Former CNN anchor said he was working as a journalist when he was arrested at protest during church serviceFormer CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal civil rights charges connected to his coverage of a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official is a pastor. Four others also pleaded not guilty in the case.Lemon did not comment to reporters as he entered the courthouse accompanied by his attorney Joe Thompson, but he later issued a statement stating his refusal to be intimidated by the Trump administration and vowing to fight these baseless charges". Continue reading...

Congressperson says US president and Marco Rubio are tearing apart transatlantic allianceAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused Donald Trump of tearing apart the transatlantic alliance with Europe and of seeking to introduce an age of authoritarianism", as she condemned his administration's foreign policy in front of its allies' top policymakers at the Munich Security Conference.Speaking at a panel on populism on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez outlined what she called an alternative vision" for a leftwing US foreign policy, challenging the Trump administration's shift to the right in front an audience of US allies who have grown increasingly wary of the US's increasingly nationalist - and militaristic - global posture. Continue reading...

Protests in Buenos Aires, Lindsey Vonn crashes at the Winter Olympics and Bad Bunny performs at Super Bowl LX - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

School district says students will return next week after teachers demanded higher wages and more health benefitsSan Francisco teachers who staged their first strike in decades over wages and family health benefits have reached a tentative agreement with the school district.The San Francisco unified school district (SFUSD) announced on Friday schools would reopen to staff immediately, and to students on Wednesday, after two holidays. Continue reading...

Kevin Taylor allegedly accepted trips and lavish dinners for help in selling a mobile panic alert system' to city schoolsA New York police leader tasked with protecting the city's schoolchildren allegedly accepted bribes to help a businessman sell his mobile panic alert system" to schools in 2023, Manhattan federal prosecutors have alleged.Kevin Taylor, former commanding officer of the New York police department's school safety division, repeatedly abused his authority and considerable influence ... by soliciting or demanding bribes in two bribery schemes" - allowing him to enjoy lavish travel and luxe eateries, an indictment against him alleged. Continue reading...

EU's head of foreign policy claims Board of Peace' is personal vehicle for Donald Trump that removes accountability to Palestinians or UNA bitter dispute between Europe and the US over the future of Gaza has broken out into the open, with the EU's head of foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, warning that Donald Trump's Board of Peace" was a personal vehicle for the US president that removed any accountability to Palestinians or the United Nations.Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, also accused Trump of trying to bypass the original UN mandate for the board, and said Europe, one of the chief funders of the Palestinian Authority, had been excluded from the process. Continue reading...

Kristi Noem announced end of TPS for Yemenis, saying protections were against US national interest'The Trump administration has ended temporary protected status (TPS) for Yemeni nationals in the US, the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, said on Friday, the latest move targeting immigrants.The decision to end humanitarian protections that grant deportation relief and work permits to more than a thousand Yemenis in the US was taken after determining that it was against the US national interest", Noem said. Continue reading...

State agencies are now mandated to protect the big cats, which have been increasingly vulnerable due to habitat lossMore than 1,400 mountain lions across California are now protected by the state's Endangered Species Act, the state's fish and game commission announced on Thursday.The commission unanimously voted to list six groups of central coast and southern California mountain lions under the California Endangered Species Act, meaning the agency determined that they are likely to become extinct without intervention. The affected species can be found from the Bay Area all the way down to the Mexican border. Continue reading...

Leqaa Kordia was taken into custody last March, nearly a year after being arrested at a protest at ColumbiaCalls are mounting for the release of a Palestinian woman who has been held in immigration detention for nearly a year following her arrest at a pro-Palestine protest last year, with several elected officials weighing in after a medical emergency renewed attention to her case.Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old originally from the West Bank, was arrested in April 2024 at a protest against Israel's war in Gaza outside Columbia University. (She was not a student there.) The charges against her were dismissed the following day, but last March, nearly a year after the protest, she was taken into custody when she checked into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New Jersey. She had a pending asylum application at the time, her attorney said. Continue reading...

Out-of-state investors buy cheap homes in the city, leaving working residents struggling with substandard housing

Democrats questioned White House about immigration policies exacerbating childcare shortages and costsDemocratic lawmakers, led by the senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth and the representative Mike Quigley, are demanding answers about how Donald Trump's immigration policies are exacerbating childcare shortages and costs in the US.About 20% of the childcare workforce in the US are immigrants - and as high as 70% in some regions of the US - and the president's immigration policies could reduce the childcare workforce by an estimated 15%, according to a letter sent today by 48 lawmakers to the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Continue reading...

