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Officials say temporary barriers helped Juneau avoid hundreds of flooded homes from Mendenhall Glacier meltNewly installed river barriers held back record levels of flooding and prevented widespread damage in Alaska's capital city on Wednesday, after an ice dam at the nearby Mendenhall Glacier released a huge surge of rainwater and snowmelt, officials said.Water pooled on several streets and in some yards in Juneau after the Mendenhall River crested earlier in the day, and high water was expected to persist for hours. But many residents in the flood zone had evacuated before peak water levels, and there were no damage reports similar to the past two summers, when about 300 homes were flooded. Continue reading...

Inspector general report comes as department has lost thousands of core' healthcare workers under TrumpThe US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is experiencing severe" staff shortages at all its hospitals, with the number of shortages increasing by 50% this fiscal year, according to a new report from the agency's independent watchdog.The report, released on Tuesday, came a day after the Guardian revealed the department had lost thousands of healthcare professionals deemed core" to the system under Donald Trump, without which, the agency said, mission-critical work cannot be completed". Continue reading...

The president turns the annual DC arts celebration into another monument to himself, handpicking honourees and hogging the spotlightThere is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts," are among the words inscribed in marble at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The age of Elizabeth was the age of Shakespeare, it says.The age of Donald Trump is the age of Trump's ego. Trump the president, commander-in-chief and master builder. Trump the supremo of the upcoming Olympics, football World Cup and America's 250th birthday. Trump whose self-aggrandisement is the size of a planet: on Wednesday not even the Kennedy Center's cavernous Hall of Nations could contain it. Continue reading...

The vet's diagnosis of it could be a stomach bug or lymphoma' was not exactly reassuring but, admittedly, the patient was wagging his tailSpeaking on a panel with me, a paediatric anaesthetist says that every time she takes a patient into theatre, she says to the parent, I will take good care of your child". Somehow, just imagining this solemn promise makes me tearful although I don't even know that a variation of these words is headed my way.For the past week, our cavoodle Odie has been vomiting. The vet's diagnosis of it could be a stomach bug or lymphoma" is not exactly reassuring but, admittedly, the patient is wagging its tail. Continue reading...

Some experts tee up public comment on EPA report calling fossil fuel concerns overblown, as others fast-track reviewVeteran climate scientists are organizing a coordinated public comment to a US Department of Energy (DOE) report that cast doubt on the scientific consensus on the climate crisis.The report, published late last month, claimed concerns about planet-warming fossil fuels are overblown, sparking widespread concern from scientists who said it was full of climate misinformation; it was an attempt to support a proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to undo the endangerment finding", which forms the legal basis of virtually all US climate regulations. Continue reading...

President, set to honor Sylvester Stallone and Kiss, says he was 98%' involved in selections and turned down plenty'Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will host the Kennedy Center honors this year and said he had been heavily involved in choosing who to nominate, rejecting people he thought were too liberal.The US president named actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, the rock band Kiss, country music star George Strait and actor and singer Michael Crawford among the first batch of Kennedy Center honors nominees since he took over as the Washington-based arts center's chairman upon returning to the White House this year. Continue reading...

The DC takeover is, first and foremost, an attempt to deflect from the Epstein case. But that's not all that's going onIn a dangerous new escalation of his authoritarian rule, Donald Trump has placed the police of Washington DC under federal control and announced that he will deploy the national guard to the country's capital. According to the president, crime in the city is out of control" - no matter that crime numbers are down significantly, including for violent crimes. But, of course, this power grab is not really about facts, it is about distraction and perception, and a chance to reconnect and refocus his base.Like all the other outrageous things Trump has been doing in the last weeks, the DC takeover is, first and foremost, an attempt to deflect from the Jeffrey Epstein case. As previously demonstrated by his demand to rename the NFL team to the (racist) Washington Redskins, his attacks on the Wall Street Journal, or his calls to prosecute former president Barack Obama (Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him?") that he will do anything to get the Epstein case out of the political and public debate.Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today Continue reading...

