Twenty-two crew members injured, 11 of them critically, with nine in stable condition, Mexican government saysTwo sailors from the Mexican navy were killed and another 11 critically hurt when a sailing ship taking part in a promotional tour in New York City collided with the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said.The crash happened on Saturday night when the Cuauhtemoc - an academy training vessel with 277 people on board who shares a name with the last Aztec ruler - lost power and struck the bridge. Eyewitness videos showed dozens of sailors in ceremonial uniforms spread across yardarms shortly before the collision, which snapped the Cuauhtemoc's three masts. Continue reading...
Police and firefighters responded to an explosion at a reproductive facility in Palm Springs, California, on Saturday morning. The person suspected of detonating a car bomb has been identified by local media reports as 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus
Chris Murphy says Trump strategically visited Gulf states willing to pay him off' as backlash rises against luxury offerDonald Trump's acceptance of a $400m Boeing jet from Qatar is the definition of corruption", a leading Democrat said on Sunday, as several senior Republicans joined in a bipartisan fusillade of criticism and concern over the luxury gift.Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, condemned the flying grift" on NBC's Meet the Press as he assailed the president's trip to several Gulf states this week that included a stop in Qatar. Continue reading...
Scott Bessent claims he received assurance in a personal call with company's chief executiveThe US retail giant Walmart will eat some of the tariffs" in line with Donald Trump's demands, the president's treasury secretary Scott Bessent insisted on Sunday, claiming he received the assurance in a personal phone call with the company's chief executive, Doug McMillon.A spokesperson for Walmart said the company would not comment on conversations between its executives and administration officials. However, a source familiar with the conversation said the phone call between Bessent and McMillon was arranged many days prior to Trump's post - and that the company's position had not changed. Continue reading...
Steve Hilton, once an adviser to David Cameron, sees signs of Democrats' grip on the state slackening - but the Trump factor could prove trickyCalifornia is usually regarded as a political graveyard for ambitious Republicans, but Steve Hilton, the smiling, bald-headed former British political consultant turned Fox News personality, has a few theories of how to turn that around.Theory number one is that the Democrats, who have not lost a statewide election in almost 20 years and enjoy a supermajority in the California legislature, make the argument for change more or less by themselves, because the state has become too expensive for many of its residents and is mired in a steep budgetary crisis. Continue reading...
FBI statement describes attack as intentional act of terrorism', adding that clinic was deliberately targetedAt least one person is dead after a car exploded near a reproductive facility in Palm Springs, California, on Saturday morning, according to local authorities.An FBI statement described the attack as an intentional act of terrorism", adding that the clinic was deliberately targeted. But it declined to elaborate on how authorities had reached a conclusion on a motive. Continue reading...
The document is a reminder we've been fighting autocracy for centuries - and we can't give up nowSometimes, miraculous financial windfalls happen when you need them most. A college student finding $20 in a jacket pocket on a Friday night. A relative who you didn't really even like dropping dead and leaving you with a hefty inheritance. Or an institution of higher learning discovering they have an original copy of the Magna Carta. I'm sure you can relate.Harvard University recently found the antiquities equivalent of a $20 bill in its archives. What was once thought to be an unofficial copy of King Edward I's declaration of principles is now confirmed to be one of seven remaining legitimate documents left in the world. Harvard purchased this item in 1946 for a whopping $27.50, or $452.40 in today's money. Now that the piece's provenance is confirmed, it's fair to say it's actually priceless.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...
But older children, who had no access to the shots, had higher rates this winter compared with lastNew vaccines and treatments are linked to a dramatic decline in RSV hospitalizations for babies, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).This past winter was the first RSV season with widespread availability of a vaccine given during pregnancy and a monoclonal antibody treatment given in the first eight months of life to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). Continue reading...
