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High-ranking officials can spill military secrets with apparent near-total immunity

National security adviser faces new scrutiny after adding journalist to group chat discussing Yemen attack plansMike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser who is at the center of the storm over a group chat which leaked highly sensitive military plans to a journalist, left his Venmo account open to the public, according to a new report.The oversight represents a further security breach, days after the news that Waltz added the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic to a Signal chat in which operational planning for a US attack on Houthis in Yemen was shared. Continue reading...

Health secretary aims to close regional offices and establish new division called administration for a healthy America'The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr has announced he intends to slash the size of the department he leads by a huge fraction - around 10,000 jobs out of the 82,000 full time workforce.Kennedy announced on Thursday that he also plans to close some regional offices. Continue reading...

Police arrest suspect after sitter shocked to encounter man when trying to show child there was nothing under the bedA babysitter in Kansas who was asked by a child to check for monsters under their bed was stunned to discover a man hiding there, police have said.The shocking incident occurred on 24 March at a property just outside the city of Great Bend, when the sitter was seeking to put the children she was looking after to bed. However, one of them was afraid. Continue reading...

Rumeysa Ozturk, Turkish national on a student visa, sent to Louisiana detention center over pro-Palestinian activismFootage has emerged of the moment US immigration officials, wearing masks and hoodies, detained a Tufts University doctoral student in Massachusetts in the street and bustled her into an unmarked car.Rumeysa Ozturk was detained on Tuesday by federal immigration agents, and on Wednesday was being held at the South Louisiana Ice processing center, according to the government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detainee locator page. Continue reading...

Key trading partners, including Canada, condemn move. Plus, European Commission advises people to stockpile enough essentials for 72 hours

While Trump muses about annexing the US's neighbor, the NHL star has remained quiet. My fellow Canadians are furiousI remain immensely proud to have lived in Edmonton during the Oilers' glory years, when Wayne Gretzky was not merely that city's darling, but also a fresh-faced, flag-waving ambassador for all of Canada.On ice, he dazzled with his scoring prowess and consistency; off ice, he charmed with his various charitable deeds and aw-shucks humility. Continue reading...

Top aides aggressively' made case to Democratic donors last summer, according to account of 2024 campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie ParnesTop aides to Joe Biden aggressively" warned Democratic donors last summer that if the then president was forced out of the 2024 election over concerns about his age and fitness, the party would inevitably make the mistake" of running the vice-president, Kamala Harris, against Donald Trump, a new book says.One donor on the receiving end of an electronic message summed up the sentiments of Biden's top aides: They were aggressively saying that we would wind up with the vice-president and that would be a mistake.'" Continue reading...

Democratic Association of Secretaries of State says plans amount to most aggressive' operation to dateThe group that represents Democratic state election officials says it plans to spend $40m on competitive races in 2026 with the goal of Democratic control of election oversight before the 2028 presidential election.The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State says the plans amount to its most aggressive" operation to date, a sign of growing interest in the people who run elections, according to a strategy memo shared with the Guardian. The group will be targeting races in swing states and a few other states where they think they can win control of the office that helps manage and oversee election policies and signs off on state results. Continue reading...

Sympathy for yesteryear is gaining traction among Republican elites, and Trump's relations with white supremacy is too closeGen Robert E Lee is long dead, but the spirit of the Confederacy appears alive and well. Federal contractors will no longer be explicitly barred from racially segregating their restaurants, waiting rooms and water fountains, according to the Trump administration. A memorandum dated 15 February 2025, issued by the General Services Administration, the procurement arm of the federal government, explicitly dropped those strictures.Any open solicitations that contain any of the provisions or clauses listed above should be amended to remove the provisions and clauses," the memo read. Forget about simply putting an end to race-based affirmative action and DEI. Team Trump appears determined to turn the clock back to the 1950s, if not earlier than that. The ghost of Jim Crow smiles.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