Commission approves limited season despite calls of cruelty over use of bows and arrows, food traps and dogsWildlife groups have condemned a decision by regulators in Florida to allow the hunting of black bears for the first time in a decade, and to permit barbaric" practices including the use of bait traps, archery and dog packs.The unanimous vote by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on Wednesday to approve a limited hunting season in December followed a presentation from staff insisting that a rising bear population and increasing encounters with humans warranted a reduction in numbers. Continue reading...

President's comments come as White House takes credit for dozens of arrests as part of campaign to fight crime crisis' city's leaders say doesn't exist

District judge said the grant funding suspensions violated an earlier June preliminary injunctionA US judge on Tuesday ordered Donald Trump's administration to restore a part of the federal grant funding that it recently suspended for the University of California, Los Angeles.US district judge Rita Lin in San Francisco ruled that the grant funding suspensions violated an earlier June preliminary injunction where she ordered the National Science Foundation to restore dozens of grants that it had terminated at the University of California. Continue reading...

About 800 national guard troops will be deployed in the nation's capital because, according to the president: our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs'A key chapter in the fascist playbook has always been to convince the public that it is living in such a state of mortal danger and unbridled chaos that the only chance of survival is to cede individual rights to the determined will of the Dear Leader. That's why fascist leaders have constantly demanded that their populations venerate all violence performed in the service of the state and revere the apparatuses of state violence, such as police forces and the military. In this scenario, state violence is not only necessary for the nation's survival. State violence is understood as even beautiful, something the public can and must believe in.Buying into state violence this way produces something historian Robert Paxton has called a mobilizing passion". In his book The Anatomy of Fascism, Paxton described how the beauty of violence and the efficacy of will" is produced and then mobilized by fascists by creating a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond the reach of traditional solutions". In other words, there's always a grave, existential threat lurking around every corner, and only fascist violence can restore order to a lawless world. To the fascist, as Umberto Eco once put it, life is a permanent war".Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. He is professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York Continue reading...

Under Joseph Humire, the thinktank tracked alleged crimes by the Venezuelan gang in the US. A non-profit found multiple false entriesA senior official appointed to the defense department led a thinktank that promoted fake news about the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to InSight Crime, a non-profit analyzing organized crime.Joseph Humire was appointed this summer to be the head of policy focusing on the western hemisphere within the office of the under secretary of defense for policy. He was previously the executive director of a conservative thinktank focused on global security. Humire's appointment comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its aggressive strategy against organized crime in Latin America and the Venezuelan government, which it accuses of working with TdA. Continue reading...

After IceBlock's launch in April, Kristi Noem attacked developer Joshua Aaron and his wife was fired from the DoJ. The attention has only led to more raids being reportedFor many undocumented immigrants living in the US, the constant threat of Ice raids has turned their homes into prisons. Leaving the house to go to work, school, buy groceries or the doctor's office all carry unthinkable risks.It's a problem that Joshua Aaron wanted to tackle. A former indie musician (he played bass in 2000s buzz band The Rosenbergs and later fronted his own group Stealing Heather) turned app entrepreneur, he set about making an app that could spot Ice and alert people, the same way drivers let other drivers know about traffic stops on Waze. Continue reading...

A majority of Americans - 53% - for the first time view even moderate drinking as harmful, Gallup poll showsAlcohol consumption among adults in the US is at the lowest level on record, as most Americans, for the first time, view even moderate drinking as harmful, a new survey has found.Pollster Gallup's latest Consumption Habits survey, conducted annually, showed that about 54% of Americans reported drinking alcohol, compared with 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023. Continue reading...

Reproductive health giant's ability to treat patients at risk due to Republicans' plans to cut Medicaid reimbursementsPlanned Parenthood clinics treated people who rely on Medicaid at more than 1.5m visits in 2024, new research published on Wednesday shows. But the reproductive health giant's ability to treat those patients is now in jeopardy due to Republicans' efforts to defund" Planned Parenthood by kicking it out of Medicaid.Donald Trump's tax and spending package, passed in July, bans Planned Parenthood from receiving reimbursements from Medicaid, the US government's insurance program for low-income people. After Planned Parenthood sued over the ban, a judge temporarily stopped it from taking effect. Continue reading...

