades of failed appeals, execution warrant was signed in June despite objections to planned lethal drugA Utah man who killed his girlfriend's mother by slashing her throat was put to death by lethal injection early Thursday in the state's first execution since 2010.Taberon Dave Honie, 48, was convicted of aggravated murder in the July 1998 death of Claudia Benn, the maternal grandmother of his now 27-year-old daughter, Tressa. Continue reading...

Death reports obtained by the Guardian show elderly people are regularly dying on the streets of LA: They're incredibly alone'Thousands of senior citizens died in Los Angeles while homeless in the past 10 years, with residents age 60 and over representing a quarter of all deaths of unhoused people in that period, according to a Guardian analysis of public records.A common misconception about California's homelessness crisis is that the majority of people on the streets are young adults who came from out-of-state, drawn to warm weather and homeless services. But death reports obtained by the Guardian reveal more than 3,000 of the 11,500 people who died while unhoused in Los Angeles county between 2014 and 2023 were 60 and older, highlighting the vulnerability of older residents in one of the US's most expensive regions.More than 1,700 of the unhoused people age 60 and over who died probably lived unsheltered. They were found in alleys, tents, encampments, bus stops, parks, yards, parking lots, cars, RVs and sidewalks and other locations suggesting they may have been living outside.

Analysis shows funding for biotech, defense and video platform - and a fascination with The Lord of the RingsJD Vance's investments reveal potential contradictions between the political persona he has sought to project, his history as a venture capitalist and Peter Thiel acolyte, and his status as a hard-edged tribune of the so-called new right".Companies he has invested in include a firm that carries out medical testing of therapies that may include stem cells in scientific research to tech firms with records of harvesting data. Vance and some of the people behind the various firms he is involved with also exhibit an obsession with references to the mythology around The Lord of the Rings' fantasy world. Continue reading...

The teenager's precocious talent won plaudits at the US Olympic trials. Now he is ready to become his country's youngest-ever male track athlete at the GamesThere was never a time in 16-year-old Quincy Wilson's life that he wasn't fast. It's a fact that has propelled him to the Paris Olympics, where, if ESPN sources are to be believed, Wilson on Friday will become the youngest US male track and field athlete to ever appear at the Games.Wilson's mother, Monique, was the first to chase after her son once his feet touched the ground as a 10-month old. Continue reading...

Even with Harris running, more than one out of five Black voters say they support Trump. But polls can be deceivingThroughout the 2024 cycle, polling has suggested that Republicans are poised to do extraordinarily well with African Americans.Even with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, more than one out of five black voters say they support Donald Trump. Younger Black voters seem especially open to casting ballots for the Republican party. Continue reading...

Detroit rally draws 15,000 people and high energy. Plus, Israel minister condemned over starvation remarks

Coaches such as Jurgen Klinsmann and Gregg Berhalter have preached change, but there has been no upturn in results in the biggest competitionsFor the US men's national team, it's been an era of big promises and underwhelming results.Jurgen Klinsmann started the trend when he took over the team in 2011, assuring fans that no longer would the US be the hardscrabble group that would occasionally but not consistently get results against the world's elite. Rather, they would be more proactive, more cultured and entertaining. A revamped youth system would ensure a constant pipeline of talent - talent that would be good enough to play overseas. And those players would be used to the pressure that comes with higher expectations, having proved their worth in top European leagues. Continue reading...

Users of online platforms spread conspiracy theory that he changed Minnesota flag to mimic Somalia'sJust as he was officially announced on the ticket, Minnesota's governor, Tim Walz, often lauded as the safest pick for Kamala Harris to make as a running mate, was already facing racist and nativist attacks from the online depths of the far right.In media speculation leading up to Harris's potential pick, Walz, a midwesterner who once coached a high school football team, was seen as evening out the Californian vice-president's candidacy for the White House. Continue reading...

Kamala Harris's evening speech in Detroit, Michigan, was interrupted by protesters against the war in Gaza who chanted: 'Kamala, Kamala, you can't hide, we won't vote for genocide'. Harris responded by saying: 'If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking'

From a row about an allegedly blasphemous biblical scene to a controversial boxing match, the Games have been hijacked by culture wars between Russia and the westWhile sport has long prided itself on its capacity to promote peace and reconciliation, there was widespread anxiety before the Paris Olympics that the wars in Europe and the Middle East would poison the event. Thankfully, there have been no major security incidents. Yet geopolitical conflict has played out at the Games, including in the controversy over women's boxing.On the eve of the Olympics, many feared the worst. Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the ensuing Israeli invasion of Gaza, now exacerbated by the threat of an all-out regional war, brought back the ghosts of the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militants infiltrated the Olympic village, killing 11 members of the Israeli team.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Detroit rally draws 15,000 people and high energy despite Gaza protesters and medical incidents from summer heatKamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota's governor, Tim Walz, continued their swing-state tour with rallies in rural Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, that the campaign said brought out more than 10,000 people each.The rallies, which followed a raucous event in Philadelphia, served as an opportunity for Harris to continue to introduce Walz, a formerly low-profile midwest governor, to Democrats in the critical swing state. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Thank you for following along. You can find the latest US elections news here.The other big news late on Wednesday was congresswoman Cori Bush losing her Democratic primary after pro-Israel pressure groups spent millions of dollars to unseat her over criticisms of Israel's war on Gaza.St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Missouri's first Black female member of Congress with about 51% of the vote. Bush, a member of the progressive Squad", took about 46%. Continue reading...

Harris is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country's oldest Black sorority and one of the Divine Nine, which boasts four million membersOn 10 July, less than two weeks before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Kamala Harris attended a boule: the annual or biannual gathering of all of the members of a sorority. But this wasn't just any sorority, it was Alpha Kappa Alpha, the historic Black sorority Harris joined in college, and one of the Divine Nine - also known as the Pan-Hellenic Council - the most powerful Black sororities in America.To my line sisters, the 38 Jewels of Iridescent Splendor: Oh, you are such an incredible part of my journey," she said. Continue reading...

Vance, who served as a correspondent in the marines, accused Walz of stolen valor garbage'JD Vance went on the offensive on Wednesday, attacking the military record of Tim Walz, Kamala Harris's vice-presidential pick.Speaking in Michigan, Donald Trump's Republican running mate said: You know what really bothers me about Tim Walz? When the United States Marine Corps ... asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do and I did it honorably, and I'm very proud of that service. Continue reading...

President says in CBS News clip that Trump means what he says' about a bloodbath for the country' if he loses electionJoe Biden has said he is not confident there will be a peaceful transfer of power after the November presidential election.If Trump wins, no, I'm not confident at all. I mean, if Trump loses, I'm not confident at all," the president said in an interview with CBS News that is due to air in full this Sunday.Reuters contributed reporting Continue reading...

Trump tells Fox News that he announced Walz was a good person' to dissuade protesters from surrounding his houseDonald Trump claimed to have saved Kamala Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, from rightwing protesters in 2020 during unrest in Minnesota after the police murder of George Floyd, a statement that appears to contradict Walz's own descriptions of calls between the two politicians.Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Trump said, without offering evidence or specific dates or times, that he publicly announced Walz was a good person" in order to dissuade protesters from surrounding Walz's house. Continue reading...