She's a Grand Prix champion, a triple Axel pioneer and one of figure skating's most formidable athletes. But her artistry, not just her athleticism, may be what changes the sportWhen Amber Glenn takes the ice for the free skate on Friday night at the world figure skating championships in Boston after a disappointing short program, fans will be holding their breath. Undefeated this season, she was seen as the one to beat. The Grand Prix final Champion, two-time US champion, the only woman to regularly land a triple Axel in competition (on which she suffered an uncharacteristic fall, landing her ninth place in the short on Wednesday afternoon), she had been tipped to become the first US woman to win the world title in nearly 20 years. But with less than seven points between her and first place, nothing is impossible. And while much of the tenacity that could still bring her victory this week lies in her raw athleticism, Glenn has something in her arsenal more tenuous, and more volatile: She's an artist.At first glance, Glenn doesn't appear so different to the all-American skating stars of past decades. Slender, with blonde curled hair framing her perfectly made up face, she doesn't overtly break the mold. But when the music starts, something else takes over. She's explosive; her movements deliberate, and there's a weight to her actions that not only enables her to drive across the ice like a hockey player, but to display exquisite musicality, showcasing a sensitivity and showmanship that has gained her a devoted fanbase (and 1.5m TikTok followers). Continue reading...

Los Angeles have one of the most complete rosters in the history of baseball. But that doesn't mean retaining the title is a givenNo, because winning the World Series only requires 11 postseason wins, providing you avoid the wildcard. The best thing that any team can do to win the World Series is to get into the playoffs. Getting into the playoffs usually requires that teams spend money to employ the best players, but last year was the first time since 2018 that the team with the best regular-season record won the World Series. GB Continue reading...

The leaking of top-level military secrets was bad enough, but I'm obsessed with Maga's fratboy lexiconThe Maga-fication of American political discourse, which started, arguably, with Donald Trump mocking a disabled reporter in 2015, peaked this week with news of Pete Hegseth referring to European countries in the leaked Signal chat as PATHETIC", and enjoyed a detour last Tuesday when Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and former running mate of Kamala Harris, appeared at a town hall in Wisconsin and called Elon Musk a dipshit". (This is not the first time he has referred to Musk this way. Right before the election last year, Walz told a crowd: Look, Elon's on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dipshit.")Parking for a moment the perfection of the phrase skipping like a dipshit" to capture Musk's very particular style of movement and speech, the range of what can and can't be said in politics has clearly, radically changed. When you look back on the phrase that caused Hillary Clinton so much trouble in 2016 - basket of deplorables" - it sounds like a quote from an 18th-century novel. Take that, sir! You and your basket of deplorables!" Now we have Trump referring to Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic editor mistakenly added to the Signal chat, as a sleazebag", and Hegseth, the US defense secretary, telling JD Vance that he fully shares the vice-president's loathing of European free-loading". We are millimetres away from someone shouting asshole" across the floor of the Senate.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Journalist included in White House Signal group chat releases more messages in wake of Trump administration denials. Here's your roundup of key US politics stories from 26 March 2025The Atlantic magazine has published fresh messages from a group chat among top US officials in which they discuss specific operational details of plans to bomb Yemen, after Donald Trump and other administration officials insisted the information was not classified.It reproduced numerous messages from the text chat between the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth - who said on Tuesday that nobody was texting war plans" - and top intelligence officials. Continue reading...

Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, describes the levies as a direct attack' and vows to defend Canadian workers and companiesDonald Trump announced plans to impose sweeping 25% tariffs on cars from overseas on Wednesday, days before the US president is expected to announce wide-ranging levies on other goods from around the world.What we're going to be doing is a 25% tariff for all cars that are not made in the United States," Trump said in the Oval Office. We start off with a 2.5% base, which is what we're at, and go to 25%." Continue reading...

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Der Spiegel reports that in some cases it found password details for Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard via hacked data dumps and commercial providersThe private data of top security advisers to US President Donald Trump can be accessed online, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday, adding to the fallout from the officials' use of a Signal group chat to plan airstrikes on Yemen.Mobile phone numbers, email addresses and in some cases passwords used by national security adviser Mike Waltz, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard can be found via commercial data-search services and hacked data dumped online, it reported. It is not clear in all cases how recent the details are. Continue reading...

US president had previously called for the impeachment of James Boasberg after the judge blocked his deportation flightsThe US judge set to hear a new lawsuit over the Signal fiasco is the same judge whom Donald Trump has argued should be impeached for blocking him from using wartime powers to deport Venezuelan migrants.James Boasberg, a district judge in Washington, was assigned on Wednesday to a lawsuit alleging Trump officials violated federal record-keeping laws by using a Signal group chat to discuss looming military action against Yemen's Houthis. Continue reading...