Holiday company boss says tourists are opting instead for destinations such as Canada, Africa and Asia

City's mayor has hardened her stance on Trump's authoritarian' actions. Plus, Israel intensifies bombing of Gaza killing 89 Palestinians in 24 hours

Rural communities are seeing a key aspect of life affected amid Trump's immigration crackdown and Ice raidsHarrisonburg, Virginia, a town of 50,000 people in the Shenandoah Valley, should have been alive with the color, sound and smells of local Latino culture. Soccer tournaments, taco trucks, Salvadorian chanchona musical bands and about 4,000 visitors were last month set to attend the town's Hispanic Festival held at a sports complex outside the town.But this year, it's not happening. Continue reading...

Troops appeared in US capital Tuesday night as president's move is widely condemned as an authoritarian power grabThe Washington DC national guard began deploying on the city's streets on Tuesday night, as the city's mayor toughened her response to Donald Trump taking control of the city's police force.The unusual federalization of law enforcement in the US capital began a day after the president ordered the troops' arrival, calling Washington DC a lawless" city, despite official crime statistics saying otherwise, a White House official confirmed. Continue reading...

Robert Sullivan, 61, on personal leave' after Heather Jones, now 33, brought allegations, sexual in nature, to dioceseA Roman Catholic priest in Alabama is under investigation, church officials say - and he abruptly announced he is taking personal leave" - after a woman alleged to his superiors that he traded financial support for private companionship" including sex, beginning when she was 17.The accuser, Heather Jones, has also alleged that the clergyman, Robert Sullivan, recently paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars to remain silent about it, a claim she supported with bank records, an email and a copy of a legal agreement. Continue reading...

Two designers from different eras reflect on the changing look of soccer through logo designLance Wyman is among America's greatest-ever graphic designers, and his fingerprints are all over any number of American cities.Wyman's style is instantly recognizable - simple, bold and clever. Wyman often works in wayfaring, and his signs and instructions to viewers often use simple, geometric shapes to get the job done, often incorporating a playfulness as well. His approach has made his work timeless. In 2011, when the government of the District of Columbia wanted their metro map updated, they went right back to Wyman, who had crafted the original design for the system about 40 years earlier. Continue reading...

The laws of war are clear: journalists are civilians. To target them deliberately in war is to commit a war crimeIsrael always boasted that it was the only country in the region to support press freedom. That boast rang hollow even before the current war. Now, it's not even pretending. On Sunday, Israel openly and brazenly killed six journalists as they were sheltering in a tent that housed reporters and media workers.Israel accuses one of those journalists - Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif - of being a terrorist. It has not said what crime it believes the others have committed that would justify killing them. The laws of war are clear: journalists are civilians. To target them deliberately in war is to commit a war crime. Continue reading...

Confrontations are playing out nationwide as lawmakers conduct checks of facilities where thousands are being heldIn May, the Arizona representative Yassamin Ansari toured a detention facility where immigrants rounded up as part of the Trump administration's campaign of mass deportation were being housed. She described what she saw inside as sickening" and worse than prison" - immigrant detainees were held in overcrowded, moldy cells and many reported that they did not have reliable access to food, water or medical care.Two months later, Ansari returned to the remote desert complex to conduct another congressional oversight visit. This time, she was denied entry. Continue reading...

Report steps up criticisms of Europe, Brazil and South Africa but says little about abuses in Israel and El SalvadorDonald Trump's administration has significantly changed a key US government report on human rights worldwide, dramatically softening criticism of some countries that have been strong partners of the Republican president, such as El Salvador and Israel, which rights groups say have well-established histories of abuses.Instead, the US state department sounded an alarm about what it said was the erosion of freedom of speech in Europe, including the UK, and stepped up criticism of Brazil and South Africa - both of which Washington has clashed with over a host of issues. Continue reading...

