FCC approval of deal comes after Paramount paid $16m to settle Trump lawsuit over 60 Minutes interviewThe Federal Communications Commission approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media on Thursday, clearing the way for an $8.4bn sale of some of the most prominent names in entertainment, including the CBS broadcast television network, Paramount Pictures and the Nickelodeon cable channel.The FCC agreed to transfer broadcast licenses for 28 owned-and-operated CBS television stations to the new owners after Paramount paid $16m to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with former vice-president Kamala Harris that aired in October. Continue reading...
Order removes restrictions from municipalities and redirects funds toward rehabilitation and treatmentThe federal government is seeking to crack down on homelessness in the US, with Donald Trump issuing an executive order to push local governments to remove unhoused people from the streets.The order the US president signed on Thursday will seek the reversal of federal or state judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees" that restrict local governments' ability to force people into treatment for mental health, and redirect funds to support rehabilitation and treatment. The order aims to restore public order", saying endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe", according to the order. Continue reading...
Donald Trump appeared to ambush Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, during his site visit to inspect the renovation of the central bank's historic headquarters in Washington. The president claimed the total cost of the renovations was $3.1bn, higher than previously reported. As Trump made this claim, Powell shook his head and said: 'I'm not aware of that. I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed.' Trump said the figure 'had just come out' and handed papers from his coat to Powell. 'This came from us?' Powell asked. After Trump said the new figures were from his people, Powell found the discrepancy: 'You added in a third building ... [which] was built five years ago'
Experts warn half-baked' restructuring will further erode support for US farmers and hamper wildfire responseThousands of employees at the US Department of Agriculture will be forced to take salary cuts and relocate out of the Washington DC area, as part of a major restructuring that experts warn will further weaken support for American farmers and complicate wildfire response.In a memorandum issued on Thursday, the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, outlined the key pillars" behind the department's reorganization, focused on reducing its financial footprint, removing resources from the capital, eliminating management and consolidating workforces responsible for a range of functions, including freedom of information requests, tribal relations, grants and human resources. Continue reading...
Announcement comes as administration tries to pivot from questions about Trump's ties to the disgraced financierThe US justice department has formed a strike force" to investigate claims that the Obama administration carried out a treasonous conspiracy" by using false intelligence to suggest Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump.Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, announced the new force's formation Wednesday after the release of a trove of declassified documents from Barack Obama's national security team by the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. The announcement comes as the US president finds himself mired in scandal over the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and has tried to distract by pivoting conversation to retribution against his political enemies. Continue reading...
Trump's reluctance to call for documents' release rankles supporters who claim he has broken campaign promiseA trove of documents related to the child sexual abuse offender Jeffrey Epstein are at the center of a splinter between Donald Trump and his rightwing allies.While campaigning, Trump said he would release the so-called Epstein files", the documents about criminal investigations into his former friend, who died in jail by hanging in 2019. But since taking office, Trump has appeared to have broken that promise, rankling ardent Maga allies who have spent years calling for the documents' release. Continue reading...
Hulk Hogan, the wrestling star and vocal supporter of Donald Trump, has died at the age of 71, his manager confirmed. Chris Volo told NBC Los Angeles that Hogan, given name Terry Gene Bollea, suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Clearwater, Florida, and died surrounded by his family. Instantly recognisable from his blonde horseshoe moustache and bandannas, Hogan was one of the most popular wrestling stars of the 1980s and considered one of the sport's greatest of all time
Background check regime infringes on the fundamental right to keep and bear arms,' a judge wrote in the decisionA federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that California's first-of-its-kind law requiring firearm owners to undergo background checks to buy ammunition is unconstitutional.In a 2-1 vote, the ninth US circuit court of appeals in Pasadena, California, upheld a lower court judge's permanent injunction against enforcing the law. Continue reading...
Men recently reunited with loved ones in their home country detail months of abuse at the facilityVenezuelan men who were deported by the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process are speaking out about treatment they described as hell" and like a horror movie", after arriving back home. A total of 252 Venezuelan nationals were repatriated in the last week in a deal between the US and Venezuelan governments, with many able to reunite with family after their ordeal in El Salvador.Carlos Uzcategui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday morning in western Venezuela after he had been away for a year. Continue reading...
