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Judge blocked president's executive order on elections, saying suit against it had reasonable likelihood of success

The Trump administration's immigration raids in Los Angeles prompted mostly peaceful protests, which escalated when the president sent in the national guard - and then the US marines. Here is a video timeline of how the crisis has unfolded so far

For the past decade, the US press has fueled a moral panic over leftists on campus while failing to report on the right's assaultUS universities are facing the Trump regime's fury. The justification given by the regime is that universities are run by leftist ideologues, who have indoctrinated students to adopt supposedly leftist ideological orientations, as well as hostility to Israel, anti-whiteness and trans inclusivity. Donald Trump and his allies believe the election gave them the mandate to crush America's system of higher education. But what may be less clear is that it is the mainstream media's obsession with leftists on campus that has led to the current moment.The US mainstream media has waged a decade-long propaganda campaign against American universities, culminating in the systematic misrepresentation of last year's campus anti-war protests. This campaign has been the normalizing force behind the Trump administration's attack on universities, as well as a primary cause of his multiple electoral successes. Unless the media recognizes the central role it has played, we cannot expect the attack to relent.Jason Stanley is Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future Continue reading...

Imagining how the media would cover the troops in Los Angeles or the detention of a sitting senator is a useful exerciseAt times the gesture can seem like a cliche, but I like to imagine, for the sake of perspective, how political developments in the United States would be covered by the media if they were happening in any other country. I imagine that Thursday's events in Los Angeles might be spoken of like this:A prominent opposition leader was attacked by regime security forces on Thursday in the presence of the national security tsar, as he voiced opposition to the federal military occupation of the US's second-largest city following street demonstrations against the regime's mass deportation efforts. Continue reading...

ACLU gathered group of celeb fathers to read activist's letter to son to call attention to his detainment for Father's DayA group of celebrity fathers has come together to read Mahmoud Khalil's letter to his newborn son, calling attention to the Palestinian activist's continued detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on his first Father's Day.In the video, released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the celebrity dads - actors Mark Ruffalo, Mahershala Ali, Dallas Goldtooth, Arian Moayed, Mo Amer and Alex Winter; comic and television host W Kamau Bell; and the musician Tom Morello - read excerpts from Khalil's letter directly to a camera. Continue reading...

Cuomo faced criticism throughout the night, including from socialist Zohran Mamdani, whose name the former governor repeatedly mispronouncedIn the final debate of the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, seven candidates took the stage Thursday night and sparred over their experience and records.The participants included former New York governor and controversial frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, rising challenger and Democratic socialist state assembly member Zohran Mamdani, New York City council speaker Adrienne Adams; New York City comptroller Brad Lander, former comptroller Scott Stringer, State senator Zellnor Myrie, and former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson. Continue reading...

As in 1925, when Mussolini was in power, we must openly defy the brutal imposition of the fascist ideologyOn 1 May 1925, with Benito Mussolini already in power, a group of Italian intellectuals publicly denounced his fascist regime in an open letter. The signatories - scientists, philosophers, writers and artists - took a stand in support of the essential tenets of a free society: the rule of law, personal liberty and independent thinking, culture, art and science. Their open defiance against the brutal imposition of the fascist ideology - at great personal risk - proved that opposition was not only possible, but necessary. Today, 100 years later, the threat of fascism is back - and so we must summon that courage and defy it again.Fascism emerged in Italy a century ago, marking the advent of modern dictatorship. Within a few years, it spread across Europe and the world, taking different names but maintaining similar forms. Wherever it seized power, it undermined the separation of powers in the service of autocracy, silenced opposition through violence, took control of the press, halted the advancement of women's rights and crushed workers' struggles for economic justice. Inevitably, it permeated and distorted all institutions devoted to scientific, academic and cultural activities. Its cult of death exalted imperial aggression and genocidal racism, triggering the second world war, the Holocaust, the death of tens of millions of people and crimes against humanity.Defend democratic, cultural and educational institutions. Call out abuses of democratic principles and human rights. Refuse pre-emptive compliance.Join collective actions, locally and internationally. Boycott and strike when possible. Make resistance impossible to ignore and costly to repress.Uphold facts and evidence. Foster critical thinking and engage with your communities on these grounds.Nobel laureates: Eric Maskin, Roger B Myerson, Alvin E Roth, Lars Peter Hansen, Oliver Hart, Daron Acemoglu, Wolfgang Ketterle, John C Mather, Brian P Schmidt, Michel Mayor, Takaaki Kajita, Giorgio Parisi, Pierre Agostini, Joachim Frank, Richard J Roberts, Leland Hartwell, Paul Nurse, Jack W Szostak, Edvard I Moser, May-Britt Moser, Harvey James Alter, Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun, Barry James Marshall, Craig Mello, Charles RiceLeading scholars on fascism and democracy: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder, Jason Stanley, Claudia Koonz, Mia Fuller, Giovanni De Luna and Andrea MammoneThe full list of signatories can be found here Continue reading...

