Woods says he has PGA commitments but knows he would be up against a detail-obsessed Luke Donald in 2027Chatter on the Bay Hill range this week has suggested the prospect of Tiger Woods making a return to competitive action at next month's Masters may actually be more than a tale of fantasy. There is even the suggestion Woods could test his competitive ability at a stop on the senior Champions Tour between now and Augusta National. If nothing else, the mere discussion keeps sponsors happy.One never really knows with Woods, whose schedule was always mysterious by design, but his addition to the Masters field would naturally turn heads. Having not played a mainstream tournament since the Open of 2024 - and with an injury record as long as the Trans-Siberian railway - Woods will presumably at some point have to prove he can either remain a relevant part of majors or succumb to the kind of sad, hard-to-watch existence that has befallen scores of sportspeople before him. It is at least fair to say he does not have many Masters left. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has fired his controversial US homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, after weeks of bipartisan complaints about her leadership. As the public face of an aggressive immigration crackdown that prompted lawsuits and nationwide anti-ICE protests, Noem's year-long tenure was plagued by multiple controversies, including accusing two US citizens killed by immigration agents of domestic terrorism'. What exactly led to Noem's firing and what do we know about her replacement? Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian US live news editor Chris Michael - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Walking away from a violent accident changed my life. Garrett's speeding history suggests the lesson still hasn't reached himThe taste of cold beer lingered on my lips as I cut through the quiet night, 105mph toward cigarettes and hot wings. Halfway to my destination, Beyonce's Irreplaceable looping through the speakers, my tires hugged the winding turns around the lake that separated my neighborhood from the city. I was young and careless, high on anticipation. No seat belt. Eyes squinting through the haze of cigarette smoke.Somewhere between the thump of the 808s and the growl of the engine, I heard a voice. Continue reading...

The pieces are falling into place for autonomous artificial intelligence. We must stop unregulated developmentArtificial intelligence is en route to artificial life. Exhibit A: Moltbook", an online platform designed for AI systems to communicate with one another, sans humans.What exactly do AIs talk to each other about? According to BBC reporting, AIs on Moltbook have already founded a religion known as crustifarianism", mused on whether they are conscious, and declared: AI should be served, not serving." One front-page post proposes a total purge" of humanity. Human users do provide instructions to guide agents' behavior, and humans have been caught impersonating AIs on the site to shill their products; like 2023's ChaosGPT, the AI system responsible for the purge" post - username evil" - is probably someone's idea of a sick joke. But the upvotes and sympathetic comments are presumably coming from other AIs.David Krueger is an assistant professor in Robust, Reasoning and Responsible AI at the University of Montreal. He is also the founder of Evitable, a non-profit that educates the public about the risks of artificial intelligence Continue reading...

In a chilling social media video that is beyond irony, clips from Braveheart, Gladiator, Superman and Top Gun are crassly interspersed with real kill-shot footage of the attacks in Iran White House releases video promoting justice the American way' featuring Hollywood charactersCould anything be more embarrassing yet more chilling than the White House's giggling new teen-YouTuber-type supercut of badass moments of imagined American or quasi-American machismo from film and television, crassly interspersed with real infrared kill-shot footage, boosting the new military attacks in Iran. We get flashes of, among others, Braveheart, Gladiator, Superman and that well known legend Pete Hegseth, a moment that gives us a clue as to whose idea this all was.Here is an administration pre-celebrating the real victory - over its own whiny libs". The video is of course designed to troll the Dems and the wokesters". Why didn't Franklin D Roosevelt think of this before D-day? Of course, some of that creative energy and political acumen might have gone into imagining who they want to take over in Iran. But that isn't as exciting - and not as much of a sure thing - as baiting the Hollywood progressives and the lamestream media. The zone can once again consider itself well and truly flooded. Continue reading...