Show begins 27th season covering Trump's lawsuit against Paramount and cancellation of Stephen Colbert's show, depicting Trump in bed with SatanSouth Park has kicked off its 27th season with a blistering episode taking aim at Donald Trump and its newly minted parent company, Paramount, just one day after signing a $1.5bn deal with the network.The premiere episode, Sermon on the Mount, sees the US president in bed with series regular Satan and covers topics including Trump's lawsuit against Paramount, the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, wokeness, Trump's attacks on Canada and more. Continue reading...
A summary of the report obtained by the Guardian found no specific issue with how the club handled a report of abuse but improvements could have been madeAn investigation commissioned by the National Women's Soccer League found that the San Diego Wave front office could have done more" to address a sexual assault allegation from a member of the club's staff, but ultimately found no specific issue with how the claim was handled because the alleged victim did not use the term sexual" when describing her experience.The finding is contained in a report summarizing the investigation, which had not previously been made public but was obtained by the Guardian US. Continue reading...
Some slammed the agreement with the Trump administration to reinstate $400m in federal funds while others praised it as an excellent outcome'Columbia University's long anticipated deal with the Trump administration after months of negotiations has drawn both condemnation and praise from faculty, students, and alumni - a sign that the end of negotiations will hardly restore harmony on a campus profoundly divided since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza.The deal will reinstate $400m in federal funds the administration cut from the university after it accused it of allowing antisemitism to fester on campus. But it will cost Columbia some $220m in legal settlements, as well as a host of new measures that critics warn significantly restrict the university's independence and will further repress pro-Palestinian speech. Continue reading...
Southern California Edison announces program amid concerns state's wildfire fund will not be able to cover lossesLos Angeles's main utility company will compensate victims of January's deadly Eaton wildfire - even though investigators have yet to determine whether the company's equipment sparked the blaze.In a statement released Wednesday, Southern California Edison announced the establishment of the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program, a voluntary fund it developed in consultation with Kenneth R Feinberg and Camille S Biros, the duo who designed the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Continue reading...
Starbucks' CEO already made 6,666 times more than his workers in 2024Starbucks' CEO, Brian Niccol, made 6,666 times more than his average worker last year, according to a report on the growing gap between top executives and their workers.The inequality gap between CEOs' pay and that of their median workers rose in 2024 to 285 to 1 from 268 to 1 in 2023, according to a report released this week by the largest federation of labor unions in the US, the AFL-CIO. Continue reading...
Speaking on a podcast, the actor compared the US president to a snake-oil salesman' and said he's everything that's wrong with not just America but with being a human being'The actor Jeff Daniels has said he hopes those who voted for Donald Trump's second term in the White House lose money as a consequence.Speaking to MSNBC's The Best People With Nicolle Wallace podcast, Daniels addressed the president's supporters, saying: I hope you're losing tons of money, those of you who thought this would be OK. My question is, What are you guys going to do about it?'" Continue reading...
The Israeli PM went on Full Send Podcast to reach young people'. After his appearance, its YouTube channel lost more than 100,000 subscribers in less than a dayGaza is starving. Nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population is going days without eating, according to an expert from the UN World Food Programme. Tons of food sits rotting in warehouses just outside Gaza but the government of Israel will not allow it to be freely delivered. Instead, starving Palestinians must contend with a real-life version of The Hunger Games to try and eat. Over 1,000 desperate Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces since the end of May trying to reach food distribution points run by the US - and the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian" Foundation.But enough about that, eh! Who wants to hear about starving babies who will either die painful deaths or never fully recover from the long-term consequences of malnutrition in early childhood? I'm sure what you really want to know is what Benjamin Netanyahu's favourite fast food order is. And, luckily, I've got some answers for you. Continue reading...
Since Trump's immigration crackdown, global perceptions of America have plummeted. Citizens and non-citizens alike are rethinking whether we still want US passportsIt starts with a quiz from a law firm: did your grandparents leave before or after 1951? Do you have their passports or marriage certificate?If I answer correctly, I will get another email from a lawyer who specializes in citizenship claims. If I do not, my file may be quietly marked as a long shot. The stakes are high: if successful, I could ultimately obtain an EU citizenship for myself and then perhaps for other members of my family. Continue reading...