Ex-Texas representative, who lost gubernatorial election to Greg Abbott, joins Democrats lambasting former presidentJoe Biden failed this country in the most important job that he had" by deciding to run for another term as US president before dropping out of the election that returned Donald Trump to the White House, where he has unflinchingly assaulted democratic norms, the former representative Beto O'Rourke said recently.We might very well lose the greatest country that this world has ever known," the Texan who has unsuccessfully run for the presidency and his state's governorship said on Pod Save America. And it might be in part because of the decision that Biden and those around him made to run for re-election." Continue reading...
Trump's animosity towards China isn't going to disappear, and his past actions do not bode well for a quick resolutionDonald Trump's massive Chinese tariffs are on pause. The media debated. Wall Street rejoiced. Many of my clients breathed a sigh of relief. Big retailers jumped for joy. But for how long?For starters, the tariffs that weren't paused - a 10% levy on all Chinese goods, plus a bonus 20% tax that somehow relates to fentanyl, are still in place. When you take into consideration existing tariffs on steel from previous Trump and Biden administrations, the effective tariff rate on Chinese goods is actually closer to 40%, according to an analysis done by the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading...
History shows that if western governments mount a defense, the human rights movement will survive this rough patchAs Donald Trump abandons any pretense of promoting human rights abroad, he has sparked concern about the future of the human rights movement. The US government has never been a consistent promoter of human rights, but when it applied itself, it was certainly the most powerful. Yet this is not the first time that the human rights movement has faced a hostile administration in Washington. A collective defense by other governments has been the key to survival in the past. That remains true today.Trump no doubt poses a serious threat. He is enamored of autocrats who rule without the checks and balances on executive power that he would shirk. He has stopped participating in the UN human rights council and censored the US state department's annual human rights report. He has summarily sent immigrants to El Salvador's nightmarish mega-prison, proposed the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and threatened to abandon Ukraine's democracy to Vladimir Putin's invading forces.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, was published by Knopf and Allen Lane in February Continue reading...
Tapping a TV host to lead one of the key US prosecutor's offices? For image-obsessed Trump it's a well-worn pathWhen Donald Trump launched a series of scathing attacks on Fox News after the network in effect called the general election for Joe Biden in 2020, it seemed that one of the most enduring relationships in politics could be over.Now, in 2025, it's clear that the relationship between rightwing news channel and the mercurial president is firmer than ever. Trump's hired nearly two dozen Fox News hosts - most recently Jeanine Pirro - to create an administration stocked with television personalities able to spout his message and acquiesce to his every demand. Continue reading...
Two people were killed and 19 injured after the sailing ship's masts snapped and partly collapsed when they hit the bridge during a promotional tour in New York City
The US, UK and others routinely flout international law. That's why there's scant hope for a new tribunal on crimes against UkraineIt's tempting to hope the establishment last week of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, to give its full name, will lead to the speedy trial and indefinite incarceration of Vladimir Putin and senior Russian leaders. After all, the new court is backed by about 40 countries, including the UK, plus the EU and Council of Europe. And only fools like Donald Trump are confused about who the aggressor is in this conflict.Sadly, this appealing notion has scant basis in reality. Ducking peace talks and dodging responsibility for the war he started, a smirking Putin manspreads smugly in the safety of the Kremlin. He also hides behind the outdated convention that serving heads of state enjoy legal immunity. The bottom line is unchanging: Russia will ignore the new tribunal, just as it ignores arrest warrants for Putin over alleged war crimes brought by the international criminal court (ICC).Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentatorDo 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...
Experts warn the message being sent by the White House is that American foreign policy is for sale. Key US politics stories from Saturday 17 May at a glanceWith Donald Trump's headline-making tour of the Gulf region now over, focus has now fallen on the deals made during the trip - for US companies, and for the president himself.Former White House lawyers, diplomatic protocol officers and foreign affairs experts have told the Guardian Donald Trump's receipt of overseas gifts and targeted investments are unprecedented" as the White House remakes US foreign policy under a pay-for-access code that eclipses past administrations. Continue reading...