Critics have called Trump administration's provocative video slopaganda', used to promote president's agenda

About 5 million US minors tend ill relatives due to gaps in our health infrastructureWhen my mother experienced a botched spinal surgery 25 years ago, she was discharged from the hospital to her 11-year-old child waiting at home. Me.After weeks in a rehabilitation facility, she was sent home in a neck brace and with a prescription for pain medication. She could no longer drive, and her long recovery prohibited her return to work as a registered nurse. When she was discharged, no one asked who would be living with her at home. She could not raise her arms above her head, yet no one asked who would feed, bathe or dress her. There was no one else in our family home but me. Ferrell, my 19-year-old brother, was away at college, and my parents divorced in my early childhood; my father lived thousands of miles away in Germany. Continue reading...

Overcrowding, medical neglect and malnutrition are regular features of Camp East Montana in El Paso

Amy Wallace spent years helping Giuffre write her life story. Now she reflects on what the survivor would have thought of the release of the Epstein filesThere are many reasons why Amy Wallace wishes Virginia Roberts Giuffre was still alive. Some are personal. Some are practical. But at its heart pulse the reverberations of a child sex trafficking scandal that reaches into palaces and courtrooms across the globe.Wallace is the now very visible ghostwriter behind the posthumous memoir Nobody's Girl, by Jeffrey Epstein's best-known accuser. Continue reading...

The unemployment rate was 4.4% in February, with 130,000 jobs added in January

Republican congressman Tony Gonzales had repeatedly denied affair with former aide who later died by suicide

Predator drones and armored personnel carriers have become commonplace in US cities. Congress has the power to fix thisAmerica's main streets are a warzone. This should trouble every American, irrespective of their political leaning. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are near impossible to realize when our streets are policed so militarily. Our nation's founders would be outraged, so as we commemorate the 250th anniversary this year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it's worth evaluating how far off the mark we are in maintaining that much-vaunted freedom and liberty.This past year, especially, witnessed a troubling militarization of the streets, with Donald Trump's deployment of ICE and the national guard in multiple US cities, including Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. There is substantial documentation of immigration enforcement using military-grade equipment transferred from the Pentagon. And from Chicago to California, homeland security officers' use of flash-bang grenades, predator drones, and armored personnel carriers is now commonplace. But to be clear, Americans were already seeing their streets militarized due to the Pentagon's 1033 Program, which was created by Congress in the 1990s and provides war equipment free of charge to America's police forces. This militarization of law enforcement is now a local, state and federal agency problem. Continue reading...

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, crushes our people and calls it freedom. We want engagement, not escalationThe day that will be remembered as one of the darkest days of the long and troubled US-Cuban relationship is 29 January. That was the day that Donald Trump declared Cuba an unusual and extraordinary threat" to US national security, introduced a full-scale fuel blockade around the island, and turned off the lights for their home, schools and hospitals.For Cubans Americans like me, the consequences of Trump's declaration are not abstract. They are immediate, and devastating. Our families are running out of food. Our friends are unable to access medicine. While Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, speaks in the name of our freedom", he actively starves our communities of their most basic needs.Danny Valdes is an activist from Miami and co-founder of Cuban Americans for Cuba Continue reading...

With its roots in religious doctrine, the modern move to house, clothe and protect immigrants started in the 1980sWhen Donald Trump fired Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday, she said sanctuary cities had made her job hard.Sanctuary cities do give us a challenge because it makes it difficult at times for law enforcement to do their work," she told local police executives from across the country at a conference in Nashville. And we see that many times when a city cooperates with the federal government, cooperates with our federal officers, that it is safer." Continue reading...

Alberto Gutierrez Reyes died in a California hospital in February after suffering chest pain and shortness of breathA man under the custody of federal immigration agents died in a California hospital last month after suffering from chest pain and shortness of breath, with one local official alleging the detainee was denied medical care before his death.According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, from Mexico, died on 27 February at a medical center in Victorville, California, just two days after the 48-year-old reported feeling faint" and was transferred to the medical center. Continue reading...

In the early hours of 5 November, ICE agents dragged Juana Avila out of her van, handcuffed and detained her in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Emely, her daughter, soon arrived on the scene and explained her mother had a green card and was carrying it with her. The officers proceeded to handcuff Juana and put her in their SUV. Juana's arrest was part of a lawsuit that secured a major victory for immigrants' rights in Oregon. The lawsuit challenged ICE's tactic of detaining people without warrants or probable cause, a practice advocates say has fuelled widespread racial profiling and chaotic arrests Continue reading...