The first-round quarterback crop from 2024 are no longer rookies. But who is thriving and who has plenty of work to do to make it to the top?2024 stats: 3,541 yards, 62.5% completion percentage, 20 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, 27th in EPA/play. Continue reading...

US state department says Labour government repeatedly intervened to chill speech' online after Southport attackThe Trump administration has accused the UK of backsliding on human rights over the past year, citing antisemitic violence and serious restrictions" on free speech.The annual US state department assessment, which analyses human rights conditions worldwide, highlighted laws limiting speech around abortion clinics, as well as the way government officials repeatedly intervened to chill speech" online after the 2024 Southport attack. Continue reading...

About 100 people turn up for not welcome' party in Charlbury, Oxfordshire as Trump's No 2 stays nearbyThere was cake and music. The weather was perfect. At first glance, it could have been a joyful community gathering in a sun-dappled Cotswolds village park, but the placards gave the game away.These pulled no punches, criticising the policies and stances championed by the US vice-president, JD Vance, who is enjoying a country break down the road. Continue reading...

In Alaska the Russian leader will claim to want peace, but only on his terms - and play on the president's desperation to make a deal' quicklyWars do not have to be won. Total victories loom largest in the popular imagination because those are the stories nations always tell to sustain patriotic feeling. The fuller version of history is written in stalemates.That is worth remembering when Donald Trump meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Both leaders have incentives to pretend that Ukraine's fate can be settled decisively without any Ukrainians at the negotiating table. That doesn't make it so. Continue reading...

The shockwaves sent by the US president could finally push Switzerland closer to the EUGrowing up in Zurich often felt like being removed from the world. It shouldn't be that way: after all, Switzerland is at the heart of Europe. Riding on the cosy Zurich trams, one hears all the world's languages; and the airport offers more direct intercontinental flights than Berlin. And yet, coming of age in Switzerland is like sitting in an aquarium looking at the world through a thick bulletproof window.That glass was shattered last week when Donald Trump announced 39% tariffs on Swiss exports. The US is the most important destination for Swiss products: 18.6% of all its exports go there. If Trump maintains the tariffs, sales to the US will be effectively annihilated", said Switzerland's industry lobbying group. The rightwing Swiss business minister, Guy Parmelin, announced a furlough programme to shield the economy from mass layoffs". The tabloid newspaper Blick captured the mood with a stark black front page, pronouncing it a black day" for Switzerland. Continue reading...

The national guard prepared to deploy on the streets of Washington DC on Tuesday night, a day after Donald Trump ordered their arrival to combat lawlessness, despite violent crime rate being at a 30-year low

This liveblog is now closed. You can find more of our politics coverage hereLater on, we'll hear from the Trump administration for the second day in a row. The president won't make an appearance, but press secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a White House briefing at 1pm ET.Defense secretary Pete Hegseth says he's proud to be part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network of Christian congregations.Pastor Doug Wilson, a CREC co-founder, leads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, the network's flagship location. Jovial and media-friendly, Wilson is no stranger to stirring controversy with his church's hard-line theology and its embrace of patriarchy and Christian nationalism.Wilson told The Associated Press on Monday he was grateful Hegseth shared the video. He noted Hegseth's post was labeled with Christ Church's motto: All of Christ for All of Life." Continue reading...

Governor calls Trump Taco' online, short for Trump always chickens out', prompted by president's flip-flop deadlinesCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom says the state will draw new electoral maps after Donald Trump missed" a deadline on Tuesday night in an ongoing redistricting battle between Democratic and Republican states.DONALD TACO' TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, MISSED' THE DEADLINE!!!", Newsom's office wrote on social media. CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE BEAUTIFUL MAPS,' THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!)". Continue reading...

Poll says 44% of voters for Mamdani and 25% for Cuomo as Elise Stefanik chips away at Hochul's lead in governor raceThe closely watched New York mayoral and governor's races appear to be forming into shapes that will bring little comfort to centrist Democrats, with elections happening in November this year in New York City and the gubernatorial vote a year later.A new Siena Institute poll released on Tuesday shows New York City's Democratic socialist mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, leading former New York governor Andrew Cuomo by 19 percentage points - while the Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik is chipping away at incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul's lead in a hypothetical contest for the New York governor's mansion in 2026. Continue reading...

