US news | The Guardian

The 99th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the largest in the world, dazzled crowds in Manhattan, New York, on Thursday. Thirty-two balloons, three giant balloons, 27 floats, four special units, 33 clown groups, 11 marching bands, performance groups, and music stars parade to welcome Santa Claus and the holiday season' Continue reading...

Several flights are delayed and parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan could see six to 10 inches of snowParts of the US midwest and the Great Lakes region are bracing for a strong storm this weekend, as an estimated 82 million Americans travel to gather in celebration of Thanksgiving.Some parts of the country are expecting cold, snowy conditions, and the weather has already caused some travel delays. On Thursday morning more than 800 flights were already delayed, most in the northern states. Continue reading...

On Wednesday, Rahmanullah Lakanwal shot troop members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew WolfeTwo national guard members shot on Wednesday in Washington DC are in critical condition. Here's what we know so far:At 2.15pm on Wednesday, a man is alleged to have launched what Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, has called an ambush-style" gun attack two blocks north-west of the White House on two members of the West Virginia national guard.The guard members - named as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, both newly sworn-in - are currently hospitalized in critical condition.The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was shot at the scene by a third guard member and is being treated in hospital after being arrested. His wounds are not believed to be life-threatening.Lakanwal faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, though if the national guard members die, the charges could be upgraded to first-degree murder.His motives remain unclear: Pirro has said that it's too soon to say" and Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant DC police chief, said that investigators had no information on a motive and the suspect came around the corner" and immediately started firing at the troops.He had driven across the US from the home he shares with his wife and five children in Bellingham, Washington state, allegedly to conduct the attack.He is believed to have acted alone.Lakanwal worked with the CIA in Afghanistan, and came to the US in 2021 as part of a program to resettle Afghans who had aided US operations there. The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, said Lakanwal was a member of a partner force in Kandahar".The Trump administration has responded to the shooting by ordering 500 more national guard members to Washington, and calling for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.US citizenship and immigration services also said it has stopped processing all immigration requests for Afghan nationals pending further review of security and vetting protocols". Continue reading...

State department has told employees and grant recipients to not publicly promote or make event on 1 DecemberFor the first time since 1988, the US government will no longer commemorate World Aids Day, according to reports.The state department has directed its employees and grant recipients not to use US government funds to mark the event - which falls annually on 1 December - and not to promote the day publicly. The news was first reported by the journalist Emily Bass and confirmed in an email viewed by the New York Times. Continue reading...

Charles Stanish surmised indentations were rudimentary market place and later adapted as accounting and storage systemA Florida archaeologist's decades-long persistence has helped solve one of Peru's most puzzling geographical conundrums: the origin and purpose of the so-called Band of Holes in the country's mountainous Pisco Valley.Charles Stanish, professor of archaeology at the University of South Florida, and an expert on Andean culture, spent years studying the more than 5,200 curious hillside shallow pits known to local residents as Monte Sierpe - serpent mountain. Continue reading...

The US attorney for the District of Columbia,Jeanine Pirro, confirmed the identities of the two national guards critically injured in a Washington DC shooting on Wednesday as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24. The suspect was Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, a man from Afghanistan living in Bellingham, Washington state, the FBI director, Kash Patel, confirmed

Maher Tarabishi was arrested at a routine visit despite decades in the US, leaving his son with Pompe diseaseA 62-year-old father named Maher Tarabishi visited the ICE field office in Dallas, Texas, on 28 October as he has done each year for 17 years. Tarabishi, originally from Jordan, is in the US on a supervision order. Even though his asylum claim was denied, the US government allowed him to remain in the country because he is the primary caretaker for his son, Wael, who was diagnosed at four years old with a progressive muscle disorder called Pompe disease.Tarabishi's mandatory annual visits to ICE were never eventful; he'd arrive, an official might ask about Wael's condition, and then he would leave. This time was different. Continue reading...