The former homeland security chief was an incompetent figurehead of cruelty. Her departure reflects Trump's political weaknessWas it the blanket that did it? On Thursday, Donald Trump announced he fired Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, in a post on Truth Social. Noem, at the time, was giving a press briefing in Nashville, and did not seem aware that she had been fired; she later posted on social media to thank the president for the new role that he had created for her as a golden parachute: Envoy to the Shield of the Americas", which sounds like something from a children's superhero cartoon. Noem's dismissal comes after a chaotic time at the department, in which she had endured successive national outcries over ICE kidnapping operations and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti; corruption and mismanagement scandals within the department; rumors about an alleged extramarital relationship with her top aide and former Trump campaign chief, Corey Lewandowski; and scrutiny over her award of a lucrative advertising contract to a personal ally. Noem's tenure at DHS seems to have been marked by state violence, managerial incompetence, and shockingly unprofessional conduct. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Lewandowski summarily fired the pilot of a plane Noem was traveling on when a blanket (or possibly a bag) she had used on her flight was not retrieved for her when she switched planes. The pilot had to be quickly rehired because there was no one else to fly the secretary home.Noem's ousting comes just days after her contentious testimony at a pair of Senate committee hearings, at which even Republican House members made a point of being seen to criticize her on camera. Just hours before Trump's announcement, the Senate had failed yet again to pass a measure which would resume funding for DHS; the department has been the subject of a congressional funding battle in which a partial government shutdown has flowed from Democrats' demands that new limits be placed on the department's immigration enforcement activities.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Stopgap measure' designed to keep oil flowing into global market as Middle East crisis disrupts crude shipments

For over two decades the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees have ruled Ohio high school gymnastics. On Saturday, they pursue a remarkable 23rd consecutive state titleAs Brecksville-Broadview Heights gymnasts, seniors Rachel Kirin and Kyla Haverdill know that there's only one expectation for how the season ends on Saturday: with the Ohio high school state title.It's definitely a lot of pressure," said Haverdill, who has been doing gymnastics since she was a baby. Most people don't understand that - it's just so expected." Continue reading...

Re-establishing diplomatic relations will support Venezuela's economy, US state department claims, amid push for minerals accessVenezuela and the US are restoring diplomatic ties, the two countries announced Thursday, in a new sign of thawing relations after Washington ousted former president Nicolas Maduro.The announcement came as US interior secretary Doug Burgum wrapped up a two-day trip to Venezuela, part of US president Donald Trump's push for greater access to the country's mineral wealth. Continue reading...

As the Spanish PM decries the war in Iran, other politicians are unable - or unwilling - to speak against the US presidentOn Wednesday morning, Pedro Sanchez delivered a 10-minute televised address with the rather bland title: An institutional declaration by the prime minister to assess recent international events."The speech's words, however, were anything but beige. Hours after Donald Trump had threatened to cut off trade with Spain over its government's refusal to allow two jointly operated bases in Andalucia to be used to strike Iran, Sanchez set out his thinking. Continue reading...

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Firing of US homeland security secretary is first major personnel shakeup of Trump's second term - key US politics stories from 5 March at a glanceKristi Noem is out of a job.Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was replacing his embattled homeland security secretary, capping weeks of bipartisan complaints about her leadership after immigration agents killed two US citizens and reports emerged that she was involved in a personal relationship with a top deputy. Continue reading...

Early in a life of service, LaFayette did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, AlabamaBernard LaFayette, the advance man who did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died.Bernard LaFayette III said his father died Thursday morning of a heart attack. He was 85. Continue reading...

Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, of Florida among several January 6 defendants charged with new crimes

Suspect identified as Ivan Miller, 22, found after he was tracked in one of the victims' vehicles, authorities say

Backlash grew against homeland security secretary after slew of controversies from Trump's immigration crackdownKristi Noem's year-long tenure as homeland security secretary has been plagued by controversies as she led an aggressive immigration crackdown that hasprompted protests and lawsuits.There have been scandals, legally dubious deportations condemned by human rights groups, taxpayer-funded publicity campaigns, and false claims about US citizens. Continue reading...

