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A century ago, compounding pharmacies helped people get bespoke drugs. Now under RFK Jr, these less-regulated businesses are fueling the peptide boomRobert F Kennedy Jr is sitting stiffly in Joe Rogan's podcast studio, inside the influencer's enormous Texas mansion. Atypically for Rogan's guests, Kennedy still cloaks himself in the trappings of authority; in a blue suit and pink novelty tie featuring kayakers paddling upstream, he is a stark contrast from Rogan, who sports a biceps-hugging T-shirt depicting a cowboy and an outline of Texas, from the regenerative wellness" brand Ways2Well.This was in February, when Kennedy, amid his nationwide Take Back Your Health tour, was pushing his new red-meat-heavy food pyramid on to Americans. For an hour and a half, the two chatted casually about everything from soda pop to medical scams that supposedly fund Boko Haram. Continue reading...

The conservative columnist Ross Douthat is the network's latest perplexing hire - but the move is in line with the new leadershipIn media circles, this week's hire of a prominent New York Times columnist as a correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes was greeted with disbelief.The collective response went something like this: What?!" Continue reading...

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as three members of monetary policy committee vote to raise ratesThat German GDP reading has indeed contributed to the wider eurozone hitting expectations - and then some.The eurozone economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the preliminary reading from Eurostat - defying the gloom caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. Continue reading...

Democrat Kaohly Her, Minnesota's city's first female mayor, allegedly sent inappropriate messages to employeesThe first female mayor of St Paul, Kaohly Her, is reportedly under investigation for sexual harassment following a complaint filed by the Minnesota city's police chief.City leaders have contracted an outside law firm to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations that Her, a Democrat who was elected in November, sent inappropriate messages to employees, including several members of the police department, the New York Times and NBC News said. Continue reading...

Consumer spending remained resilient even as policymakers kept interest rates on holdThe US economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth. But consumer spending rose. And the Federal Reserve's favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month, but remained above the central bank's 2% target.The commerce department reported on Thursday that growth in US gross domestic product (GDP) - the nation's output of goods and services - decelerated from 2.1% in the first three months of 2026 and came in below economists' expectations. Continue reading...

Gianni Infantino's plan for a Fifa subsidiary is odious - but it's hard to feel surprisedJust when you thought global soccer couldn't get more odiously capitalistic, Gianni Infantino said: Hold my beer" (as long as that beer you're holding is a Michelob Ultra, one of the official sponsors of the 2026 World Cup).The World Cup, one of the largest and most prestigious sporting competitions on the planet, is for sale. Infantino, the president of the soccer governing body Fifa, is the architect of a plan to sell up to 20% of a new subsidiary that would administer tournaments such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. The subsidiary, which would oversee Fifa's commercial activities, would be called Fifa Forward Enterprises". If I see the word forward" in a corporate initiative, I assume it's either a diversity program that'll get dropped after a couple years, a training video on how to exit a building during an emergency evacuation, or a blatant cash grab. Take a guess which one I think this is. Continue reading...

Spoilt food smelling like dead body' plagues residents after weeklong fire, yet company asks permission to rebuildOne month after a huge fire ravaged a Los Angeles warehouse and doomed neighbors to a persistent, thick stench of rotting food, the facility's owners have filed applications to rebuild.That request to restore the warehouse - which residents called a ticking bomb" after a similar fire at the building in 2024 - was publicly criticized by the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, in a post on social media earlier this week. Continue reading...

Federal Reserve votes to hold its key interest rate steady, sending stocks tumbling. Plus: the origins of Coca-Cola may have been foundGood morning. US government borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 2007 after the Federal Reserve voted to hold its key interest rate steady, feeding fears it may not move fast enough to tame a rise in inflation. Kevin Warsh, the central bank's chair, said the Fed would not waver" in its commitment to tackling rising prices.The decision to leave rates on hold has spooked investors, who are worried about the US economy's ability to absorb a rise inflation, triggered by Donald Trump's war in Iran. US inflation cooled to an annual rate of 3.5% in June after Washington and Tehran agreed a brief ceasefire - but this has since ended. US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, with the blue chip S&P 500 index closing down 1.5%. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 1.7%. Continue reading...

