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Most fathers would shield their children from death. Mine, a psychologist, did the oppositeMy dad and I kept a running list of ways we didn't want to die. Being buried alive was always No 1. Whenever we learned about unusual deaths - accidents involving farm machinery, medieval torture, mobsters encasing victims' feet in cement before throwing them in the ocean - we added them to our shared catalogue.Most fathers would shield their children from such morbid fascinations. Mine, a psychologist, did the opposite. He saw death as life's most honest teacher and ensured I wouldn't meet it as a stranger.Amanda Sloat is professor of practice in international relations at IE University in Madrid, Spain Continue reading...

Former intelligence officers sound alarm over devastating' impact of president's bid to overhaul US security agencyFor generations they have borne the mantle of strength and authority inherited from J Edgar Hoover's Depression-era G-men, a label supposedly affixed after the arrest of Machine Gun Kelly in 1933.Now hardened veterans of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are projecting a different face as they seek to fight back against what many say is the systematic undermining of the bureau's values under a drive by Donald Trump to turn it into an instrument of retribution. Continue reading...

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Two days of strikes followed downing of US Apache helicopter over the strait of Hormuz, which Trump has blamed on Iran - key US politics stories from Wednesday 10 June at a glanceThe US has launched new strikes against targets in Iran for the second consecutive day, following through on Donald Trump's promise to hit them hard again" as a two-month-old ceasefire appears close to collapse.US Central Command announced in a statement that forces began launching additional self-defence strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET [10.15pm UK time on Wednesday] against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief's direction". Continue reading...

Defense says no evidence occasional Uber driver Jonathan Rinderknecht ignited deadly blaze on New Year's Day 2025The trial of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of starting last year's deadly Palisades fire, kicked off on Wednesday with opening arguments. Prosecutors cast him as a vengeful arsonist who sought to hide his role from authorities, while his defense attorneys argued that the fire was caused by fireworks.On New Year's Day in 2025, firefighters extinguished a small blaze in the Pacific Palisades, a coastal Los Angeles enclave. But the flames continued to smolder underground, before reigniting as they were picked up by strong winds. The Palisades fire, the most destructive wildfires in city history, tore through roughly 23,000 acres, incinerating thousands of buildings and killing 12 people. Continue reading...

State supreme court ruling aids nationwide redistricting effort aimed at helping party retain slim House majorityThe Florida supreme court on Wednesday allowed new US House districts drawn by Republicans to be used in the midterm elections, marking another victory for the GOP in a nationwide redistricting effort aimed at helping the party retain its slim House majority.Attorneys for voters who sued had argued that the new congressional districts violate a state constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, and that the court should order the state to continue using the same districts as in the previous election. The supreme court, in a 6-1 decision, denied their request for a temporary injunction without ruling on the merits of the case. The judges said they lacked jurisdiction to intervene while the lawsuit gradually plays out in the lower courts. Continue reading...

Environmental groups say exchange between US government and SpaceX would worsen ecological risks

Microsoft co-founder appears in closed-door session as part of lawmakers' investigation into convicted sex offenderBill Gates testified in front of the House committee on oversight and reform on Wednesday, and told lawmakers in his opening remarks that he never witnessed nor had any indication" that Jeffrey Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct".I am here to answer your questions about my interactions with Jeffrey Epstein and to help contribute to the committee's important work," Gates said in his opening statement, seen by the Guardian. I support the release of all the Epstein files and sincerely hope that, through your efforts and those of others advocating on their behalf, the survivors of Epstein's crimes can get the justice that they deserve." Continue reading...

The Fifa president's monologue before the 2022 World Cup attained legendary status for all the wrong reasons. He was in familiar form four years onGianni Infantino's speech on the eve of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is the stuff of legend. You know the one - the rambling, hour-long monologue where he told us all how he felt. He felt gay that day. He also felt disabled, Qatari, Arab, African and like a migrant worker. In doing so, the Fifa president engraved himself permanently into meme culture, and his remarks remain a popular source of online amusement to this day.On Wednesday, amid a gaggle of reporters and photographers, Infantino once again took to the stage. He sat in a tent in the shadow of the Estadio Azteca - it has been renamed Estadio Ciudad de Mexico for the World Cup - a place many see as the western hemisphere's cathedral of football. On Thursday, Mexico will host South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. Continue reading...