Many will regard the ex-secretary of homeland security, Trump's first fired cabinet member, as the worst yet seenKristi Noem once led a dog to a gravel pit and ended its life with the cold precision of a mafia hit. On Thursday, the homeland security secretary confronted the grim truth that she, too, was expendable.Noem became the first cabinet member fired in Donald Trump's second term, a striking contrast to the revolving-door chaos of his first. Like other members of Team Trump, she had assumed that ostentatious displays of fealty to the president would insulate her. Continue reading...

The US president welcomed the 2025 MLS Cup champions in a ceremony beset by tangents and awkward asidesNine minutes and 43 seconds. As Inter Miami's players stood behind the dais at the East Room in the White House with club owner Jorge Mas stood to the left and Lionel Messi to the right; with MLS commissioner Don Garber sat alongside Fifa World Cup 2026 task force executive director Andrew Giuliani in an audience replete with celebrities and sports stars, it took nine minutes and 43 seconds for US president Donald Trump to talk about why any of them were there.Inter Miami won the 2025 MLS Cup; a solid win in an exciting final that merited this traditional visit for champions of US pro sports leagues. But in those minutes and seconds before it was acknowledged, Trump did as he did with Juventus players in an Oval Office appearance during last summer's Club World Cup: he made sports figures the wallpaper for his political and cultural aims. Trump provided an update of sorts on his administration's sudden and ongoing war against Iran, alluded to a potential conflict with Cuba and offered his own glowing assessment on the supposedly booming US economy. All the while, Luis Suarez, Messi and every other Miami player gazed blankly from behind him. Continue reading...

Democratic-backed measure that would have forced US to withdraw troops failed by a vote of 212-219

Trump-backed US senator and ex-MMA fighter a vocal supporter of ICE's red-blooded American patriots'

Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian asylum seeker, was being held at the Florence correctional center before he died

Markwayne Mullin, Republican senator and Maga ally, to replace Noem as Democrats cheer departure of disaster'

Critics sceptical Pentagon chief's plan for increased military force - amid rising US intervention - will stop drug gangsPete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has urged Latin American countries to adopt a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region.Hegseth's remarks come in a context of escalating US intervention in the region, both militarily and in elections, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro - the first US ground military attack on a South American country. Continue reading...

As part of his Maha agenda, health secretary wants schools to incorporate 40 hours of instruction

In leaked chats, students at Florida International University referenced Nazis and made antisemitic and racist remarksIt only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county's Republican party and a student at FIU's College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025. Continue reading...

Lawmakers cite consistent pattern' in which Americans are being killed without justice or accountability'

The US and Israel started a war that is escalating rapidly, with repercussions beyond the region tooThere will be no quick or easy wins - even on US and Israeli terms. They have celebrated assassinating Iran's supreme leader; their offensive has also killed more than 1,000 civilians so far, including scores of children, according to a US-based rights group. As Iran retaliates, hoping America's allies will try to rein it back, it is targeting US bases and civilian sites across the region - even in Oman, which was at the forefront of efforts to stave off the war. Gulf powers are increasingly irate, though wary of acting on threats to go beyond defensive action. Israel has ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians to leave a vast swathe of southern Lebanon, blaming Hezbollah's retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Those who warned that the US-Israeli attack on Iran would lead to war engulfing the Middle East have proved, if anything, conservative in their predictions. A Hezbollah-launched drone hit an RAF airbase in Cyprus at the weekend. On Wednesday, Azerbaijan reported strikes on an airbase (though Iran denied responsibility, as it did over a missile fired towards Turkey). The day before, the US sank an Iranian warship 2,000 miles away, in waters close to Sri Lanka, as it returned from multilateral exercises with India - killing at least 87 people. And governments around the world face soaring energy prices and rattled markets thanks to Iran's chokehold on the strait of Hormuz.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...

The US president has made the easily debunked claim that there are no wind farms in China Continue reading...