The president's long-effective tactics are finally facing a test - especially when it comes to time managementThe problem with a successful playbook is that you eventually keep doing the same thing mechanically. Fresh from intimidating ABC and CBS with meritless lawsuits, Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal reporters who broke the story of a lewd birthday message for Jeffrey Epstein. But, unlike with the frivolous allegations against the big broadcasters, there's clearly a fact of the matter here: an authentic letter either exists or it does not; and there is plenty to be revealed in the process of finding out. Trump's time-proven move - whatever happens, just counter-attack - is likely to keep the very story he wants to kill alive. Meanwhile, the other elements of his playbook - deny, deflect, distract - only work if journalists and Democrats play along. They, not the seemingly all-important Trump base, are the actors to watch.We still debate whether Trumpism is a substantial ideology or not; what we are missing is that Trumpism, for sure, is a set of tactics for exploiting weaknesses in the US political, legal and media systems. Some of these tactics were inherited from his mentor Roy Cohn and many are now being adopted by Trump's followers - one must never admit guilt; one must always swing back; and one must reject, or ideally entirely bury, defeats (such as Trump's case against Bob Woodward and Woodward's publisher being dismissed recently). Continue reading...
Court records show Pedro Arrupe, a candidate for sainthood, failed to stop Donald Dickerson being ordained. Plus, deadly clashes on Thai-Cambodian borderGood morning.The former worldwide leader of the Jesuit religious order Pedro Arrupe acknowledged he was warned that one of his aspiring priests had been accused of sexually molesting two children and had admitted making sexual advances on a third, court documents reveal.What is the claim in the Louisiana case? The lawsuit claims Dickerson raped a 17-year-old student at a Jesuit-run university in New Orleans.Should we expect further developments? Yes. On Wednesday, the House oversight committee voted 8-2 to subpoena the justice department to release files related to Epstein, and subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition. Continue reading...
A narrow understanding of the term, as well as Israel's history as a haven for genocide victims, explains the dissonanceWhy is it so difficult for some to accept that the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza? The case for genocide is compelling, but some governments and members of the public resist acknowledging it. The reason lies in not only Israel's history as a haven for the Jewish victims of genocide but also an unduly narrow understanding of the meaning of the term, by both the public and the international court of justice (ICJ).Israel benefits from a halo effect associated with the Holocaust. Because the state of Israel was founded in response to the Nazi genocide, it is harder to accept that the Israeli government in turn would commit genocide. One obviously does not preclude the other, but Israel benefits from the cognitive dissonance.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, was published by Knopf and Allen Lane in February Continue reading...
by Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer of WWL Louis on (#6YVPQ)
Pedro Arrupe is a candidate for sainthood, but an abuse victim's lawsuit turned up evidence that he didn't prevent child molester Donald Dickerson from being ordained after learning of allegationsPedro Arrupe, the late, former worldwide leader of the Jesuit religious order and a candidate for Catholic sainthood, acknowledged in records produced as part of a New Orleans court case that he was warned about how one of the group's aspiring priests had been accused of sexually molesting two minors and acknowledged making sexual advances on a third.The man was ultimately ordained, and there is no indication in records in the court case in Louisiana state court that Arrupe - who coined the Jesuits' slogan men for others" - took steps to prevent him from becoming a priest. The man was later accused of molesting other minors he met through his ministry. Continue reading...
Most people wouldn't dream of traversing LA without a vehicle - yet Ayda Gragossian's beautiful images, taken while walking through the city, invite us to slow down and take it all in Continue reading...
Demonstrations to be held in Aberdeen and Edinburgh amid US president's visit to Turnberry and Menie golf resortsProtest organisers anticipate a wave of resistance to Donald Trump from Ayrshire to Aberdeenshire this weekend as Scots take to the streets to express widespread anger" at what they termed the US president's increasingly extreme policies.The US president is expected to arrive in Scotland on Friday for a five-day private visit to his luxury golf resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire. Continue reading...
by Alexander Abnos at Q2 Stadium in Austin on (#6YVNN)
Lionel Messi's absence from a traditional showpiece occasion raises questions about who Major League Soccer's midsummer classic exists to serveThe MLS All-Star game is what you make of it. Want to see it as yet another benchmark by which we can measure the US and Canada's top professional league against Mexico's? The current format, pitting a team of MLS stars against Liga MX's own selection, will provide that (however flimsy the conclusions may be from MLS's 3-1 win).Want it to be nothing more than a good time? The tenor of play, and that of the previous night's very fun but very silly skills competition won by MLS, will do that. Sam Surridge's first-half opener, the confirmation of which was somewhat hilariously delayed by a VAR check, came after an impressive display of speed and skill from LAFC's Denis Bouanga, who picked the pocket of Necaxa's Agustin Palavecino before bursting through on goal. The Philadelphia Union's Tai Baribo finished off a well-worked second off a super through ball from Columbus' Diego Rossi. All four of those involved in the goals are among the league's best attacking stars, and they shone brightly. Continue reading...