Federal prosecutors unsealed indictment against activists trying to force the school to cut financial ties to Israel

Misty Roberts, 44, who faced up to 17 years in prison, convicted of two felonies including statutory rapeMisty Roberts, a former mayor in Louisiana, has been sentenced to 90 days for raping a 16-year-old boy.On Tuesday, 44-year-old Roberts was sentenced following her conviction earlier this year of two felonies including carnal knowledge of a juvenile - or statutory rape - and indecent behavior with a juvenile. Continue reading...

Chemical tank overheated in May and forced evacuation of 50,000 nearby residents due to danger of explosionThe FBI is searching a southern California aerospace facility where an overheated chemical tank forced 50,000 residents to evacuate last month, after federal authorities served a search warrant there on Wednesday.Signed by a federal judge last week, the warrant approved the seizure of records related to the storage, use or disposal" of methyl methacrylate, the chemical stored inside the tank that authorities feared could explode. Continue reading...

The men's head coach discusses his American dream' at the World Cup and tempering the host nation's arrogant' expectationsThis American dream begins in small-town Murphy, Santa Fe. That's Santa Fe, Argentina, at a little club where the old folk played bochas, a kind of boules, and they had one of the few colour television sets. It was 1978, Mauricio Pochettino was six years old and he can see it perfectly, still feel the meaning of it all.I lived in a prefab with my grandmother and my older brother because my parents were off working the land, then at the weekend we would go to the club," he says. There were three courts and I remember standing there, hanging on to my dad's pocket, watching the World Cup. The ticker-tape at River [Plate], that image engraved. Passarella, Ardiles, Luque, Bertoni, Kempes, Fillol, Tarantini ... my heroes." Continue reading...

Lawmakers warn appointment of presidential loyalist will scuttle bipartisan agreement to renew Fisa surveillance lawDonald Trump stood firm on his decision to install controversial loyalist Bill Pulte as the country's top intelligence official, demanding Congress pass a short-term extension of a surveillance law set to expire amid intense criticism of the appointment.Pulte will has been asked to execute the immediate and needed downsizing" of the office of the director of national intelligence, the US president declared on Wednesday, after lining him up to serve as acting director on a temporary basis. Continue reading...

Rows over US visas and excessive ticket prices have overshadowed flawed tournament preparations. But fans will still hope for a gripping spectacleOne hundred and four matches involving 48 competing nations, to be played in 16 venues across a continent and four time zones: the sheer scale of the men's World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico, which begins on Thursday and ends on 19 July, makes it easily the biggest and longest football tournament ever staged.Whether it will ultimately be judged the greatest in sporting terms will depend on the 1,248 players competing in gruelling conditions, ranging from the heat of Houston to the high altitude of Guadalajara. Butafter a lead-up marred by hubristic hype, visa rows and the eye-watering cost of buying tickets for games, for many people it will be a relief when Mexicofinallykick off against South Africa in the Estadio Azteca on Thursday evening.Do 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...

Outcome of polls in four states offers mixed signals about direction of two major parties before November's midterms

Outbreak driven by falling vaccination and misinformation as federal public health cuts hamper state responseThe US has recorded more than 2,000 confirmed measles cases so far this year - near the total of 2,228 recorded in all of 2025, and on track to become the worst year for measles in decades as states struggle with the loss of federal funding for public health.The virus continues to spread in unvaccinated and under-vaccinated communities, including among babies too young to be vaccinated, and it reveals the depths of the twin crises of misinformation and public health in the US. Continue reading...

A cycle of threat, detente and deadlock repeats itself wearisomely as the president's war in Iran drags on

Graham Platner, a Marine veteran, oyster farmer and progressive activist, has won the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Maine. Platner won 72% of the vote, defeating the state governor, Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign in April but remained on the ballot. Platner received scrutiny during the campaign for old incendiary Reddit posts, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, sexually explicit messages sent to other women early in his marriage and accusations from a former girlfriend, denied by Platner, that he was physically intimidating. Platner will face the senator Susan Collins, a Republican running for a sixth six-year term, in November. The race is seen as a must-win for Democrats to take control of the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.

