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Republicans see it as the epitome of Trump keeping his promises, while for Democrats it's an opportunity to return from the political wildernessEarlier this summer, Republican lawmakers gathered around Donald Trump and applauded as he sat before a desk outside the White House and put his signature on what he calls his one, big, beautiful bill".But there were few claps for Mike Flood this week when the Republican congressman appeared before an auditorium of his Nebraska constituents to extol the tax and spending legislation's benefits - just boos and jeers. Continue reading...

Having fled Castro's Cuba at age five, Jorge Malagon Marquez honors the landmark reopening in SeptemberJorge Malagon Marquez's first sighting of Miami's iconic Freedom Tower, the so-called Ellis Island of the south for its role in processing more than half a million Cubans fleeing Fidel Castro's communist revolution, was through a flood of tears.It was May 1967, and his family had just arrived from Havana on one of the first so-called Freedom flights ferrying refugees allowed to escape the dictator's tightening grip on the island. Continue reading...

Donald Trump's second term has seen a sustained assault on democratic institutions - political, judicial, media, cultural, academic - that appears to be only acceleratingThe anger was raw and resolute. Speaking at the Republican congressman Mike Flood's town hall in Lincoln, Nebraska, a woman pointed to the estimated $450m cost of Alligator Alcatraz", an immigration detention facility in Florida. How much does it cost for fascism?" she demanded. How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?"The crowd erupted in applause and whoops. In the week that Donald Trump marked his 200th day in office, few mainstream political commentators are bandying around terms such as fascist". But many are warning of a societal march towards authoritarianism that, far from losing momentum, appears to be gathering pace. Continue reading...

The puerile standoff between the US and Russia ought to alert a slumbering public to a risk that is in many ways greater than during the cold warNuclear weapons - their lethal menace, dark history and future spread - are back in the headlines again and, as usual, the news is worrying, bordering on desperate. Russia's decision last week to formally abandon the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty banning medium- and short-range nuclear missiles completes the demolition of a key pillar of global arms control. It will accelerate an already frantic nuclear arms race in Europe and Asia at a moment when US and Russian leaders are taunting each other like schoolboys.Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, has repeatedly threatened the west with nuclear weapons during his war in Ukraine. Last November, Russian forces fired their new Oreshnik hypersonic, nuclear-capable intermediate-range missile at Dnipro. It travels like a meteorite" at 10 times the speed of sound and can reach any city in Europe, Putin boasted - which, if true, is a clear INF violation. Moscow blames its decision to ditch the treaty on hostile Nato actions. Yet it has long bypassed it in practice, notably by basing missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave on the Baltic sea, and Belarus.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Commerce secretary begins process could let the government seize Harvard patents; Tammy Bruce nominated for deputy US ambassador to UN - key US politics stories from 9 August 2025The Trump administrations has threatened Harvard's lucrative portfolio of patents amid its long-running dispute with the university, accusing it of breaching legal and contractual requirements tied to federally funded research.In a letter, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick demanded that Harvard provide within four weeks a list of all patents stemming from federally funded research grants, including how the patents are used and whether any licensing requires substantial US manufacturing". Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Continue reading...

White House escalates offensive on Ivy League university by calling for review of federally funded researchThe latest phase of the Trump administration's offensive against Harvard University is a comprehensive review of the university's federally funded research programs, and the threat to strip the school's lucrative portfolio of patents.In a letter to the Harvard president, Alan Garber, posted online on Friday, Donald Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, accused Harvard of breaching its legal and contractual requirements tied to federally funded research programs and patents. Continue reading...

Shooter, a 30-year-old man who died during violence, fired dozens of rounds into buildings and killed police officerA Georgia man who opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta on Friday, shooting dozens of rounds into four buildings and killing a police officer, had blamed a Covid-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Saturday.