Senior figure allegedly referred to customers buying highly processed food' and denigrated Indian employees

President called the shooting in Washington an act of terror'. Plus, Hong Kong fire death toll rises to 65

Dining at 3pm allows for an ideal holiday schedule. Let's retire the term dinner' from our Thanksgiving lexiconWithout question, my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I relish the opportunity to appreciate all the wonderful things about life. I also love that it is simultaneously a holiday all about complaints, criticism and arguments. Every holiday should contain such multitudes. I might be feeling grateful for my blessings while also wishing the gravy had more salt in it. There's something uniquely American about turning a holiday that's meant to be a joyous celebration of abundance into a chance to vehemently disagree about something trivial.Of course, I love arguing about trivial things. In fact, that might be what I'm most grateful for. Thanksgiving traditions are fertile ground for arguments. What to eat and, even more crucially, when to eat. Every year, someone in your life - a family member, friend, know-it-all writer - will tell you they have settled the eternal debate about when to commence Thanksgiving dinner. Some (wrong) people think the word dinner" should be taken literally, in the American sense. These strict constitutionalists can see no nuance in the holiday traditions and believe (falsely) that the meal should begin between 5pm and 7pm, when it's properly dark outside.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

Advocates allege navy knew levels of airborne plutonium at Hunters Point shipyard were high before it alerted officialsThe US navy knew of potentially dangerous levels of airborne plutonium in San Francisco for almost a year before it alerted city officials after it carried out testing that detected radioactive material in November last year, public health advocates allege.The plutonium levels exceeded the federal action threshold at the navy's highly contaminated, 866-acre Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. It was detected in an area adjacent to a residential neighborhood filled with condos, and which includes a public park. Continue reading...

A few years ago James Cook worked in a Surrey cinema and Max Pircher played in Austria. Now they're in the NFLBy No Helmets RequiredThe United States is a country of immigrants but the NFL remains dominated by players born in the USA. Only 5% of players are born abroad and the majority of them make the step into the sport by going to college in the US. True outsiders are unusual and foreign coaches are especially rare, which makes James Cook's story remarkable.Cook has been in charge of player development at Cleveland Browns for the past six months. That's an achievement in itself but it's extraordinary considering he grew up in Surrey, is in his late 20s and never played professional sport. Cook discovered the NFL as a 12-year-old when he was channel-flicking with his dad and came across this weird and wonderful" sport. He started playing locally and soon wanted to become the first NFL quarterback born in Europe. He got as far as playing for Great Britain but his plans to go to college in the US proved financially prohibitive. Continue reading...

The attack makes the troops' Washington DC exit less likely and offers a convenient data point for rightwing narrativesWashington DC is considered a safe zone," Donald Trump declared on Tuesday, veering off topic at the national Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House. This was one of the most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city."A day later, two national guardsmen from West Virginia were shot in a busy area a few blocks from the White House in downtown Washington. The ambush took place outside the Farragut West Metro railway station within sight of the Guardian's office (I had been in the station three hours earlier and witnessed national guard troops milling around). Continue reading...

If support for Israel is no longer de rigueur in New York, it may soon not be obligatory in Washington. That is good news for PalestiniansIsraeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be quaking in his boots at the decisive victory of Zohran Mamdani in the 4 November New York City mayoral election. Not because of absurd allegations of antisemitism for which there is no evidence, but because Mamdani has broken the longstanding taboo for successful New York candidates against criticizing the Israeli government. And he has only reinforced his approach in the month since his election.New York has the largest Jewish population in the United States - and the second-largest of any city in the world after Tel Aviv. The longstanding assumption was that many Jewish voters prioritized the defense of the Israeli government over other issues, so criticism of Israel would set them against a politician. Continue reading...

A new documentary charts how a song that featured a 335lb rapper and bad dancing went viral in the pre-internet eraThe Chicago Bears are 8-3 and soaring in this season's NFL standings. For a fanbase that's grown accustomed to looking up at the division rival Green Bay Packers and looking ahead to the next season's prospects, it's reason to smell the roses and indulge in some light strutting. But even as fans find themselves looking forward to the Bears' first playoff berth in five years, something that once seemed unthinkable with a second-year quarterback and a rookie head coaching helming a squad that managed only five wins last year, no fan is thinking the 2025 Bears have a Super Bowl run in them - not without a rap song to lay the marker down.Before the 1985 edition of the Bears romped to victory in Super Bowl XX, they tempted fate by recording The Super Bowl Shuffle. Although the song only peaked at 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the accompanying video came to rival Michael Jackson's Thriller for popularity as it popped up endlessly on TV during the Bears' title run. The Super Bowl Shuffle went viral in an age where there was no viral existence like we know it today," the song's recording engineer, Fred Breitberg, says. It was a phenomenal entity as well as being a good record." Continue reading...

JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs reveal plans for London and Birmingham as sector is spared tax rises

Anastasia Samoylova took a photographic journey up the US east coast - and found herself in America's unreconciled past just as much as its fragmented present Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.