Australia, Turkey and Paraguay must be vigilant of a defender-heavy squad ready to bring Mauricio Pochettino's vision to life on the home stageThe opening salvo kicked off pitchside at Wembley - not between the Australian and USA World Cup teams, but between players turned pundits Mark Schwarzer and Mike Grella. The former Socceroos goalkeeper, with 109 caps on his CV, was on-hand for the EFL Championship promotion final and stationed alongside Grella, who had a fine career in MLS and the EFL but never cracked the USMNT. It's unlikely Schwarzer arrived with an axe to grind but he took umbrage with Grella's post-draw reaction that playing Australia was a lay-up" for the co-hosts.Host nations are always difficult to play against at any World Cup," Schwarzer said. We always knew the USA was going to be a tough, tough opponent. What we like to do is let our performances do the talking." Continue reading...

In an age of spiritual isolation, witches are forming covens that defy the oppressive natures of man and churchOn the floor of a sun-drenched room in a 200-year-old Irish estate, a group of 15 witches gather to commune with the spirits. Everyone has someone they want to talk to - dead ancestors, forest fairies, the witches who came before them - and the room has the same expectant charge as the first day of school. Some of the witches wear long black capes and bandannas. Some wear Columbia fleeces, spaghetti-strap tank tops and Adidas sneakers.Isabella Ferrari, known as Penny the Witch, guides the women as they make divination maps, sheets of paper covered with yeses" and nos" that work like Ouija boards: the witches ask their questions and the spirits guide the crystal pendulums in their hands towards the answer. One of the women, Tara Monte, screeches as her pendulum begins circling uncontrollably. Isabella, do I stop this? Someone really wants to talk to me." Later, she will confess she believes it was her archangel Michael letting her know yes, her parents were proud of her. Yes, they still loved her. Continue reading...

US inflation hits a three-year high in MayEuropean stock markets are taking a more decisive turn downwards now - the UK's FTSE 100 has fallen 0.5%. The German Dax is down 0.6% and the French Cac 40 is down 0.3%.The Europe Stoxx 600 is down 0.4%. Continue reading...

The president's immunity from continuing audits made fewer headlines than the anti-weaponization fund', but it's no less egregiousLast week, Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general, told Congress that he was abandoning plans to establish a $1.8bn fund to compensate Donald Trump's political allies. The administration's attempt to use taxpayer money to pay people who claimed to have been unfairly prosecuted by the government - possibly including those convicted of violence during the January 6 Capitol riot that Trump incited - was too much for Senate Republicans.But Blanche, who served as Trump's personal lawyer before joining his administration, made another announcement that got far less attention than scrapping Trump's anti-weaponization fund": the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be barred from continuing audits into the president, his family and their affiliates". In other words, Trump secured something most Americans can only dream of: immunity from IRS audits of his past tax returns. Continue reading...

We're thinking about the crisis facing pollinators all wrong. And we've come to a crucial momentLast winter, commercial beekeepers lost more than 60% of their colonies - their worst losses on record. We tend to blame bee losses on separate, singular threats: pests, pesticides, habitat loss or extreme weather. But we've been thinking about bee losses wrong.The real culprit is our industrial food system. Continue reading...

The Monaco striker's impact on the US attack will vary depending on how the team builds up, and where that buildup happens Free newsletter | Daily podcast | Download our appSome strikers are gregarious personalities who ensure attention even when they struggle. Folarin Balogun prefers to speak softly and maintain a healthy goalscoring record. The 24-year-old has still been making himself known to his country of birth - he was born in New York but raised in London - after committing to the US over England and Nigeria. This past season, he finished fourth in Ligue 1 scoring with 13 goals, priming him for an emergent World Cup on home soil.Balogun's recruitment was closely monitored by US fans, desperate for a dependable goalscorer. Continue reading...

EV maker aims to overtake Toyota, as it plans to spend 1.8bn to build five-minute flash chargers in Europe

As a lifelong Knicks fan, the Public Enemy frontman knows how much New York craves an end to its 53-year NBA title droughtI didn't see the Knicks win their second championship in 1973 because I had to go to bed.That night, the Knicks beat the LA Lakers, but clinching game was on the west coast and it was a school night. I couldn't watch it. I was 13 and in seventh grade. Back then things were different. Today, 13-year-olds stay up to 5am. But I had to go to bed.Chuck D was talking to Jacob Uitti. Continue reading...