As figure skating's world championships began in Boston, a ceremony was held in honor of the 28 members of the sport's community who died in January's midair collisionThe lights dimmed, the arena fell silent and a sport took a collective breath. On Wednesday night at TD Garden, the world figure skating championships paused between events for something far more profound than medals or scores: a solemn tribute to the 28 members of the skating community who died in January when American Eagle flight 5342 crashed into the Potomac River.Held after the women's short program and before the start of the pairs' short program, the ceremony honored the skaters, coaches and parents who were returning from a development camp held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas. Continue reading...

Senior GOP figures warn of potential significant political problem' for Trump administration in rare sign of unrest

National intelligence head Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe argue no classified information' was leaked

Jason Stanley, who says grandmother fled Berlin with his father in 1939, says US may become fascist dictatorship'A Yale professor who studies fascism is leaving the US to work at a Canadian university because of the current US political climate, which he worries is putting the US at risk of becoming a fascist dictatorship".Jason Stanley, who wrote the 2018 book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, has accepted a position at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Continue reading...

The arrest of Istanbul's mayor, Ekrem mamolu, was a turning point for those already angered at political repression and a cost of living crisisThe tens of thousands who have taken to Turkey's streets over the last week are not all supporters of Ekrem mamolu, the jailed political rival of PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoan. They are outraged because they believe that the arrest of Istanbul's mayor is a tipping point, with the country sliding fromauthoritarian democracy to outright autocracy.Authorities have now arrested more than 1,400 protesters, including numerous photojournalists. They are clamping down on coverage of a movement that Mr Erdoan describes as evil", but which is driven by anger at cumulative political repression and the parlous state of the economy. Continue reading...

Rescue mission off Lost Coast Trail required US Coast Guard, fire department, helicopter team and swimmersTwo hikers were rescued from California's rugged and remote north coast over the weekend after one of them slid more than 100ft (30 metres) down a steep cliff and was clinging to a near vertical" bluff with hiking poles, authorities said.The Shelter Cove fire department and a US Coast Guard team responded to a call on Saturday afternoon for a hiker stranded on a cliff near the Lost Coast Trail, which traces more than 50 miles (80km) of the wild and undeveloped coast in far northern California, in the King Range national conservation area. The difficult terrain and conditions required a highly technical" rescue operation that included a boat, jet ski and several rescue swimmers as well as a helicopter team, the agencies said. Continue reading...

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, independent labor peacemaker, makes up just 0.0014% of US budgetThe Elon Musk-run department of government efficiency" (Doge) in effect shuttered a 79-year-old federal agency that mediates labor disputes on Wednesday - saving an estimated 0.0014% of the federal budget.The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), an independent federal agency that works to prevent and resolve work stoppages and disputes in the public and private sector, has shut down most of its services and placed employees on administrative leave with firings to follow. Continue reading...

The Atlantic releases more text from chat after Trump officials claimed none of it was classified information'

Tyron McAlpin was attacked by police responding to a report of a white man causing a disturbance in a storeThe Phoenix police department has disciplined three officers who violently used a stun gun on and punched a deaf Black man with cerebral palsy last year.The department's interim police chief, Michael Sullivan, announced that he had issued 24-hour unpaid suspensions to the officers who were involved in the arrest of Tyron McAlpin last August, which was filmed on video. Two of the officers will also be required to attend de-escalation training, Sullivan said. Continue reading...

Wednesday's House intelligence committee hearing saw Donald Trump's security team face a grilling over their claim that no classified information was leaked to The Atlantic's editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly added to a Signal chat that discussed a military strike on Yemen's Houthis

We must persuade Trump to do the right thing - securing peace in the Middle East - for the wrong reasonDonald Trump's instinctive deference to the Israeli government is at odds with his self-image as an expert dealmaker. Much as it may seem laughable that the president wants the Nobel peace prize, his quest may be the best chance we have for securing any US government regard for the rights and lives of Palestinians in Gaza.Trump currently seems to endorse the strategy of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of trying to pummel Hamas into accepting defeat. To force Hamas to release its remaining hostages and to disband its diminished military force, Netanyahu has resumed Israel's strategy of starving and bombing Palestinian civilians. In less than a week, about 600 Palestinians have already been killed. Continue reading...

Heads of both NPR and PBS testify amid renewed Republican effort to defund US public mediaThe heads of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service testified in a heated congressional subcommittee hearing on Wednesday amid a renewed Republican effort to defund US public media.NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical leftwing echo chambers," said the Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene during her opening remarks, accusing NPR of having a communist agenda". Continue reading...