Two national guard members were critically wounded in attack near White House - key US politics stories from Wednesday 26 November at a glanceTwo West Virginia national guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after they were shot near the White House in Washington. Local officials and federal authorities called the shooting a targeted" attack and have a suspect in custody.The shooter was later identified in multiple media reports as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a man from Afghanistan. Lakanwal is said to have entered the United States in September 2021, and been living in Washington state, law enforcement officials told the Associated Press and other outlets. Continue reading...

Suspect in custody after two West Virginia guard members shot in targeted' incident, Washington mayor says

Amid a frenetic scene, some residents said Trump's militarization of the capital had much to answer forThe scene around Washington's Farragut Square on Wednesday afternoon seem to fit Donald Trump's most lurid stereotypes of a crime-ridden capital in need of federal troops to bring a firm smack of law and order.An area normally the preserve of professional office workers, coffee shops and lunch venues instead bore the hallmarks of a major crime scene as news spread that two national guard troops had been shot. Authorities later said the shooting suspect had been identified as an Afghan man. Continue reading...

New map takes aim at state's only swing seat and gives Republicans chance to flip seat as part of Trump campaignA federal three-judge panel on Wednesday allowed North Carolina to use a redrawn congressional map aimed at flipping a seat to Republicans as part of Donald Trump's multi-state redistricting campaign ahead of the 2026 elections.The new map takes aim at North Carolina's only swing seat, currently held by Democrat Don Davis, an African American who represents more than 20 counties in the state's north-east. The first district has been represented by Black members of Congress continuously for more than 30 years. Continue reading...

JD Vance addressed the shooting of two members of the West Virginia national guard near the White House in a Thanksgiving Day speech at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

State prosecutor dismisses charges against US president and others in election interference caseThe case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia ended on Wednesday with a filing for dismissal by the state prosecutor who took over after the removal of Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney.Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor and the executive director of the prosecuting attorneys' council of Georgia, confirmed to the Guardian that it's over"after superior court judge Scott McAfee issued a one-page order on Wednesday dismissing the 2020 racketeering case. Skandalakis said he would be making no further comments about the matter. Continue reading...

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem says allowing Haitians to remain is contrary to US national interest'The Trump administration has once again moved to halt humanitarian protections for Haitians living in the US, this time announcing that their temporary protected status (TPS) will expire on 3 February.According to a new Department of Homeland Security notice issued on Wednesday, TPS for approximately 340,000 Haitian migrants will be terminated next year. Continue reading...

Southern California residents shared disastrous effects of Trump's immigration crackdown at a congressional hearingThe Trump administration's ICE raids across southern California have had disastrous effects on the region's immigrants and swept up US citizens in the process, community leaders and residents said at a congressional hearing in Los Angeles on Monday.Andrea Velez, an American arrested by US immigration officials over the summer, described how she was accosted by masked agents while on her way to work. She said she was charged with assaulting an officer and held for two days in a federal detention center, where detainees had to pay for a cup in order to have water. The charges against her were ultimately dismissed due to what her attorney described as a lack of evidence. Continue reading...

In a Truth Social post, the president lashed out at journalist Katie Rogers after an article questioned whether he was slowing downDonald Trump lashed out on Wednesday against a New York Times reporter, calling her ugly inside and out" in his latest personal insult against female members of the media after last week calling another piggy".In a Truth Social post, Trump criticized the newspaper for an article suggesting he was running low on energy in his 80th year, insisting he had never worked so hard in my life". Continue reading...

Scouting America decries accusations by defense secretary that the organization is attacking boy-friendly spaces'Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, has said it is surprised and disappointed" by a report that the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, could sever all military ties to the organization for being genderless" and failing to cultivate masculine values".In a draft memo to Congress obtained by NPR, Hegseth criticized Scouting America, which began admitting girls in 2018, for purportedly attempting to attack boy-friendly spaces". Continue reading...

Republicans and Democrats warn Witkoff cannot be trusted' after reportedly advising officials on peace planA handful of US representatives have reacted furiously to a leaked recording in which the special envoy to Ukraine reportedly coached Moscow on how to handle Donald Trump, but most have so far remained mute on the revelation that American officials were advising a US adversary.Don Bacon, a Republican representative, called for Steve Witkoff's immediate dismissal. For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign & democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians," the Nebraska lawmaker wrote on X. Continue reading...

Justice department maintains that Trump administration didn't violate judge's order to return flights to USThe Department of Justice said in a statement that Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was the one who made the decision to continue with the deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador in March, despite a federal judge's directive that the flights must be returned to the United States.In a court filing on Tuesday, the justice department said that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove provided DHS with legal advice regarding the court's order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued, through DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara" and that after receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court's order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador". Continue reading...