Bruce, dubbed a great patriot' by Trump in announcement, now serves as state department spokespersonDonald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating Tammy Bruce, the state department spokesperson, as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations, which would make the former Fox News commentator an ambassador.The president made the announcement on Truth Social, where he praised Bruce as a Great Patriot, Television Personality, and Bestselling Author". Continue reading...

Trump removed Billy Long from post months after agency said it couldn't release information on some taxpayersThe removal of the Internal Revenue Service commissioner Billy Long after just two months in the post came after the federal tax collection agency said it could not release some information on taxpayers suspected of being in the US illegally, it was reported on Saturday.The IRS and the White House had clashed over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants soon before Long was dismissed by the administration, according to the Washington Post. Continue reading...

Prasad left the agency after far-right influencer released edited audio misleadingly suggesting he was anti-TrumpVinay Prasad is returning to his role overseeing vaccine, gene therapy and blood product regulation at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a little more than a week after he left the agency.At the FDA's request, Dr Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research," Department Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement to Reuters. Continue reading...

Progressive evangelical group says ideas shared by pastors and amplified by defense secretary are very disturbing'The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, recently shared a video in which several pastors say women should no longer be allowed to vote, prompting one progressive evangelical organization to express concern.Hegseth reposted a CNN segment on X on Thursday that focuses on pastor Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist who co-founded the Idaho-based Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), In the segment, he raises the idea of women not voting. Continue reading...

A plan to redistrict states to benefit Republicans was conceived of 15 years ago. It's been an enormous successThe gerrymandering wars are back. Perhaps they never really went away.Extreme GOP gerrymanders have remade American politics over the last 15 years. They have locked Republicans into office in state legislatures nationwide, even in purple states when Democratic candidates win more votes. They have delivered a reliable and enduring edge to the GOP in the race for Congress. Continue reading...

Archdiocese has proposed a system based on type of abuse suffered by victims as part of its ongoing bankruptcy caseDocuments filed recently in the New Orleans Roman Catholic archdiocese's five-year bankruptcy case provide more clarity on how claims will be doled out to victims of clergy abuse if a proposed settlement is approved. Points will be assigned to each abuse claim based on the severity of the abuse and its effects on each victim's life, but the records do not offer much clarity on how much actual money those points will be worth.Claims that a Catholic church employee raped them will be worth twice as much money to abuse survivors as having a priest masturbate in front of them, four times more than if a cleric touched them under their clothes and seven times more than being shown pornography, according to details from a settlement disclosure statement filed and amended recently. Continue reading...

Republican push for gerrymandered congressional maps triggers down-and-dirty from new generation - will it work?It was a stirring speech that brought Democrats to tears. When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don't stoop to their level," Michelle Obama told them in Philadelphia in 2016. No, our motto is: When they go low, we go high.'"Fast forward to Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, speaking in Chicago this week. This is not the Democratic party of your grandfather, which would bring a pencil to the knife fight," he insisted. This is a new Democratic party. We're bringing a knife to a knife fight, and we are going to fight fire with fire." Continue reading...

Appointed by Carter to head FBI in 1978, Webster helped improve the image of an agency tarnished by scandalWilliam H Webster, the former FBI and CIA director whose troubleshooting skills and integrity helped restore public confidence in those federal agencies, has died, his family announced on Friday. He was 101.Webster led the FBI from 1978 to 1987 and the CIA from 1987 to 1991, the only person to guide the nation's top law-enforcement agency and its primary intelligence-gathering organization. Continue reading...

Co-founded by president's eldest sons, Eric and Don Jr, World Liberty has earned the family $500m since its launchWorld Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by Donald Trump and the US president's family, is sounding out investors for a $1.5bn fundraising round meant to set up a public company that will hold its WLFI tokens, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.The structure of the deal is yet to be finalized, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter, adding that large investors in the crypto and tech space had been approached for the venture. Continue reading...