Appeals court's verdict echoes decision from federal judge blocking president's executive order nationwideDonald Trump's effort to repeal birthright citizenship has hit another a stumbling block, with a federal appeals court in San Francisco declaring the president's attempt unconstitutional.The three-judge ruling panel in the 9th US circuit court of appeals echoed a district court in New Hampshire that blocked the executive order earlier this month. Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey, Lucy Campbell, Maya Yang, Fran Lawt on (#6YTZH)
The 2-1 ruling from the ninth US circuit court of appeals brings issue one step closer to coming back before supreme court. This blog is now closed.Lawmakers are calling for the release of an Afghan interpreter, who worked with the US military for years in his home country, who was seized by armed, masked Ice agents after a routine appointment for his green card.The former wartime interpreter, identified only as Zia for his safety and that of his family, aided American troops in Afghanistan for about five years during the war and fled the country with his family after the Taliban resumed power in 2021.Zia has done everything right. He's followed the rules. He has no criminal history.Following the rules are supposed to protect you. It's not supposed to land you in detention. If he is deported, as so many of the people have articulated today, he faces death.What happened to him is the worst kind of abhorrent violation of basic decency. Put aside the legal causes and the issues here for unmasked agents to snatch someone off the street with no warning, no counsel, no opportunity even to know who is doing it while it's in process is un-American.To Zia, we have your back. We're going to fight for you. We're going to leave no stone unturned.Our credibility is at stake. We have families who have risked everything not just for themselves, but for their entire family. They have risked their health and safety. And in the name of standing up for the promises of our American democracy, that could not have been easy at the time. So this betrayal has to be that much more difficult in this moment.This isn't about one person. This is about thousands of people. This is about our veterans. If their word means nothing when they're on the battlefield, risking their lives, and being saved in so many instances by the support of people like Zia who are giving this services as their family and their own lives are being threatened and tortured, then what does that mean for our word going forward?In June this year, average daily arrests were up 268% compared with June 2024.Ice is increasingly targeting any and all unauthorized immigrants, including people who have no criminal records.Despite Trump's claims that his administration is seeking out the worst of the worst", the majority of people being arrested by Ice now have no criminal convictions.Detention facilities have been increasingly overcrowded, and the US system is over capacity by more than 13,500 people.The number of deportations, however, has fluctuated as the administration pursues new strategies and policies to swiftly expel people from the US.The US government has deported more than 8,100 people to countries that are not their home country. Continue reading...
President's spokesperson hits out at Democrats and liberal media' after report claiming Pam Bondi told Trump in May he was named in Epstein files. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 23 JulyDonald Trump is facing a widening crisis amid a report claiming that his name appears in US justice department files about Jeffrey Epstein as Congress subpoenas testimony from Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.The White House sought to downplay the relationship between the US president and the disgraced financier while Trump's spokesperson denied an account in the Wall Street Journal that the president was told in May by attorney general Pam Bondi that he is named in the Epstein files. The report says the president was told that many other high profile figures were also named and states that being mentioned in the records isn't a sign of wrongdoing. Continue reading...
by Nick Robins-Early and Lauren Gambino on (#6YVHM)
Crackdown would streamline the building of datacentres and remove environmental protectionsDonald Trump on Wednesday signed a trio of executive orders that he vowed would turn the United States into an AI export powerhouse", including one targeting what the White House described as woke" artificial intelligence models.During remarks at an AI summit in Washington, Trump decried woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models", before signing the orders on stage at the Mellon Auditorium. Continue reading...
Deal falls short of starkest measures, including consent decree and overhaul of university's governance structureColumbia University announced a much-anticipated deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220m, an agreement meant to bring a resolution to the threat of massive funding cuts to the school, but certain to rankle critics given the extraordinary concessions made by the Ivy League university.Under the agreement, the school will pay a $200m settlement over three years to the federal government, the university said. It will also pay $21m to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Continue reading...
If regional utility is found responsible for January blaze, fund would pay claims and lawsuit settlementsInsurance claims from the Eaton wildfire could fully exhaust" a state fund that was set up to protect customers when a wildfire is caused by a utility company.The devastating wildfire in Los Angeles killed 17 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures in January. One leading theory is that ageing equipment belonging to Southern California Edison, the primary electricity provider in the region, ignited the fire. Continue reading...