Tensions in the national party are trickling down to US college campuses, where a newer student group is rapidly outflanking longstanding moderate rivalsWhen the Utah county clerk's office announced last month that it was hiring Kai Schwemmer - an undergraduate at Brigham Young University and a rightwing influencer - to help reach younger voters, an uproar ensued.An energetic and fast-talking 23-year-old, Schwemmer is a rising star of campus organizing at the College Republicans of America (CRA). He is also a prolific livestreamer with a record of provocation - which returned to haunt him when more than 80 prominent women in Utah signed a letter protesting against his hiring. Continue reading...

Americans are facing a deepening affordability crisis but at least Trump and co have ... 250 new Cadillac Escalades

Black voters in south motivated to turn out by Republican push to redraw maps after supreme court rulingA new analysis of Black voters in the south indicates that Republican attempts to dilute their political power is driving them to the polls in larger numbers and shifting their counties further left.After the supreme court effectively gutted section 2 of the Voting Rights Act protections in late April, Republican legislatures across the south rapidly pushed to disenfranchise Black voters by redrawing congressional maps. Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama all immediately worked to pass new maps, while the Mississippi governor has said that he wants legislators to redraw maps before the upcoming midterm elections. Continue reading...

To understand the experience of life, don't look to the mind. Look to the bodyIn a 1982 article, the American feminist scholar Elizabeth Spelman coined the term somatophobia" to describe the strange human delusion that we are minds rather than bodies.Forty years later, artificial intelligence is everywhere, offering the most powerful illusion yet that intelligence can exist without flesh. Two-thirds of people surveyed in a recent study believe that tools like ChatGPT possess some consciousness and feeling. We are living in the age of somatophobia. Now is the moment to resist it. Continue reading...

Bank's chair pledges to keep up fight against inflation but decision brings fears of a failure to keep pace

Losing funds should force leaders to confront their own challenges, they said, while many voiced concerns over increasing foreign influenceA quarter of young Africans believe aid cuts by the US could have a positive impact, saying that losing foreign money will force leaders to confront and solve their own challenges, according to a new survey.In Ghana and Nigeria, almost half (41% and 40% respectively) of young people aged 18 to 24 were optimistic, with Liberia not far behind (37%). A further one in 10 (11%) young people were uncertain about the impact, according to the African Youth Survey, which interviewed almost 5,000 people across 16 of the continent's 54 recognised countries. Continue reading...

US former top health official, who was subpoenaed to appear at a Senate hearing into Covid-19, says Markson's reporting about virus's origin does not make any sense'

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Republican John Cornyn says he will not back nomination without written confirmation $1.8bn slush fund is deadTodd Blanche's hopes of becoming US attorney general seemed to be in jeopardy on Wednesday after the Department of Justice did not provide written assurances to a key Republican senator that a $1.8bn slush fund was dead.The US Senate judiciary committee postponed a vote scheduled for Thursday on whether to advance Blanche's nomination. Continue reading...

Police link shooting to gang violence but have not said who might have fired bullets that killed bystanders on SundayBullets that fatally struck two bystanders during a shootout at a Seattle food festival last weekend do not appear to have come from the gun that a 15-year-old arrested at the scene was firing, police said in court documents filed on Wednesday.The teen sprayed an untraceable ghost gun" into a crowd, authorities say. Preliminary ballistics testing did not match the bullets recovered from the deceased bystanders to that weapon. Continue reading...

Longtime Epstein associate serving 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking crimes has exhausted series of appealsThe US Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution declaring its opposition to any presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes.Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat of Nevada, the resolution states that Maxwell should not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors". Continue reading...