Administration plans to end funding to Gavi, a global health organization that helps provide life-saving care for childrenThe Trump administration is planning to end funding for Gavi, a global health organization that helps provide vaccines and other life-saving care to developing countries.A 281-page spreadsheet obtained by the New York Times lists the Trump administration's plans for thousands of foreign aid programs, including financial cuts to the organization that buys vaccines for children, as well as scaling back on programs that combat malaria in developing countries. Continue reading...

Officer intercepted message of encouragement slipped into socks going to accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEOSomeone tucked a heart-shaped note of encouragement into socks packed for Luigi Mangione to wear to court recently in the case surrounding the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO, prosecutors said in a court document released on Wednesday.Writings and words on bullets recovered from the scene reflected Mangione's alleged hostility toward health insurers and corporate America. The case has made him something of a cult celebrity to people frustrated with corporate health insurers in the US. Others, including elected officials, decry what they see as glorifying violence and vigilantism. Continue reading...

The US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has said that the invitation extended to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to join a Signal chat group with senior US security officials discussing an attack on Yemen's Houthis was 'inadvertent' and 'a mistake', but insisted again that nothing classified was shared. Speaking at a Senate hearing, Gabbard said: 'The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president and the national security advisor stated, no classified information was shared'

Nathan Hochman ends progressive predecessor's moratorium as legal advocates condemn move as cruel'Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman is allowing county prosecutors to seek the death penalty again, reversing a ban put in place by his predecessor and making good on a campaign promise.The county prosecutorial office said on Monday the death penalty will be pursued only in exceedingly rare cases" and the most egregious". Continue reading...

Trump officials had claimed nothing classified or risking harm to members of the military was shared in the chat

Ride-share drivers held demonstrations from San Francisco to San Diego amid ongoing negotiations affecting 250,000Ride-share drivers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego held demonstrations in front of city hall buildings on Wednesday as California state attorney General Rob Bonta, city attorneys and attorneys representing ride-share drivers continue negotiations next week with Uber and Lyft to settle thousands of claims of wage theft for drivers.At least 250,000 individual ride-share drivers in California who drove for the apps between 2016 and 2020 are estimated to be eligible for the settlement for wage theft claims of tens of billions of dollars, according to Rideshare Drivers United in California. Continue reading...

National security adviser accepts he made the group but deflects blame. Plus, the definitive guide on getting over a grudge

James Malone triumphed in a district that voted for Trump over Harris by more than 15 points in last NovemberA Democrat won a state senate seat in a Pennsylvania district that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, offering a ray of hope for the party as it continues to struggle nationally with its response to the Trump administration.James Malone triumphed on Tuesday in the 36th senatorial district, which voted for Trump over Kamala Harris by more than 15 points in last November's presidential election, in a victory that Democratic party leadership said should put Republicans on edge". Continue reading...

The problem isn't just Schumer's strategy - it's his perception of reality. He is conducting business as usual while the US burnsIn just two months, Donald Trump has launched an assault of staggering ferocity on America's values, laws and people. The Democratic party faces a choice: does it lead the fight against authoritarianism and billionaire capture, or does it hunker down and hope the president implodes on his own? After last week's legislative debacle, we've concluded that if Democrats want to fight, they need to replace the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, with someone who understands the stakes.Since November, our grassroots movement, Indivisible - led by regular people organizing nationwide - has been fighting back. Indivisible groups have pushed members of Congress, attended town halls, protested Elon Musk, and organized locally against Trump's agenda. Everywhere we go - red, blue or purple - people ask why Democratic leadership doesn't share their urgency. Continue reading...

Despite the diversity of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, officials go after non-white visa and scholarship holders to create a wedge in solidarity'For more than a year, students at US colleges and universities have participated in protests in support of Palestine, as Israel's war has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. Students have faced suspensions and expulsions over encampment demonstrations and other actions, as schools crack down on participation.Now, at least five students and academics of color at US universities have been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), as a part of the Trump administration's ongoing punishment on Palestinian support. Continue reading...