Steep drop in new car sales and stock price at electric car maker linked to Elon Musk's role in Trump administrationIt's been a rocky year for Tesla's financial outlook. The electric vehicle maker once led the market for gas-free cars, but recently has faced falling stock, steep competition and a CEO who has been described as erratic and a chaos maker. Now, for its second-quarter earnings, Tesla is reporting a decline in both revenue and profit.The electric vehicle maker said it saw a 12% drop in revenue from the same time last year, coming in at $22.5bn, which was below Wall Street's expectations of $22.7bn. Tesla noted its operating income also decreased to $0.9bn, a 42% decrease since last year. This marks a second straight quarterly decline for the company. Continue reading...
Lawyers for man wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March describe human smuggling charges as preposterous'A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be released from jail as he awaits trial on human smuggling charges.The decision from judge Waverly Crenshaw means that Donald Trump's administration can potentially attempt to deport the Maryland father of two to his native El Salvador or a third country for a second time. Continue reading...
Tokyo's failure to secure a US deal sooner had caused political unease and economic uncertainty in JapanDonald Trump has announced a trade deal with Japan, potentially resolving weeks of fraught negotiations between the two allies which had caused economic uncertainty in Tokyo and mounting speculation about the future of the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.We just completed a massive deal with Japan," the US president announced in a post online, adding: Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 billion dollars into the United States." Continue reading...
Anti-vaccine campaigns have targeted thimerosal for decades despite no evidence of ingredient causing harmRobert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, will formally require vaccine makers to remove thimerosal from vaccines.The ingredient has been the target of anti-vaccine campaigns and misinformation for decades. Arguments against the preservative culminated in June, when a key federal vaccine advisory panel, remade with Kennedy's ideological allies, recommended against the preservative. Continue reading...
Families spoke of grief as the court heard how DNA and video footage helped link Bryan Kohberger to the crimesBryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for the murders of four University of Idaho students, a crime that shocked the quiet college town of Moscow nearly three years ago.The sentencing hearing allowed the families of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves to speak publicly about the devastation they've endured since 13 November 2022, the day their loved ones were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus home. Continue reading...
Dahud Hanid Ortiz, convicted in Venezuela of triple homicide in Madrid, is one of 10 US nationals flown to TexasA Venezuelan American murderer and ex-US marine, who killed three people in Spain in 2016, was released to the US during last Friday's high-profile prisoner swap between the US, El Salvador and Venezuela, according to media and NGO reports.Dahud Hanid Ortiz, who was convicted last year in Venezuela of a triple homicide in Madrid, is one of the 10 US nationals that arrived in Texas last Friday. Continue reading...
Video shows William McNeil Jr being beaten by police after being stopped for allegedly driving without lights onA Black college student shown on video being punched and dragged from his car by Florida law enforcement officers during a traffic stop faces a long recovery from injuries that include a concussion and a lip punctured by one of his teeth, his lawyers said on Wednesday.At a news conference in Jacksonville, 22-year-old William McNeil Jr spoke softly as he made a few brief comments with his family and civil rights attorneys by his side. Continue reading...
Footage shows the pedophile at Trump's 1993 wedding and the two attending a Victoria's Secret fashion event in 1999Newly uncovered photos and video footage published by CNN show more links between the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, including Epstein's attendance at Trump's wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza hotel in New York in 1993.The media organization said on Wednesday that Epstein's attendance at the wedding ceremony was not widely known. Continue reading...
Zia S' translated for US troops in Afghanistan before fleeing Taliban takeover in 2021 and arriving stateside legallyAn Afghan wartime translator granted a US immigration visa after risking his life to help US troops has been detained by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents, in the latest sign that the Trump administration is willing to flout legal agreements and promises to allies in pursuit of its unprecedented immigration crackdown.Identified only as Zia S, the 35-year-old husband and father of five who entered the US in October 2024 with a visa issued by American authorities was arrested and taken away in a van last week after a routine biometrics appointment for his green card in East Hartford, Connecticut, according to his attorney, members of Congress and human-rights advocates. Continue reading...
The state house member seemed like an unlikely aspirant for the US Senate battle, but an appearance on Rogan sparked the question: can he turn Texas blue?
US news | The Guardian