Meditate instead of scrolling. Ha, just kidding. Doomscroll on news sites and gnash your teeth at the state of the worldStep one: Write a post to inform everyone that you're taking a break from social media. Phrase it so they know you're doing something extremely worthy. Also say something scathing about Meta, so they feel guilty on multiple levels for remaining.Step two: Stay on social media a little longer to respond to the people who respond to your post about quitting social media. Continue reading...
State superintendent Ryan Walters tapped chief of Heritage Foundation, key player behind Project 2025, for curriculumAs part of the latest Republican push in red states to promote ideologies sympathetic to Donald Trump, Oklahoma's new social studies curriculum will ask high school students to identify discrepancies" in the 2020 election results.The previous standard for studying the 2020 election merely said: Examine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome." The new version is more expansive: Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of bellwether county' trends." Continue reading...
In social media posts, president also slams Walmart for price increases and spreads anti-Clinton conspiracy theoriesDonald Trump said that he will speak to both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an effort to stop what he called the bloodbath" war in Ukraine amid a barrage of new social media posts that included baseless conspiracy theories and a demand that Walmart not raise prices for customers because of tariffs he has imposed.Trump, posting on his Truth Social account on Saturday, wrote that he will speak to Putin on Monday morning. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE BLOODBATH' THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE," Trump wrote, in his customary all-capitalized prose. The president has repeatedly cited a death toll for the conflict that is much higher than any official figures, or estimates based on an open-source investigation, without explaining why. Continue reading...
The actor urged artists to keep expressing themselves after the US president called singer Bruce Springsteen a 'pushy, obnoxious JERK' on his social media platform Truth Social. Pascal was in Cannes on Saturday promoting his new film Eddington, directed by Ari Aster, a conspiracy theory satire set during the Covid-19 pandemic
Total of 10 men escaped from hole behind toilet in cell; authorities are investigating whether they had inside helpSeven men - including one convicted in four killings and others charged with murder - remained on the run after a breakout at New Orleans' jail that officials fear may have been enabled by help from within their own ranks.A total of 10 men participated in the brazen overnight escape by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet and scaling a wall while the lone staffer assigned to their cell pod was away getting food. Continue reading...
Interview by special counsel shows then president having problems remembering key dates and life eventsA newly released recording appears to confirm that Joe Biden suffered some memory lapses while US president, struggling to recall the year his son died or when Donald Trump was first elected.While being interviewed by a special counsel over his handling of classified records, the audio shows Biden's responses are marked by long pauses, a faint whispered voice and confusion over key dates, such as when his son Beau died (2015) or when Trump won his first presidency (2016). Continue reading...
Comments at Cannes come after US president's social media posts against Bruce Springsteen and Taylor SwiftPedro Pascal has sharply criticised Donald Trump's attacks against artists, as the director of a conspiracy theory satire starring the actor said he feared the political messages of films could be weaponised by US border guards.Fuck the people that try to make you scared," the Game of Thrones and The Last of Us actor said at a press conference at the Cannes film festival, promoting Ari Aster's new film Eddington. And fight back. And don't let them win." Continue reading...
Verbal attacks by Trump and allies are creating a hostile climate that endangers judges' safety, experts sayUS judges who have increasingly rebuked the Trump administration's harsh deportation agenda and other Maga policies are facing intense verbal assaults from the president and his allies, which seem to be spurring other dangerous threats against judges, say legal experts and former judges.The Trump administration's escalating fight with the courts has come as more than 200 lawsuits have challenged executive orders and policies on multiple issues including immigrant deportations, penalizing law firms with links to political foes, agency spending and workforce cuts, and other matters. Continue reading...