White House letter orders review as part of a broader push to assert oversight over cultural institutionsThe Trump administration is evidently extending its control of cultural representation at the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex.In a letter posted on the White House website, the administration told the Smithsonian that it plans a wide review of exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of the US's 250th anniversary celebrations in 2026. Continue reading...

The White House has said about 850 officers and agents took part in a massive law enforcement surge' across the city on Monday night. Key US politics stories from 12 August 2025A steady stream of uniformed soldiers arrived at the national guard headquarters in Washington on Tuesday for deployment that evening to fight crime in the nation's capital.Donald Trump's deployment of the 800-strong force has been described by Democrats as political theater. With Trump threatening to replicate the move in other big cities, Democrats point to statistics showing that violent crime in Washington has dropped to historic lows in the past two years. Continue reading...

Judge tells Ice to limit capacity and immediately ensure cleanliness in migrant holding cells at 26 Federal PlazaA federal judge ordered the Trump administration Tuesday to immediately improve conditions at a New York City immigration holding facility, acting on complaints by jailed migrants that it is dirty, smelly and overcrowded.Judge Lewis Kaplan, ruling in a lawsuit filed on behalf of detainees, issued a temporary restraining order requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to limit capacity, ensure cleanliness and provide sleeping mats in so-called hold rooms at 26 Federal Plaza, a government building in Manhattan. Continue reading...

Fire crews were responding to scene and Union Pacific said in a statement none of the cars show signs of leaking'Emergency services responded to a derailed train in Palo Pinto county, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon, with officials noting that nearly three dozen cars were carrying hazardous materials.A Train has derailed at the Coalville Rd Bridge. Multiple cars off the track on their side. No cars are leaking contents. No injuries reported," Palo Pinto county emergency services district 1 said in a social media post. Continue reading...

President questions whether David Solomon should lead bank and says he should return to former hobby of DJingDonald Trump hit out at Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon on Tuesday, saying the bank had been wrong to predict tariffs would hurt the economy and questioning whether Solomon should lead the Wall Street institution.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said it was mostly foreign companies and governments absorbing the cost of his tariffs. But David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due. They made a bad prediction...on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves," he wrote. Continue reading...

Conservative spokesperson says scheduling meeting of US vice-president and party leader had been difficultJD Vance has met Robert Jenrick during his holiday in the Cotswolds but is not expected to see the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch.Jenrick held an hour-long one-on-one meeting with the US vice-president on Tuesday evening, according to a source close to the shadow justice secretary. Continue reading...

Ken Paxton asks judge to fine and jail ex-congressman for defying order to halt political fundraisingThe Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has asked a local judge to consider jailing Beto O'Rourke, saying the former congressman was openly defying a judicial order blocking him and his political group from fundraising and paying the costs of Democrats who left the state to stop Republicans from passing a new congressional map.Tarrant county district judge Megan Fahey granted a request from Paxton last week halting O'Rourke and a group aligned with him, Powered by People, from fundraising. The order bars the group from using funds to pay the costs of Texas lawmakers during the special session or paying the $500 daily fines the lawmakers face for each time they are absent. Continue reading...

Some of the 800 national guard members deployed by President Donald Trump began arriving in the nation's capital on Tuesday, ramping up after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what the president called - without substantiation - a lawless city. Protesters took to the streets to express their rejection of the decision.

Pentagon considers a quick-reaction force to deploy in US cities amid unrest, raising legal and political concernsDonald Trump could expand the use of national guard troops in US cities even further, if a plan from the Pentagon comes to fruition.The Washington Post, reporting on internal documents on Tuesday, says Pentagon officials are evaluating plans" to create a Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force" that would deploy to crack down on cities in events of unrest or during protests. Continue reading...

Court refuses to block department of government efficiency' from accessing data such as citizenship status