Chris Nanos was accused of bypassing federal analysts as search for Today show host's mother nears two weeksThe Arizona sheriff investigating the abduction of NBC Today show host Savannah Guthrie's mother pushed back Friday on an accusation he had withheld crucial forensic evidence from the FBI, as the search for the missing 84-year-old reached close to two weeks.Chris Nanos, the Pima county sheriff leading the investigation in Tucson, has been accused of bypassing federal analysts, according to an unnamed source at the FBI who spoke to Reuters. Continue reading...

As LLCs snap up thousands of homes, tenants face rising rents, fees and deteriorating living conditionsExecutive Towers boasts a gym, a swimming pool and heated underground parking. Built in 1963 by the country's top contructor of luxury apartments, its excellent access to Ohio's downtown Toledo and the neighborhoods beyond made it an attractive place to live.It was for all of these reasons and more that Kwiona Sprott moved into Executive Towers with her teenage son last July, paying $851 a month. Continue reading...

The Guardian has reviewed figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since Trump's inaugurationDonald Trump campaigned on a platform of mass deportation. Since he took office, his administration has reshaped immigration enforcement across the country. The Guardian, using data published every two weeks by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is tracking the number of people the administration has arrested, detained and deported. Continue reading...

Economists predicted a slight easing of inflation, although it's unclear whether Fed will again cut interest ratesUS inflation moderated in January to 2.4%, an easing after Donald Trump's tariffs triggered price fluctuations last year.Prices rose 0.2% from December to January, according to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday measuring the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the price of a basket of goods and services. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy industries, went up 0.3% over the month. Continue reading...

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem's exit as group chair and CEO follows pressure after publication of emailsThe boss of the P&O Ferries owner, DP World, has left the company after revelations over his ties with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein forced the ports and logistics company to take action.Dubai-based DP World, which is ultimately owned by Dubai's royal family, announced the immediate resignation of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as the group's chair and chief executive on Friday. Continue reading...

Army in turmoil after Xi Jinping placed top general under investigation for suspected corruption last monthThe CIA (the US's Central Intelligence Agency) has published a Mandarin-language recruitment video aimed at Chinese soldiers, in an apparent attempt to capitalise on the recent instability in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) after a series of high-level purges.The video, published on the CIA's YouTube channel on Thursday, is titled The Reason for Stepping Forward: To Save the Future. Continue reading...

The Colombian icon joined the MLS side in a short-term deal with an eye toward fitness for the 2026 World CupTwo weeks ago, few could've expected that the most notable international acquisition of the MLS offseason would be made by Minnesota United.The team's marquee import until last week was Finland striker Teemu Pukki, with honorable mentions for Colombian playmaker Darwin Quintero and ex-Porto midfielder Ibson. The Loons aren't known for paying sizable transfer fees, and their wage bill last year was the league's fifth-smallest. Continue reading...

Obama says rollback will make Americans less safe'. Plus, Thundercat on funk and being fired by Snoop (possibly)

Bad boy Heathcliff is described as ethnically ambiguous and dark' in the novel, yet is played by a pretty straightforward white Australian ElordiTired of movies for kids? Superhero capes and flatulent animated squirrels? Me too. Fortunately, you and I are in luck. This weekend brings the wide release of Saltburn director Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. As is befitting Fennell's established style, the movie offers over-the-top sexual titillation (though, crucially, zero nudity) and elaborate production design. Plus, a contemporary pop soundtrack from Charli xcx. A horny film version of a 19th-century novel is as adult-skewing as it gets at the box office these days.Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi suck face and stand around in the rain in expensive costumes for over two hours in a movie that Fennell proudly declares a loose translation from the page. It excises a large portion of the book's story and focuses its eye primarily on the illicit romance between Cathy Earnshaw and swarthy Heathcliff. Crucially, it should be pointed out that Heathcliff is technically Cathy's foster brother, which allows Wuthering Heights to fit comfortably into one of the most popular genres of online video in the world.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women's and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know whyLast week, we learned of the decision of the Texas A&M University board of regents to end women's and gender studies programs as well as the teaching of divisive concepts" such as race. A&M was not the first university to do this. Florida's New College made the move in 2023. Other red state legislatures have passed similar requirements and their public universities (in North Carolina, Ohio and Kansas) have followed suit.The move to cancel gender studies is explicitly justified as a way to comply with Donald Trump's executive order of last year titled Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. That document makes the biological reality of sex" a matter not of science but of law. Continue reading...