US president blames Tehran for loss of Apache gunship, whose crew were rescued by a drone near strait of Hormuz

The Ukraine and Iran wars are very different, but a common authoritarian delusion unites the men who started themA strongman president, self-styled redeemer of national glory, is trapped in a conflict he can't win but doesn't know how to end without looking like a loser. A cult of infallibility prevents the leader admitting a strategic blunder even to himself. It could be Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin; Iran or Ukraine.The conflicts and the regimes involved are also dissimilar in important ways. Russia's campaign to eradicate a neighbouring democracy is nastier in conception and bloodier in execution than the bungled US effort to dislodge a dictatorship in Tehran. It has also gone on much longer. The first world war was shorter than a special military operation" that was supposed to capture Kyiv within weeks. The Soviet Red Army repelled Nazi invasion and marched on Berlin in less time than it has taken Putin's forces to occupy a tranche of eastern Ukraine, and they are not making any significant advances. The war has burned trillions of roubles and sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives for no discernible dividend in national greatness.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Exclusive: poll across 15 countries finds deep mistrust', with majority doubting US would come to their aid in an attackEuropean confidence in an American security guarantee" has hit a historic low, a survey suggests, with only one in 10 people across 15 countries seeing the US as an ally and majorities in all doubting it would come to their aid if they were attacked.The survey, published on Wednesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank before critical G7 and Nato summits in France and Turkey over the coming weeks, revealed deep European distrust in the US", the authors said. Continue reading...

Lieutenant governor and attorney general advance but result signals decisive defeat for controversial Nancy MaceDonald Trump-backed Pamela Evette, South Carolina's lieutenant governor, and Alan Wilson, the state's attorney general, have advanced to a runoff in a competitive race to represent the Republican party in South Carolina's gubernatorial election.The winner of the Republican primary is favored to win the closely watched general election, given South Carolina's conservative tilt, although Democrats are hoping to ride a wave of progressive enthusiasm to make political gains across the ticket. Continue reading...

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Experts worry Trump's administration - now stocked with loyalists and election deniers - may not stand up to attempts to sabotage upcoming elections - key US politics stories from Tuesday 9 June at a glanceDonald Trump is inventing fraud" in California's primary elections, and likely to ramp up unfounded allegations when more races go against him, pro-democracy experts have warned.Trump has repeatedly called the California results into question as ballot-counting continued in the country's most populous state. In the LA mayor's race, Trump said it was not possible" that the former reality TV star and registered Republican Spencer Pratt could have lost, despite the fact that LA is a deeply liberal city. Continue reading...

The ex-reality TV star, who lost his home in the Pacific Palisades fire, cast himself as the antidote to the city's woesSpencer Pratt, an ex-reality TV star, cast himself as the antidote to Los Angeles's woes as he campaigned to be the city's next mayor.He curried favor with swaths of disillusioned voters who related to his diatribes against city leadership. His fervent social media posts, including re-shares of AI-generated campaign ads showing LA in an apocalyptic light, garnered national attention. Continue reading...

Groff tells lawmakers I am not a conspirator' and that she had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes while working for himLesley Groff, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime executive assistant, testified Tuesday before the House oversight and reform committee, telling lawmakers that she had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes while working for him.I believe that my testimony will dispel the false notion that because of my employment with Epstein, I must have knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts," Groff told lawmakers in her prepared opening remarks, obtained by the Guardian. Nothing could be further from the truth." Continue reading...

The man in charge the last time the US hosted the World Cup marvels at the transformation of football in America over the last 32 yearsThe Super Bowl-style half-time show curated by Chris Martin for the World Cup final will not be to everybody's tastes, but one octogenarian American will have a wry smile on his face when Madonna and Shakira walk out on to the pitch at MetLife Stadium next month.In his role as chair and chief executive of the 1994 World Cup, Alan Rothenberg wanted Whitney Houston to perform on the pitch at the final at Pasadena's Rose Bowl, only to be overruled by Fifa, who insisted that the singer stay on the sidelines. Continue reading...

Southern Poverty Law Center releases report as US government pursues federal fraud charges against groupA new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) finds hard-right groups have increasingly expanded their influence across the US government, which is pursuing a federal fraud case into the civil rights organization.Tuesday's report - which identified 1,263 hate and anti-government groups in operation throughout 2025 - comes less than two months after it was indicted by the government it says the hard right has infiltrated. Continue reading...

Decarlos Brown Jr to stay in custody while receiving treatment for remainder of case over Iryna Zarutska's deathThe man accused of fatally stabbing Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte commuter train in August has been found incompetent to stand trial in federal court for now, the US attorney's office for the western district of North Carolina said on Tuesday.Decarlos Brown Jr, 35, is accused of killing Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte light rail train in a case that drew national attention after a surveillance camera video depicting the violent attack was released. Continue reading...