Rates remain unchanged for fifth time since December as tenuous Iran peace deal pushes energy prices up againThe US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday in a divided vote, indicating growing pressure on the central bank to address heightened inflation.The Fed's federal open market committee voted 9-3 to maintain rates, with three dissenting members indicating a preference to raise the rate by a quarter-percentage point. It was the first time in a decade that three board members shared dissent over a policy decision. Continue reading...

Planned overhaul forms part of president's broader pattern of directing changes in Washington after arch and ballroomDonald Trump announced on Wednesday a $22bn plan to rebuild Washington's Dulles international airport on Wednesday after the US president personally weighed in on the design of the capital's main international gateway.In the end, you can end up with - I think - maybe the best airport, and one of the biggest airports, anywhere in the world, and it's going to be a great thing for Washington DC," the president said during an announcement at the Oval Office on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Six years on from Covid crisis, Republicans still politicizing science - and Fauci remains a political punching bagA US Senate committee hearing featuring Dr Anthony Fauci revealed at least one certainty: six years after the pandemic, politicizing science remains a vital political tactic.The high-profile hearing was pitched by its Republican chair, Rand Paul of Kentucky, as an investigation into the origins of the Covid pandemic. It quickly became a forum for recrimination of a once-leading US government scientist by Republican senators. Continue reading...

Report on Interlochen Center for the Arts details sexual allegations against 47 faculty and staff members since 1950sTwo people who attended a prestigious Michigan fine arts school reported conduct of a sexual nature by Jeffrey Epstein, a major donor, according to an investigation that also uncovered dozens of allegations spanning decades against nearly 50 other people.Interlochen Center for the Arts operates a summer camp and performing arts school that draws students from around the world. It hired a law firm in 2024 to investigate reports of sexual abuse by faculty and staff. Subsequently, it expanded the work to include information about Epstein, the 66-year-old financier who killed himself in jail in 2019. Continue reading...

Adviser to Trump and Biden for pandemic says Republican senator has unhinged obsession' with him

Fifa's president hopes to sell stakes in the planet's most watched sporting event. In the wider interests of football, he must be resistedLike a sporting Dr Pangloss, Fifa's president, GianniInfantino, would like to persuade football followers that they are living in the best of all possible worlds. Maddeningly for him, many disagree. On Monday, Mr Infantino published a 15-page Instagram rant in which he bemoaned the hate and false rumours" in circulation during the recent men's World Cup. White House interference over a crucial refereeing decision, prohibitive ticket prices, unnecessary but lucrative hydration breaks; it was all, as his best friend in politics, Donald Trump, would say, fake news".But where the president of world football's governing body sees haters, others see lovers of the game rightly concerned over where he is taking it. On Tuesday, Fifa confirmed that it hopes to sell stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors who may include Joshua Kushner, the brother of MrTrump's son-in-law Jared. The investors would buy into a new $20bn company, Fifa Forward Enterprise, which would sell all of Fifa's commercial rights, including ticketing, and take charge of operational delivery" of World Cups.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...

Lawyers for Massachusetts mother say she was in throes of postpartum psychosis amid January 2023 tragedyMore than three years after a Massachusetts mother strangled her three young children, her former husband described returning home to the aftermath and a jury listened on Wednesday to his frantic 911 call, as her lawyers seek to prove she was in the grip of post-pregnancy psychosis.Lindsay Clancy, 35, admits she killed her children in January 2023 while her then husband was on an errand away from their home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury. Her attorney says she was driven by postpartum mental illness and a jury cannot find she intentionally murdered the children. Continue reading...

James Comey's lawyers say Secret Service illegally tracked him to develop case around his 8647' seashell postLawyers for former FBI director James Comey alleged on Tuesday that US Secret Service agents illegally surveilled Comey, Donald Trump requested regular updates into the investigation, and law enforcement turned to ChatGPT and a known mafia killer as they scrambled to find justification for criminally charging Comey for posting a picture of seashells that spelled out 8647".The claims were laid out in a motion to dismiss a criminal case the US Department of Justice filed against Comey in April, in which it said the post by Comey - whom Trump fired in his first term - was a threat on the US president's life. Continue reading...