Agency says application rejected due to lack of adequate and well controlled' trial, but experts say they're just coming up with reasons'A senior US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official says Moderna's clinical trial on a new, potentially more effective flu vaccine was a brazen failure" and that the FDA is now calling it into question.The FDA unexpectedly refused to consider Moderna's application for a flu shot based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in a decision that experts say is already having a chilling effect on vaccine development. Continue reading...

The danger around the Portland star is that in making crucial debates into arguments about basketball, we lose sight of what is really importantThere's a weird, psychological tension around basketball fouls. Not unlike a trial. A single rubbered heartbeat thumps in our collective throats. In basketball litigation, the verdict is televised and delivered in public by the referee's whistle. Deni Avdija faced more trials than a career criminal in early January, when he scored 41 points in the Portland Trail Blazers' win over the Houston Rockets. Twenty-eight came from the field. The other 13 were handed to him at the stripe.The online response was immediate, echoing the criticism that has followed the Israeli all season: he's a free-throw merchant. It's a specific kind of hoops pejorative - not quite cheating, but a kind of outsourcing, farming points out to the refs. After the game, Rockets forward Tari Eason was asked what makes Avdija so difficult to guard. His answer was one word: Zebras." Continue reading...

The final stretch of the JP Morgan Chase chief's career is a bumpy one, as Trump himself demands prosecutors investigate Epstein's ties to Dimon's bank Continue reading...

SemiCab platform by Algorhythm, previously considered a penny stock', sparks category 5 paranoia' across sectorShares in trucking and logistics companies have plunged as the sector became the latest to be targeted by investors fearful that new artificial intelligence tools could slash demand.A new tool launched by Algorhythm Holdings, a former maker of in-car karaoke systems turned AI company with a market capitalisation of just $6m (4.4m), sparked a sell-off on Thursday that made the logistics industry the latest victim of AI jitters that have already rocked listed companies operating in the software and real estate sectors. Continue reading...

On game day, where fashion has become a huge part of athlete identity, professionals are reaching for codified displays of their wealth Don't get Fashion Statement delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereOn Sunday night the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, Bad Bunny put on a spectacular half-time show, and multiple players all walked down the tunnel from the car park to the dressing rooms carrying the same logo'd bag. The bag in question, by luxury French brand Goyard, isn't part of any official uniform - and isn't really known outside of its 0.1% customer base. But it has become as ubiquitous a status symbol among American football players as their AirPods Max headphones and Richard Mille watches - and is part of a brave new world of tunnel fits.Most primetime NFL games' coverage start hours before kick-off, as photographers, fans and pundits alike pore over players' sartorial choices just as they would their missed tackles and spectacular catches. Continue reading...

Prosecutor says newly discovered evidence' in case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis materially inconsistent with the allegations against them'Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis have moved to drop felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men, including one shot in the leg by an immigration officer, after new evidence emerged undercutting the government's version of events.In a filing on Thursday, the US attorney's office for the district of Minnesota said newly discovered evidence" in the criminal case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis is materially inconsistent with the allegations against them" made in a criminal complaint and a court hearing last month. Continue reading...

European leaders divided over how far to accommodate Trump's wrecking ball' politics and foreign policyUS Democrats will use a security summit this weekend to urge European leaders to stand up to Donald Trump, with the continent divided over how to keep the unpredictable US president on side.Democrats at the annual Munich Security Conference will include some of Trump's most outspoken critics, such as the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Arizona senator Ruben Gallego and the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.Trump's border czar" Tom Homan kicked off his press conference today announcing that the administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota has yielded the successful results" they were looking to achieve.Homan also noted that Immigation and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not made any arrests at hospitals, elementary schools or churches. However, many people in the Twin Cities have told the Guardian that they're fearful of federal immigration officers who patrol near these spots, and appear to make indiscriminate arrests throughout the region. The anxiety has resulted in parents keeping their children at home, and patients missing hospital appointments. Continue reading...

Emails show Kathy Ruemmler had close ties to convicted sexual abuser she called Uncle Jeffrey'Kathy Ruemmler, the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel to Barack Obama, has announced her resignation in the wake of emails showing a close relationship between her and Jeffrey Epstein, whom she referred to as Uncle Jeffrey".Ruemmler said in a statement on Thursday that she would step down as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Goldman Sachs as of June 30, 2026". Continue reading...