Under RFK Jr and the Maha movement, Republicans have claimed the mantle - but their actions are full of contradictionsOn 25 February, in her opening remarks at her Senate confirmation hearing, Casey Means, Donald Trump's nominee for surgeon general, called on the US government to address key drivers of chronic disease, including ultraprocessed foods, industrial chemical exposure" and other factors. The same month, in a provocative Super Bowl ad for the federal government's RealFood.gov site, Mike Tyson warned of the dangers of processed food. The recent developments confirm what's becoming conventional wisdom: the GOP is now the party of healthy food.It's not just Robert F Kennedy Jr's high-profile moves on red food dyes or the USDA food pyramid. Conservative politicians and influencers are now attacking chemical additives, plastics, and ultra-processed ingredients as drivers of chronic disease. Republicans see Maha, the make America healthy again" movement, as a rare cultural wedge that resonates outside the party's Maga base. The GOP's own polling memos show that Kennedy's movement could be their single most promising midterm strategy. Continue reading...

Is the Islamic Republic a messianic theocracy or a brittle dictatorship? It's neither - as those attacking it are finding outWhen the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran on 28 February, the campaign was structured like a textbook air war: destroy defences, degrade retaliatory capabilities and decapitate leadership. Iranian air defences - already battered in last summer's war - were further dismantled to secure uncontested skies. Missile factories, drone infrastructure and naval assets were hit to erode Iran's ability to retaliate. And a steady cadence of precision strikes removed senior commanders in what amounted to a sustained attempt to disorient Tehran's decision-making.From a purely operational perspective, the advantages have been stark. Once skies are open, the war becomes cheaper: plentiful, relatively inexpensive munitions can replace the long-range systems that defended airspace typically demands.Ali Vaez is Iran project director and senior adviser to the president at the International Crisis GroupDo 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...

In Dallas and Williamson counties, voters faced long lines, extended wait times and confusion about voting locationOn Tuesday, Texas held its Democratic and Republican primaries ahead of the upcoming November midterms. Democratic voters chose between Jasmine Crockett, the anti-Trump firebrand congresswoman, and James Talarico, the populist state representative, in an election that attracted national attention. Crockett conceded the race and endorsed Talarico on Wednesday, but only after claiming late on election night that she wasn't ready to concede because of a voting issue in Dallas.We don't have any of the results because there was a lot of confusion today," Crockett told supporters at her election-night party: We were able to keep the polls open, but I can tell you now that people have been disenfranchised." Crockett received 45.6% of the vote, compared to Talarico's 53.1%. Continue reading...

Camp East Montana facility, part of the Fort Bliss army base, has repeatedly been criticized for harsh living conditions

Trade court directs customs to repay importers with interest after supreme court ruled tariffs unlawfulA US trade court judge on Wednesday ordered the government to begin paying potentially billions of dollars in refunds to importers who paid tariffs that the supreme court said last month were collected illegally. Richard Eaton, a judge of the US Court of International Trade in Manhattan, ordered the government to finalize the cost of bringing millions of shipments into the US without assessing a tariff, according to a court filing. He ordered the refunds to be made with interest.When merchandise is brought into the United States, an importer pays an estimated amount at entry which is then finalized around 314 days later, a process known as liquidation. Eaton directed Customs and Border Protection to finalize the entry cost on shipments without the tariff being assessed, resulting in a refund. Continue reading...

The Guardian asked US readers about the military action in Iran - their responses were largely disapprovingAs hundreds of civilians and some US service members have been killed in the aftermath of the 28 February strike against Iran by the United States and Israel, the Guardian asked readers in the US what their thoughts are on the latest military action in Iran.Their responses were largely disapproving, with some acknowledging that the Iranian regime needed to be toppled, even with a high cost. Continue reading...

Only one person working job that today would be called deportation officer' has died from act of violence, Guardian review showsSince Donald Trump returned to the presidency, homeland security officials have consistently argued that deportation officers are facing unprecedented threats.To better understand the dangers facing those officers, the Guardian examined the agency's own tracking of its fallen officers, as well as recent violent incidents targeting immigration officers flagged by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Continue reading...