Much remains uncertain about Valeria Marquez's death. But it shines a light on a universal issueValeria Marquez was killed in one of the most horrifically public ways possible. On Tuesday evening, the 23-year-old Mexican social media influencer, who had built up a large following with videos about beauty and makeup, was recording a TikTok livestream in the beauty salon where she worked in Jalisco, a state in west-central Mexico. A man entered the establishment and, with her video still running, shot her dead.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The New York Mets slugger was booed lustily on his return to Yankee Stadium after departing in free agency, showing just how deep the Subway Series rivalry now runsDuring the last game of the 2024 baseball season - as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series to clinch a championship in front of a sold-out crowd of disappointed New Yorkers - there were still Yankees fans buying No 22 Juan Soto jerseys at the ballpark. This was noteworthy because as soon as the game ended, Soto was a free agent.He had been traded to New York from the San Diego Padres - where he landed after a bombshell trade from the Washington National team that drafted him and with whom he won a World Series in 2019 - just ahead of his walk year. But Soto had endeared himself to the fervent fanbase quickly. In 2024, he was 80% better than average at the plate according to wRC+ and, with the towering Aaron Judge hitting behind him, led the American League in runs scored. And it seemed his swagger fit with the famous franchise that brought him back to the Fall Classic for the first time since he was 20 years old. Continue reading...
The deals stand to enrich tech CEOs substantially by opening up new audiences for their productsOn his tour of the Middle East this week, Donald Trump announced a slew of multibillion-dollar tech deals with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. With the sale of the US's most advanced technology, he also sold the American model of the industry that made it: enormous amounts of power concentrated in the hands of a few men.The announcements poured in last week: the US and the United Arab Emirates agreed on Abu Dhabi as the site of the largest artificial intelligence campus outside the US. The deal reportedly allows the UAE to import half a million Nvidia semiconductor chips, considered the most advanced in the world for the creation of artificial intelligence products. Saudi Arabia struck a similar deal for semiconductors, obtaining the promise of the sale of hundreds of thousands of Nvidia Blackwell chips to Humain, an AI startup owned by its sovereign wealth fund. Cisco said it had signed a deal with a UAE AI firm to develop the country's AI sector. The agreements also directed some investment by Saudi firms into US technology and manufacturing. Amazon Web Services and Qualcomm likewise announced deals on cloud computing and cybersecurity. Continue reading...
A new book has fueled controversy over press handling of the ex-president's decline. But that distracts from a bigger problemWith a new book out about Joe Biden's failed re-election campaign, a media reckoning is in full swing.It goes something like this: mainstream journalism failed the voters. Reporters were complicit; they didn't tell us how much the elderly president had declined. They didn't dig beneath the surface of what Biden aides were doing as they covered up the physical and cognitive decline of the leader of the free world.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
Legislation would establish fees to seek asylum, care for a minor in US custody or apply for humanitarian paroleCongressional Republicans are proposing an array of new fees on immigrants seeking to remain in the United States in a move that advocates warn will create insurmountable financial barriers.Legislation moving through the GOP-controlled House of Representatives could require immigrants to pay potentially hundreds or thousands of dollars to seek asylum, care for a minor in the government's custody, or apply for humanitarian parole. Continue reading...
The administration seems to be getting clobbered in court, but it's still unsettled whether the government can detain and deport noncitizens over political speechThe Trump administration suffered yet another blow this past week to its efforts to deport international students over their pro-Palestinian speech, when a third federal judge threw a wrench into a government campaign widely criticized as a political witch hunt with little historical precedent.On Wednesday, a federal judge in Virginia ordered immigration authorities to release Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri from custody. The Indian scholar's release followed that of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student from Turkey, and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian permanent resident and Columbia University student. The administration is seeking to deport all of them on the grounds that their presence in the US is harmful to the country's foreign policy, part of a crackdown on political dissent that has sent shockwaves through US campuses. Continue reading...
White House remakes foreign policy under pay-for-access code that critics say could violate US constitutionFormer White House lawyers, diplomatic protocol officers and foreign affairs experts have told the Guardian that Donald Trump's receipt of overseas gifts and targeted investments are unprecedented", as the White House remakes US foreign policy under a pay-for-access code that eclipses past administrations with characteristic Trumpian excess.The openness to foreign largesse was on full display this week as the US president was feted in the Gulf states during his first major diplomatic trip abroad this term, inking deals he claimed were worth trillions of dollars and pumping local leaders for investments as he says he remakes US foreign policy to prioritise America first" - putting aside concerns of human rights or international law for the bottom line of American businesses and taxpayers. Continue reading...