Witnesses say disabled death-row man was in distress upon gurney, while lawyer calls execution 100% botched'For attorney Kelley Henry, the visible blood was the first indication that the execution of her client was going wrong.At 10.15am on Tuesday inside the Riverbend maximum security prison in Nashville, the longtime Tennessee death row lawyer watched as staff attempted to place an IV into the right arm of Byron Black. Black was locked on to a gurney with crisscrossing black straps over his chest, stomach and legs, and Henry saw blood ooze from the injection site. Continue reading...

NYPD say shooting took place after verbal dispute and one person is being held in custodyThree people have been injured in a shooting at New York City's Times Square after a 17-year-old opened fire, the New York police department has said.Police said they were questioning one person who is being held in custody, but that no charges have been pressed yet. Continue reading...

US president said end to war will involve some swapping of territories' before announcing meetingPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early on Saturday that Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiers" after Donald Trump said he would meet Vladimir Putin next week and that an end to the war must involve some swapping of territories".The Ukrainian president said Kyiv was ready for real solutions that could bring peace but that any solutions without Ukraine would be against peace. Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing," he said, adding that the war cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine". Continue reading...

Roland Beainy from Lebanon, who opened chain of restaurants in support of president, says charges not true'The owner of a Donald Trump-themed hamburger restaurant chain in Texas is facing deportation after immigration authorities under the command of the president detained him.Roland Mehrez Beainy, 28, entered the US as a non-immigrant visitor" from Lebanon in 2019 and was supposed to have left the country by 12 February 2024, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) spokesperson told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Deal to end four-decade conflict includes creation of transit corridor named Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity'The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace agreement at the White House on Friday, in a deal brokered by the US that brings decades of conflict to an end.The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other, as well as the US, that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the US to seize on Russia's declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor linking Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, with the United States owning development rights to the corridor. It was to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said. Continue reading...

At several points during his presidency, Biden could have stopped starvation from spreading in Gaza. He didn't do thatIn March 2024, the global authority on food security warned that Palestinians were experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger", and famine was imminent in northern Gaza as Israel continued its siege of the territory. That report was one of the most direct warnings from the UN and international relief groups, which had been raising alarms about the potential for widespread starvation in Gaza since December 2023.Joe Biden was in the White House at the time, and his administration not only failed to heed those repeated warnings, but it worked to undermine UN agencies and humanitarian groups that tried to focus attention on Israel's use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Today, Donald Trump and his administration are deeply complicit in the human-made famine unfolding in Gaza, but it's important to remember that US complicity predates Trump - and it's another stain on Biden's legacy as president.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor at New York University Continue reading...

The far-right Republican and conspiracy theorist is suddenly speaking (a small amount of) sense. Weird!Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right conspiracy theorist and bigot who also happens to be a Republican congresswoman, has suddenly started to speak (a small amount of) sense. It's unclear what exactly precipitated it, but the Georgia congresswoman has declared war on her fellow Republicans.The course that [the Republican party] is on, I don't want to have anything to do with it," Greene told the Daily Mail last week. Continue reading...

These days it's not enough to disagree with opponents - it seems we have to accuse them of being con artists tooOur world is full of grifters. Or so it seems, considering how often that word is thrown around in public life these days.This year alone, Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP and founder of a new left party with Jeremy Corbyn, called the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, a billionaire-backed grifter" (perhaps borrowing from the language of Coutts staff who referred to him as a disingenuous grifter" when his bank account was closed two years ago). Sultana, in turn, was accused of being a grifter" duping honest socialists" by the journalist Paul Mason.Anoosh Chakelian is Britain editor of the New Statesman Continue reading...

Confusion over his role and a lack of standout skills were always likely to make it difficult to switch sports but rugby is welcoming him back with open armsWhen you're super talented and have options, you do what is best for you," is how former New York Giants cornerback Jason Bell explains Louis Rees-Zammit's unexpected return to rugby union from the NFL.Less than a week after Rees-Zammit's sudden announcement that he is leaving Jacksonville Jaguars on the eve of the 2025 season, the Wales coach, Steve Tandy, all but named him in his first squad for the forthcoming Autumn Nations games against Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa, describing his impending return as a great boost to the game, to fans and to coaches". Continue reading...