New York City officials raise flag at site of rebellion once again after act of erasure' by administrationDays after the Trump administration oversaw the removal of a Pride flag from the Stonewall national monument, officials in New York City again raised the flag at the historic site.A large crowd gathered near the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan's Greenwich Village to see it return to the space where, in 1969, the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement was ignited. Nearly six decades ago, police raided the popular gay bar, and set off an uprising that, as the Library of Congress notes, would fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism" in the US. Continue reading...

US president, who blamed aide for post depicting Obamas as apes, maintains video is not a problemDonald Trump on Thursday continued to brush off widespread backlash over a racist video posted to his social media account last week, and said no White House staffer had faced consequences for the offensive post.Asked by Weijia Jiang of CBS News on Thursday whether he had fired or disciplined that staffer who posted the video from your account that included the Obamas", Trump said that he had not. Continue reading...

Administration revokes bedrock scientific determination that removes government's ability to limit pollution from cars and trucks - key US politics stories from 12 FebruaryThe Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination that gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to billionaire polluters" at the expense of Americans' health.The endangerment finding, which states that the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endangers public health and welfare, has since 2009 allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit heat-trapping pollution from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources. Continue reading...

Dispute about rules elevates from insults to fisticuffs, with as many as 20 players becoming involvedA dispute over a rule led to a brawl during a pickleball game at a central Florida country club, authorities said, with one player hitting his opponent in the face with a paddle and punching him on the ground before others got involved.A 63-year-old man was charged Sunday with two counts of felony battery on a person 65 or older, and his 51-year-old wife, who joined the fight in Port Orange, was charged with a single count of felony battery on a person 65 or older, according to an arrest affidavit. Continue reading...

Investigation will assess whether LA county fire department discriminated while responding to 2025 firesThe California department of justice has launched a civil rights investigation into whether Los Angeles county discriminated against the predominantly Black community of west Altadena when responding to last year's Eaton fire.The investigation will assess whether the fire response resulted in a disparate impact" on west Altadena based on race, age or disability. Continue reading...

Scott Socha, whose company sued to claim trademark rights to Yosemite name, criticized by conservation groupsDonald Trump has nominated the hospitality executive Scott Socha - whose company once sued to claim trademark rights to the name Yosemite National Park" - to lead the National Park Service.The nomination of an outsider with business ties to the agency he'd oversee comes at a pivotal moment for the service, which lost a quarter of its staff under Doge's civil sector purge and which has been the subject of the Trump administration's aggressive efforts to erase mention of historical events from NPS sites that portray Americans in an unfavorable light, such as slavery. Continue reading...

Video of suspect in Arizona spurs a surge of calls as the desert search near Tucson yields little evidenceThe FBI released new details about the masked perpetrator suspected in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, as investigators continue to review the more than 13,000 tips that have come in from the public.The male suspect, who was pictured in video footage captured from the 84-year-old's home the night of her abduction, has an average build and is approximately 5'9"-5'10" tall, according to an FBI forensic analysis. He was seen with a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Decision comes after Slater lost the support of JD Vance and Pam Bondi, the attorney generalGail Slater, the head of the US justice department's antitrust division, was forced out of the Trump administration on Thursday after a turbulent tenure and months of simmering tensions with senior cabinet officials, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as AAG [assistant attorney general] for Antitrust today," Slater said in a post announcing her departure. Continue reading...

Though Department of Homeland Security almost certain to shutter at midnight Friday, ICE to be largely unaffected

Activity of immigration agents has left no part of the state unscathed even as border czar says surge would be endingIn one suburb of Minneapolis, the superintendent spends each school day driving to her district's schools to track federal agents. Across the metro, in another suburb, a Latino church organizes food donations to deliver to thousands of families staying at home out of fear of immigration agents.In town after town around Minnesota, federal agents have picked up immigrants and taken them away from their communities. Continue reading...

Seamus Culleton has been held for five months despite having valid work permit and being married to US nationalAn Irish court apparently issued a warrant for the arrest of the Irish man currently embroiled in controversy with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been ramping up detentions and activity around the United States since last year.Seamus Culleton has spent five months in US custody and faces deportation despite having a valid work permit in a case that has attracted widespread publicity. His lawyer called him a model immigrant" with no criminal record. Continue reading...

US attorney general displayed records of Congress members' searches into Epstein files during House hearingMembers of Congress are calling for investigations after discovering the Department of Justice created records of their research activities while they dug into files connected to Jeffrey Epstein.Photographs taken by Reuters during a congressional hearing on Wednesday showed the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, holding a document titled Jayapal Pramila Search History", listing files that the Democratic US representative Pramila Jayapal had accessed during her review of the Epstein materials. Continue reading...