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has announced plans to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors in a new commercial entity worth $20bn. One of the leading would-be investors is Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared.The plans have prompted an immediate backlash - with Uefa accusing Fifa of trying to sell football's soul'. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian reporter Paul MacInnes - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Nelly Korda may be a safer bet, but home fans would be thrilled to see Hull triumphNelly Korda is the likeliest winner of the Women's Open, but there is no question who would be the most popular. Charley Hull's brushes with major glory - she has five runner-up finishes - have only intensified a widespread desire for the 30-year-old to break through the tape. Royal Lytham & St Annes provides the latest opportunity for the flamboyant Englishwoman .Korda arrived in Lancashire with half her four major triumphs having come in 2026. Perhaps the Floridian can afford to be generous and she has endorsed Hull's prospects. She's such a great personality," she said. It would be great for her to do it on home soil, too. She's an amazing player. I enjoy playing with her. It would be great for thegame." Continue reading...

HBCUs offer more than higher education - they provide a safe haven for Black students and an investment in their wellbeingI know exactly the soaring anticipation that Howard University's roughly 2,500 incoming first-year students have been feeling since the first notice of their acceptance letters. There were high school graduation parties decorated in the school's indigo, red and white colors. Parents beaming to their neighbors about upcoming send-offs to the country's most recognizable historically Black college or university (HBCU). Located in Washington DC, Howard is nicknamed The Mecca" by its devoted alumni because it boasts a who's-who of graduates who pioneered every era of Black history since the school's 1867 founding.I know the inextinguishable excitement these recently admitted students are feeling because when I arrived wide-eyed at Spelman College in the heart of Atlanta's HBCU epicenter, I was enveloped in instant amity, greeted with overdue affirmation and welcomed into an institution designed to nurture the promise of the young, gifted and Black. Inside the verdant urban oasis of my little Black college, I felt airlifted from countless racist indignities I endured prior. An immediate awareness dawned on me that this was how white people must feel about America, in that they never have to question if all of this was made for them. Continue reading...

Lightning kills a New Jersey man as rescues, power outages and travel disruption hit regionBands of deadly, extreme weather including torrential rain and high winds sparked flash flooding and tornado warnings in several north-eastern US states on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people and playing havoc with travel.A 32-year-old man was killed on Tuesday afternoon in a lightning strike in Monroe township, New Jersey, authorities said. Continue reading...

US employers and Haitian immigrants live in constant uncertainty as status of work permits remains in limboFor more than a month, Bobby Kuchinsky arrived at his Florida restaurant each morning worried about whether he still had enough staff or if this might be the last shift for some of his Haitian workers, who have spent more than a decade as cooks, busboys and oyster shuckers.On Tuesday, he suspended six of them after they lost authorization to work in the US. Continue reading...

Francesca Hong, a candidate for Wisconsin governor, is part of a wave of democratic socialists finding traction with an old ideaIn a matter of weeks, Francesca Hong, an unlikely candidate for governor in one of the country's most heated battleground states, will test a message that is at once radical and, to many, incredibly practical: the government should help pay for childcare.When we talk about free childcare, you can connect to folks whether it's on an economic argument or just purely that it's the right thing to do for our kids," said Hong, a democratic socialist running in Wisconsin's Democratic primary on 11 August. I always like to remind folks: if we don't take care of our kids, who's going to take care of us?" Continue reading...

A delicacy for centuries and a key part of Native tradition, the lake whitefish has seen its population crash. Researchers know why ... but stopping it is another matterFrom the basement of the Sandusky library, page 29 of the book Sandusky of To-Day proclaims the town to be the largest fresh water fish market in the world". Two pages later, an image of the lake whitefish, referred to as Sandusky's pride", takes up the entire page.But the book was published in 1888. Continue reading...