Michelle Obama is a fan of the world No 12, who is a vocal supporter of women's sport, especially basketballFrances Tiafoe is in his element when he talks passionately about the growing presence of black and mixed heritage players at the highest levels of men's tennis. During a stroll on tournament grounds he reels off the names of players he competes with regularly on the tour. Now they're at a position where I have wars with them and go back and forth. So this is great, man. It's great to see," he says. And then you have Giovanni [Mpetshi Perricard], you have Gael [Monfils], who I looked up to."Seconds after Tiafoe mentions his name, Monfils suddenly appears from around a corner as if magically summoned by the American's utterance. His arrival naturally leads to a pause in this interview as an excited Tiafoe greets Monfils by heaping praise on his new haircut, particularly focusing his attention on the Frenchman's sleek fade. Monfils responds with a compliment of his own: You're looking like a wedding day," he says, laughing. Continue reading...

A recent boxing showcase in Brooklyn promised opportunity. But it exposed fighters to unnecessary risk in front of an enthusiastic crowd and an influential audienceThe videos are troubling. They've made their way online through social media and other postings.A club fighter, Jacob Solis, is in the ring with a world-class fighter named Marquis Taylor. Both men are wearing headgear. Solis is under the impression that this is a sparring session. Taylor has been incentivized to treat the encounter as something more. Continue reading...

UC president says payment of this scale would completely devastate' system while Gavin Newsom expresses outrageThe Trump administration is seeking a $1bn settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, a White House official said on Friday.The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the request and spoke on condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

Name of officer not released and authorities say no ongoing threat' after witnesses say bullets hit CDC building windowsA suspected gunman and a police officer are dead after law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter near the adjoining campuses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, authorities said.It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of one of our very own DeKalb county police officers," Greg Padrick, the county's interim police chief, said at a news conference on Friday night. The name of the officer who was fatally shot while responding was not immediately released. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read Andrew Roth's story on Trump's plan to meet Putin in Alaska hereAccording to new reporting by the New York Times, the president has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that the Trump administration considers terrorist organizations.According to the Times' sources, US military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the group. The Times also notes that this escalation would be the most aggressive step" in the administration's campaign against cartels". They also noted that this continues the president's preference for using military forces to carry out what has primarily been considered a law enforcement responsibility to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs". Continue reading...

Directive reportedly gives Pentagon a basis to operate against cartels on foreign soil; Trump to meet Russian president in Alaska next week - key US politics stories from 8 August 2025Donald Trump has reportedly given a secret directive to the Pentagon to use the military to target Latin-American drug cartels that his administration has designated terrorist organisations.The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels", according to the New York Times, which first reported the directive, citing people familiar with the matter. A US official later confirmed the signing of the directive but said military action did not appear imminent and it was unclear exactly what type of operations they would carry out. Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom threatens to move forward with redrawing effort as Texas attorney general seeks removal of group of 13The Republican attorney general of Texas on Friday asked the state supreme court to vacate the seats of 13 Democratic legislators who have left for blue states, hours after their absence once again delayed a vote on a redrawn congressional map sought by Donald Trump.Republican leaders in Texas had set a Friday deadline for Democrats to return to the state capitol in Austin or face punishment, including arrest and possible removal from office. Dozens of Democrats left the state over the weekend to prevent a Republican redistricting effort, requested by the president, to redraw the Texas maps mid-cycle, as part of an effort to secure a Republican House majority in the 2026 midterms. Continue reading...

Demonstrators reportedly accused the agency of operating a covert detention facility at the federal courthouseSeveral protesters outside New York City's 26 Federal Plaza government building were arrested on Friday for disorderly conduct, with demonstrators accusing the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency of operating a covert detention facility there, according to several reports.Protesters marched to the largest federal immigration courthouse in Manhattan on Friday morning and chanted outside the building. Demonstrators demanded access to the site, which was denied, and they later held a sit-in outside the courthouse, according to Hunter Dunn, the press coordinator for the grassroots protest movement known as 50501. Continue reading...