Aimee Lou Wood's natural smile stands out amid Hollwood's dazzling veneers. But let's not get carried awayStraight, expensive, blindingly white. No, I'm not talking about Donald Trump's vision for America; I'm talking about teeth. Namely the sort of teeth you see on American TV shows - and, since many US politicians seem to love cosmetic surgery - the evening news. Everyone from Z-list influencers to Taylor Swift to Trump himself seems to have perfect teeth.Americans have always been invested in their smiles, but an increasing number of British people are also shelling out for veneers. You need sunglasses to watch the telly these days, everyone's smile is so bright. Continue reading...

Researchers looking at mass sunflower sea star die off in Puget Sound found the two impacted growth of young onesMicroplastics and a widely used pesticide are helping kill off sea star populations in Washington state's Puget Sound, new research shows.The findings come as researchers look into what has caused a mass sunflower sea star die off in the region. Though it's not yet clear whether the toxic substances are at the die off's root, the study found that microplastics and the pesticide have detrimental impacts on young sea stars, which could prevent the population from rebounding. Continue reading...

A Tennessee chapter of the National African American Gun Association (Naaga) is teaching their community self-defense as more Black adults in US become firearm ownersIn the middle of a strip of industrial, single story buildings, it's easy to miss the offices of 901 Brothers Sisters Keeper gun club, the Memphis chapter of the National African American Gun Association (Naaga).Inside the office multiple flags hang: the Black Lives Matter flag; the thin green line flag, which is often used by members and supporters of the US military; an American flag; and the Naaga flag, a red, black and green version of the country's flag that reads: community engagement", tactical training", safe storage", kid's gun safety", self defense" and mentoring" - tenets of the organization. Continue reading...

To generate the scale of resistance necessary to win, the two Democratic socialists need to convince attenders to organizeThank goodness Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have ignored the advice of Democratic operatives to roll over and play dead". Their anti-oligarchy mass rallies have brought out record-breaking numbers, testifying to a widespread popular desire to fight back against Elon Musk and Donald Trump.Filling the void left by Chuck Schumer and his ilk, AOC and Bernie are becoming leaders not just of leftist activists, but of the Democratic party's mainstream liberal base. The hard question now is how to harness all this energy into a movement capable of actually defeating Musk, then Trump.For those asking, yes these [rallies] are tied to action. All have been in or near GOP-held swing districts and we are following up with specific actions to pressure their Member to vote NO on any Medicaid cuts or billionaire tax breaks - or else face electoral consequences.Eric Blanc is assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. He is the author of We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big Continue reading...

Trump signed executive orders aimed at firms challenging his administration's priorities, roiling the legal communityDonald Trump's executive orders targeting law firms and attorneys who challenge his priorities are roiling the legal community, with some capitulating to the administration's demands amid mounting pressure the US's biggest firms to speak out.The president signed an executive order on Tuesday targeting the firm Jenner & Block over its previous employment of Andrew Weissman, a prosecutor who worked on Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's connections to Russia. The order came after Trump issued similar executive orders targeting three other firms - Covington and Burling, Perkins Coie, and Paul, Weiss - over their representation of his political rivals. Continue reading...

Both parties are responsible for the mess facing Columbia and other institutions. It's time for their leaders to take a standDonald Trump trying to cow higher education institutions into submission using the power of the purse. The administration has withheld $400m in federal funds from Columbia University and has vowed to remove even more if its demands are not met.Columbia has an endowment of $14.8bn and an annual operating budget of $6.6bn. The cuts amount to roughly 6% of its annual budget - a non-trivial share. In order to keep it, Columbia was instructed to adopt a number of illiberal measures: it must put its Middle East, South Asia and Africa Studies department into academic receivership; change its admissions policies to reduce admits of people from those regions and admit more Jewish students;and grant campus police more power to surveil, detain and remove people from campus without following the usual due process. It must accept permanently heightened restrictions on campus protest and speech and comply with unlawful federal orders to arrest and expel green card holders who have committed no crime, such as Mahmoud Khalil.Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. His book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, is out now with Princeton University Press. He is a Guardian US columnist

Donald Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, has said he takes 'full responsibility' for the group chat of senior administration officials that inadvertently included a journalist and leaked highly sensitive information about planned airstrikes in Yemen. Waltz's comments came one day after Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, revealed that he was added to a group on the Signal ,private messaging app that included the vice-president, JD Vance, defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and other high-profile figures discussing 'operational details' of planned attacks on the Houthis in Yemen. Waltz accepted responsibility for making the Signal group, though he continued to deflect blame, insulted Goldberg and said he could not explain how the mistake had occurred