The impact of those six chaotic weeks, from higher prices to slowing growth, is still unfolding, and the story continuesDonald Trump hailed a new chapter in the US's economic history on 2 April, dubbed liberation day" by his administration, as he announced plans for an extraordinary barrage of US tariffs on the world. The chapter lasted 40 days.The page has already been turned. But the impact of those six chaotic weeks, from higher prices to slowing growth, is still unfolding - and the US president is already threatening further adjustments. The story continues. Continue reading...
The long-suffering Knickerbockers were the butt of jokes around the league for at least two decades, but now they're just four games from the NBA finalsOn Friday night in New York City, more than 19,000 Knicks fans poured out of Madison Square Garden and onto Seventh Avenue, celebrating their team's improbable 4-2 series victory over the Boston Celtics. The NBA's social media peanut gallery had previously taken issue with Knicks fans for their overly exuberant early-round victory celebrations, but after landing in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century, this party was as legit as the Knicks newfound title hopes.New York had beaten their rivals by a franchise playoff-record margin of 38 points, ending Boston's reign as NBA champs. If you watched the way they suffocated the Celtics, you know it wasn't even that close. The way this series ended was as stunning as how it began, with consecutive historic Celtic meltdowns at TD Garden, when the home team surrendered 20-point second-half leads not once but twice. Then New York were moments from wrapping up another improbable victory in Game 4 when Boston cornerstone Jayson Tatum went down with an achilles injury. Back in Boston, down three games to one, with their season on the brink and their all-NBA player in the hospital recovering from season-ending surgery, Boston powered through Game 5 on pure adrenaline. That wave of raw energy had crashed by the start of Game 6, and the Celtics finally tapped out. The Garden crowd let out 25 years of shpilkes as they watched their team bounce the champs. Continue reading...
The US president has introduced an evolving slate of tariffs over the last few months. Here's their current statusOver the last few months, Donald Trump has introduced a confusing and evolving slate of tariffs against specific countries and industries that the president has deemed as threats to US industry.Many of his harshest tariffs have been paused, and some exemptions have been made, but a handful of tariffs are still in place. Trump has continued to threaten more of them, though the future of the president's trade war remains unclear.10% universal tariff
by Coral Murphy Marcos (now); Lucy Campbell, Marina D on (#6XAVE)
Justices block Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants; judge frustrated by DoJ's failure to detail efforts to return wrongly deported man. This blog is now closed.
Homeland security department reviewing out-of-the-box' pitch in which immigrants would compete for citizenshipThe US Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering an out-of-the-box" pitch to participate in a television gameshow that would have immigrants compete to obtain US citizenship.Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the pitch to the New York Times as a celebration of being an American" and said the show would include challenges based on American traditions. Continue reading...
The supreme court blocks White House bid to resume deportations as lawyers say Venezuelans face torture' in El Salvador. Key US politics stories from Friday 16 May at a glanceDonald Trump faced setbacks in the courts and Congress on Friday, as the president finished a visit to the Middle East that included stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Israel.Trump posted on social media: THE SUPREME COURT WON'T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!", after the court rejected the Trump administration's request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law. Continue reading...
Mayor confirms deaths after roofs torn off and trees downed, while multiple states brace for high winds and heatAt least four people died and others were hurt after severe storms including a possible tornado swept through St Louis on Friday, as tens of millions of Americans in multiple states braced for possible damage from expected high winds and severe weather this weekend.St Louis mayor Cara Spencer confirmed the deaths after storms tore roofs off some buildings, ripped away brick facades and downed trees and power lines as residents were urged to take cover. Continue reading...
Administration's appeal to quickly deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act rejected with two dissentingThe supreme court has rejected the Trump administration's request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law.Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Continue reading...
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