Netanyahu says operation will take many days' as Tehran threatens swift retaliation. Plus, the impact of buy now, pay later

Demonstrations at roughly 2,000 sites planned for Saturday, same day as US president's military parade and birthdayMillions of people are expected to protest against the Trump administration on Saturday at roughly 2,000 sites nationwide in a demonstration dubbed No Kings", planned for the same day as the president's military parade and birthday.Interest in the events has risen since Trump sent national guard and US Marine Corps troops to Los Angeles to tamp down mostly peaceful protests against ramped-up deportations. Continue reading...

A father facing eight years in prison comes forward to the Guardian as lawyers and advocates say US prosecutors are criminalizing free speech and targeting people injured by officersA Los Angeles protester charged with assaulting a federal officer at a recent demonstration against immigration raids says he himself was brutally attacked by law enforcement and is strongly rejecting prosecutors' allegations.Jose Manuel Mojica, a 30-year-old born in LA, spoke to the Guardian on Wednesday at his apartment, two days after he was released from jail and charged with a federal crime carrying up to eight years in prison. Continue reading...

Washington will host a celebration of US army's 250th anniversary, which also coincides with president's birthdayIt will be a parade fit for a king - which is precisely why critics worry what message it will send the rest of the world about the future of democracy in America.On Saturday there will be tanks on the streets of the nation's capital as Washington hosts a celebration of the US army's 250th anniversary, which happens to coincide with Donald Trump's 79th birthday. Continue reading...

Tait posted on Instagram days ago that for 20 years he lived a double life' but is working on repentance and healing'The Christian music legend Michael Tait, whose hit song God's Not Dead became an anthem for Donald Trump's Maga movement, has been accused of sexually assaulting three men, two who believed they were drugged by the rock star in the early 2000s, according to a months-long Guardian investigation. Four other men have alleged that Tait, a founding member of DC Talk and later a frontman for the Newsboys, engaged in inappropriate behavior such as unwatched touching and sexual advances.The Guardian is publishing these allegations days after Tait posted an extraordinary confession on his Instagram account, admitting that for 20 years he had been leading a double life", abusing alcohol and cocaine, and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way", according to his statement. Continue reading...

Protest actions like Hands Off' and No Kings' are sweeping across the US. But the media is barely paying attentionWhen hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered across the US on 5 April for the Hands Off" events protesting Donald Trump and Elon Musk's governmental wrecking ball, much of the news media seemed to yawn.The next day, the New York Times put a photograph, but no story, on its print front page. The Wall Street Journal's digital homepage had it as only the 20th-most-prominent story when I checked. Fox News was dismissive; I stopped counting after I scanned 40 articles on its homepage, though there was a video with this dismissive headline: Liberals rally against President Trump."Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Four years after the January 6 attack, the president is toying with invoking the Insurrection Act to respond to a conflict he provokedDonald Trump's stages of insurrection have passed from trying to suppress one that didn't exist, to creating one himself, to generating a local incident he falsely depicts as a national emergency. In every case, whether he inflates himself into the strongman putting down an insurrection or acts as the instigator-in-chief, his routine has been to foster violence, spawn chaos and show contempt for the law.In his first term, Trump reportedly asked the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, Can't you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?" Trump was agitated about protesters in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. On 1 June, Trump ordered the US Park police to clear the park. Some charged on horses into the crowd. Trump emerged after the teargas wafted away to walk through the park, ordering Milley to accompany him, and stood in front of St John's Church on the other side to display a Bible upside down.Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist and co-host of The Court of History podcast Continue reading...

The Indiana Pacers star spent most of the Paris Olympics on the USA bench. This postseason he has become a ruthless stealer of dreamsSelf-awareness may be Tyrese Haliburton's greatest attribute. That was obvious at last summer's Olympics as the 25-year-old All-Star was confined to the Team USA bench.Instead of hitting out at online fans who kept tabs on Indiana Pacers star's smiles, high fives and other displays of team spirit to make up for his lack of on-court statistics, Haliburton seized on the chance to dunk on himself. After the US pipped France in the final, Haliburton posted a selfie with his gold medal. When you ain't do nun on the group project and still get an A," he wrote. Continue reading...