Katie Wilson's rise from transit campaigner to city hall shows how trust, volunteers and years of organizing overcame big-money politicsWhile a blue wave was sweeping key races in New York City, Virginia, and New Jersey on 4 November, Seattle progressives were biting their nails down to a quick. At 8pm, only the first round of ballots had been counted in Seattle, and Katie Wilson, a longtime community organizer and the progressive challenger in the mayoral race, was behind by seven points.But it was far from over. Because Washington state votes almost entirely by mail, that first ballot count was less than a quarter of the vote. As the week wore on, and progressives' fingernails disappeared, Wilson's share of the vote crept up, slowly but steadily. Eight days after the election, Seattle declared that Wilson would be the next mayor of Seattle. Continue reading...

Binaifer Nowrojee, Open Society Foundations president, said the organization will go to court if need be'As Donald Trump menaces the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which funds a long list of progressive causes, Binaifer Nowrojee, the OSF president, says the global grant-making network will pursue legal action against the federal government if it must.Open Society Foundation supports the right of free speech, supports the constitutional rights of organizations to be able to organize themselves, including through peaceful protest and is willing to actually ensure that those rights are upheld, including by going to court if need be," she said. Continue reading...

Bloomberg publishes extraordinary transcripts of secret discussions, but their provenance remains unclearBloomberg's scoop showing how Trump aide Steve Witkoff coached the Kremlin on the best way to get into Trump's good graces is extraordinary for what it tells us about Witkoff's dubious loyalties and the Kremlin's potential influence over US negotiation efforts. But equally interesting is the leaked material itself and where it may have come from.The story covers two intercepted phone calls: one between Witkoff and top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, and another between Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, who has been deeply involved in negotiations with the Trump White House. Continue reading...

In dozen of cases officers have used Marsy's Law, which gives victims of crime anonymity, to shield their namesFor months, Ohio police officer Connor Grubb and his department attempted to hide his identity following an incident that saw him shoot and kill Ta'Kiya Young and her unborn daughter in a Kroger parking lot outside Columbus in August 2023.Grubb, who on 21 November was acquitted of murder and other charges, claimed that Young, who was stopped for allegedly stealing, attempted to drive over him - which would make him a victim of a crime and eligible to protect his identity from public view through a legal provision called Marsy's Law. Police footage of the killing shows Young slowly driving the car forward and to the right before Grubb fires through the windshield and into Young's chest. Continue reading...

In Dearborn, provocateurs have held anti-Islam rallies, attempted to burn the Qur'an and rile residents for clickbaitWhite nationalist and rightwing agitators recently descended on Dearborn, Michigan, to hold an anti-Islam rally at which they attempted to burn a Qur'an and manufacture controversy over the city's large Arab-American population. But the protest has been dismissed by local leaders as a cheap publicity stunt aimed at generating money and clicks for far-right influencers.But there is little doubt the Michigan city has become a repeated target for the publicity-hungry far-right because it holds the US's highest percentage of Arab-American residents. Similar provocateurs have marched with a pig's head on a pole at an Arab-American fair. Meanwhile, Christian evangelists regularly attempt to convert Muslim children at parks or outside schools. Continue reading...

White House pressure campaign has not found willing participants in all states - including Republican-led onesThe unprecedented push to create new congressional districts mid-decade is hitting roadblocks in the form of local elected officials from both parties.Republicans face headwinds in the 2026 midterms: the party in power often loses ground in the election after a presidential win, and Trump's agenda isn't going over well. The 2025 off-year elections showed voters favoring Democrats at higher-than-expected margins. Trump wants to keep the House in Republican control by redrawing congressional maps to create more Republican-friendly districts. He first pressured Texas, which responded by drawing five additional red districts, which led California to advance a now-approved ballot measure to create five more Democrat-friendly districts to offset Texas's maps. Continue reading...

Trump has suggested on at least 28 occasions over past eight years that a national TV network's license be revoked - even though it doesn't work that wayFacing aggressive questioning from Mary Bruce, an ABC News White House correspondent, about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Donald Trump last week suggested a form of punishment he thought would be appropriate for her crappy company": the Federal Communications Commission should revoke ABC's license, the US president declared.It wasn't the first time he has done so. As he has sought redress for what he has considered to be unfair reporting about him and his administration, Trump has suggested at least 28 times over the last eight years that a television network should lose its license, according to analysis by the Guardian. Continue reading...