The White House fails to understand that Mark Carney and Canada's regional leaders can't cave in to the US president: it's too toxic to voters Matt Gurney is a journalist based in TorontoThough many hate to admit it, Canadians have long wished for more attention from the US. Well, we're getting it now. And it turns out that President Trump and some of his top supporters in the Maga movement don't much like us.The first big hint was when he started talking about annexing us, saying we couldn't survive without American support. But the most recent example of Trump's dislike for Canada can be seen in his latest tariff policies. Canada was largely spared the impact of his Liberation Day" tariffs in April 2025 by its pre-existing free trade deal with the US (and Mexico), but earlier this month, as expected, the US declined to extend that deal for another 16-year term. It's now subject to annual renegotiations. Then, last week, the White House announced tariffs as high as 50% on a selection of Canadian products including, for the first time, items previously protected by the trade agreement. The US called it retaliation for Canadian trade practices.Matt Gurney is a journalist based in Toronto, and co-editor of The Line, an online magazine Continue reading...

J Street's liberal Zionist politics are landing with the Democratic establishment but the electorate may have moved onWhen Daniel Biss addressed his supporters after clinching the Democratic nomination in Illinois's ninth congressional district this past March, he did something politicians rarely do: he paid homage to a lobby group.This victory belongs to J Street," Biss declared. Continue reading...

Districts are reducing routes and exploring new ways to get students to class as transportation costs climbEducation officials across the United States are increasingly facing a fundamental challenge: how do they ensure that school students can actually get to their classrooms?The bright yellow school bus might be a visual icon of US education famous around the world, but in reality it is becoming harder for districts to steer. Continue reading...

US military says it intercepted all Iranian missiles, as fighting threatens to resume. Plus, how Armenians seek to breathe more easily by heading underground

The task now is to stop mourning the old order and build the foundations of the new multipolar worldAmerica is in decline. And so is Pax America: the American-led world order. While there are many genuine dangers of American decline, there has never been a better chance to say clearly how much the unipolar order always left to be desired, and to imagine a multipolar world that might secure peace better than the old order ever did.Idealizing the American peace since 1945 and its rules-based international order" - a phrase that came into common use only decades later, but never mind - is a misguided response to our current situation. Continue reading...

Is it normal for a sitting senator to have to routinely submit proofs of life to a public who suspect he might be braindead? Just asking for 340 million friendsIs it normal for a sitting senator to have to routinely submit proofs of life to a public who suspect he might be braindead? Just asking for 340 million friends in the US. Mitch McConnell was hospitalized for a medical event on 14 June and we are now in week six of What on Earth is Going On With Mitch? a mystery that has riveted the nation.According to McConnell's team there isn't actually a mystery at all. The 84-year-old is doing great, they want us to know. So great that they have now released two photos to prove it. Continue reading...

Despite resounding 86-to-12 vote, Democratic aide warns bill gives president unchecked discretion to waive sanctions and impose tariffs. This blog is now closed.

US president makes positive posts as Ukraine seeks more firepower and Israeli PM seeks to repair relationshipDonald Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as Ukraine seeks more firepower for its air defenses and the Israeli prime minister tries to repair his strained relationship with the US president.Trump described both meetings in positive terms on social media Tuesday evening, remaining vague about what was discussed. Continue reading...

Agents accused in lawsuit of using anti-immigrant slurs and denigrating undocumented MexicansICE agents deployed last summer to the Los Angeles area referred to the subjects of their immigration operations with racial slurs, according to newly released court documents.On 4 July 2025, an unidentified agent wrote in a text chain, btw tonks everywhere selling food for the 4th festivities in long beach right now", invoking an anti-immigrant slur, which the US border patrol has previously warned against. Continue reading...

Official declines to say whether Gabriel Perez, who allegedly bet on prediction market Kalshi, resigned or was firedA White House teleprompter operator who reportedly used inside knowledge to make bets about Donald Trump's speeches on the online prediction market Kalshi is no longer in his post, according to a White House official.The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the personnel matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that Gabriel Perez no longer works in the federal government". Continue reading...

At confirmation hearing, Clayton sidestepped questions about 2020 election and declined to say Trump lost