Michael Paul Brown captured seven days after shooting that left four people dead at the Owl Bar in AnacondaAuthorities said Friday they have captured a man suspected in a shooting at a Montana bar that left four people dead and prompted a lockdown of a neighborhood.Michael Paul Brown, 45, was captured seven days after the 1 August shooting at the Owl Bar in Anaconda, about a hundred miles (190km) from Missoula. Continue reading...

Several states in the western US are experiencing a surge in new Covid-19 infections, according to latest CDC dataSeveral states in the western US are experiencing a surge in new Covid-19 infections, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.An update released on Friday shows Covid-19 activity in wastewater has risen to a moderate" level nationwide, up from low" the week before. The highest levels are in the western US, including in states such as Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah, all of which are marked as high". Continue reading...

Long is reportedly now in line for Iceland ambassador post as treasury chief Scott Bessent takes over as acting IRS headDonald Trump is removing Billy Long as the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, and the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, will temporarily serve as acting commissioner for the president, a White House official and a source familiar with the matter said to Reuters on Friday.The New York Times first reported the news about Long, a former congressman from Missouri. He was expected to be nominated for an Iceland ambassador post, according to NBC News. Continue reading...

Tonia Haddix sentenced after lying that movie star primate she was accused of mistreating had diedA Missouri woman who starred in the HBO documentary series Chimp Crazy has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after she lied that a movie star primate that she was accused of mistreating had died.Tonia Haddix, 56, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after her 46-month prison sentence ends. Continue reading...

Aid airdrops in Gaza, the frontline in Donetsk, wildfires all over Europe and the fifth test match between England and India: the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists

Mike Huckabee launches undiplomatic harangue after UK prime minister calls for immediate ceasefireThe US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has launched an undiplomatic attack on Keir Starmer by invoking the allied second world war bombing of Dresden after the British prime minister criticised the Israeli security cabinet's decision to expand the war in Gaza.So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?" Huckabee wrote on social media in response to a post by Starmer calling for an immediate ceasefire and lamenting the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as the fate of the remaining Israeli hostages being held by Hamas. Continue reading...

Decision from divided three-judge panel vacates a district judge's finding of contempt against Trump administrationAn appeals court on Friday tossed out a judge's finding of contempt against the Trump administration in a case over the notorious deportations of Venezuelans from the US to an El Salvador prison without due process.The decision from a divided three-judge panel based in the nation's capital vacates a finding from US district judge James Boasberg. Continue reading...

Barbara Keating, Ryan Fitzgerald and an unnamed woman were identified by DNA testing nearly 24 years after attacksAdvances in DNA testing have allowed forensic scientists to identify three more victims of the terrorist attacks in New York City on 11 September 2001, authorities in Manhattan have confirmed.The development brings to 1,653 the number of individuals who have been positively identified from the 2,753 who died after al-Qaida terrorists flew two hijacked commercial aircraft into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on that morning. Continue reading...

Vice-president says, unlike Britain, White House has no plans to recognise the Palestinian stateThe US and UK have disagreements" on Gaza including over whether to recognise a Palestinian state, JD Vance has suggested as he arrived in England for his summer holiday.The US vice-president was speaking before a bilateral meeting with David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, at his 17th-century grace-and-favour country house, Chevening. Continue reading...

Department issued two subpoenas to Letitia James for civil fraud case against Trump and an investigation into the NRAThe Department of Justice has issued two subpoenas to Letitia James, the New York attorney general who has been repeatedly criticized by Donald Trump, according to reports.One of the cases relates to a civil fraud case brought by James's office against Trump, which resulted in the president owing New York state $500m, the New York Times reported. The other case relates to the attorney general's investigation into National Rifle Association (NRA), a rightwing gun lobbying group. Continue reading...