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. Today, Graham Ruthven endeavors to answer three of themThis time last season, Liverpool had just registered their 10th win in 12 games to go nine points clear at the top of the Premier League. It was around this time the narrative around Slot's team shifted from questioning if they could win the title in their first season post-Jurgen Klopp to predicting just how far ahead of the chasing pack they would finish. A year on, the narrative has shifted tremendously. Continue reading...

Raymond Hager says he enjoys driving too much and struggles to sit at home to think about retiringA 95-year-old bus driver from Texas who has gained recognition as his profession's oldest member worldwide says he enjoys driving his passengers around too much - and struggles mightily to just sit at home - to think about retiring quite yet.I've always liked to drive - I still do," Raymond Hager said at a recent ceremony where officials in his home town of Wichita Falls honored him for his record-setting career in bus transportation. And hopefully I stay safe and drive as long" as his boss and physician each allow him. Continue reading...

National news organizations have treated the borough like flyover country. It's time to change thatAs the extraordinary Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani shows, there's a new bellwether in American politics.For years, Ohio played that role. In every election from 1964 to 2016, the state voted for the winning presidential candidate, and every four years journalists would travel there to interview voters in Columbus and Cincinnati, Dayton and Youngstown. But in 2020 Biden won without carrying the state, and today Ohio is deeply red, costing it its bellwether status. Several other states once considered battlegrounds - Iowa, Missouri, and Florida - have also turned firmly Republican.Michael Massing is an American writer based in New York City. He is a former executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review Continue reading...

Millions of sexual violent survivors will not live a day longer with this torturous injusticeIt began as I finished Nobody's Girl, the torturous and devastating account of Virginia Giuffre's life. It was what I can only describe as a kind of corporeal attack, an existential clutch followed by days of such powerful anxiety my body was taken in bouts of uncontrollable shaking. A sense of not mattering, a virulent dread and dissolving into an all-encompassing nothingness impossible to shake. How many times as a child, after being abused by my father, had I experienced this sense of erasure and disappearance?Feeling that no matter what I did, what I accomplished, how hard I tried to lift my head above the parapet I would be cast out forever. This attack lasted days. Perhaps it was Virginia's story, parts of which felt much like my own. Raped as a child by her father, then raped by her father's good friend, then raped when she ran away, then the years of being raped by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, then being sexually trafficked to powerful and sadistic men to be raped again. Continue reading...

Three ICC judges have been put on a sanctions list with terrorists after approving an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister. This is the charade of the rules-based order'The fate of one French judge is a case study in the west's long unravelling. Nicolas Guillou cannot shop online. When he used Expedia to book a hotel in his own country, the reservation was cancelled within hours. He is blacklisted by much of the world's banking system", unable to use most bank cards.Guillou, you see, has been sanctioned by the United States, putting him on a 15,000-strong list alongside al-Qaida terrorists, drug cartels and Vladimir Putin. Why? Because alongside two other judges of the international criminal court pre-trial chamber I, he approved arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif, the former commander of Hamas's military wing. Guillou and his colleagues had actively engaged in the ICC's illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel", the US claimed when imposing the sanctions in June. All are now barred from entering the US - but that is the least of the consequences.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Steve Witkoff spoke to Yuri Ushakov on territorial control and suggested congratulating Donald Trump and framing talks more optimistically, audio recording suggestsDonald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg.In the 14 October phone call with Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Witkoff said he believed the land concessions were necessary all while advising Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically. Continue reading...

Donald Trump's defense secretary sends memo to John Phelan asking him to review Kelly's comments; House Democrats from video confirm FBI is seeking to investigate. This blog is now closed.Senator Mark Kelly has responded to the Pentagon's announcement that it is investigating the Arizona lawmaker for possible breaches of military law after he joined five other Democratic members of Congress in a video calling for US troops to refuse illegal orders.I said something that was pretty simple and non controversial, and that was that members of the military should follow the law," Kelly said in an MS NOW interview with Rachel on Monday. And in response to that, Donald Trump said I should be executed." Continue reading...

Though president's order is legally questionable, advocates worry community could be targeted for immigration raidsIn the days since the president said he would be ending a legal immigration status program for Somalis in Minnesota, local elected officials and community members said they will fight back.On Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote that he would be terminating, effective immediately" temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota. Trump wrote that Minnesota was a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity". Send them back to where they came from. It's OVER!" he wrote. Continue reading...