From bloody noses to body-check complaints, the league's physicality is under the microscope. But players and historians say the toughness isn't new - we're just finally watchingLast July, Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson took a shot to the face from Seattle's Nneka Ogwumike that left her nose gushing. Wilson later said she'd never seen so much of her own blood. It didn't affect her game too much though: she finished with 24 points and 20 rebounds, telling reporters of the jab, I think it made me great."When Caitlin Clark entered the league in the same season and was almost immediately swatted around like a fruit fly by veterans with years of experience and plenty of size on her, she didn't complain (though many of her fans sure did). Clark came back this season bigger and better, delivering her own message to the veterans who knocked her around as a rookie. Continue reading...

If it goes ahead we will see the construction of a surveillance state that is in some ways worse than the USCanada got duped. We avoided electing an outright Trump sympathiser, but we still elected a prime minister who will align our policies with the United States. Despite all the anti-Trump rhetoric and celebration of the idea that Canada was independent and had no desire to be like the US, we are now passing Maga-inspired legislation.The newly elected Mark Carney government tabled a border bill that will give law enforcement sweeping powers in obtaining citizen's data, and will align Canada with the US's refugee policies. Bill C-2, or the Strong Borders Act, is presented as a border security bill. However, its reach extends beyond border applications to nearly all legislation.Erica Ifill is an economist and award-winning political columnist Continue reading...

Security officers grabbed and pushed to the ground Alex Padilla after he tried to ask a question at a news conference. Key US politics stories from Thursday 12 June 2025Democrats have criticized the forcible removal of a senator who posed a question on Donald Trump's immigration crackdown at a news conference as violent", horrifying" and a stunning abuse of power".Secret Service and FBI officers grabbed, shoved and pushed to the ground Democratic senator Alex Padilla before handcuffing him after he showed up and asked a question at the conference held by the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem. Continue reading...

Frontrunners Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani take the spotlight, sparring over their records and qualificationsSeven Democratic candidates vying to become New York City's next mayor clashed on Thursday night in the second and final debate before the June primary.The two-hour debate quickly turned combative with the frontrunners, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and democratic socialist assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, sparring over their records and qualifications. Continue reading...

Judge temporarily bars US president from deploying troops to LA, an order president has already appealed. This blog is now closed.

J.J. Spaun shot a superb 66 to lead the way after day one of the US Open but brutal Oakmont left its mark on plenty of the big namesJJ Spaun can't make his birdie putt on 13. But he's now sole leader of the US Open, because Ludvig Aberg makes a mess of the par-five 12th, going for the pin with his third and finding sand, then only splashing out into the rough. After bundling his chip eight feet past the hole, he does extremely well to make the putt coming back and limit the damage to bogey. Meanwhile Adam Scott bounces back from an opening bogey at 10 with birdies at 11 and 12, while Eric Cole does the same with birdies at 12 and 14. All change at the top!-2: Spaun (4*)

Video shows Padilla being restrained and ejected as he tries to question homeland security secretary at press event

Josh Hawley, a senator, threatened multiple organizations with inquiries, claiming they were bankrolling civil unrest'Immigration and civil rights organizations across the US are warning of a growing effort to undermine their advocacy work as rightwing lawmakers accuse them of fueling the demonstrations against federal raids in California.Advocacy groups voiced alarm on Thursday after Josh Hawley, a Republican US senator from Missouri, threatened multiple immigration and civil rights groups with investigations over claims that they are bankrolling civil unrest" in Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Rowena fire grows to 3,500 acres with evacuation orders issued for hundreds of homes in Columbia River Gorge areaA growing wildfire in Oregon has destroyed multiple homes and prompted evacuation orders in the Columbia River Gorge area, in what officials are calling an early warning of the fire season ahead.The so-called Rowena fire had grown on Thursday to 3,500 acres and remained 0% contained, prompting officials to issue evacuation orders for hundreds of homes and to temporarily close a section of an interstate highway. Continue reading...

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon had contingency plans to take Greenland and Panama by force if necessary during a congressional hearing on Thursday. When repeatedly asked by representative Adam Smith if invading the two countries was a policy of the defence department, Hegseth replied: Our job at the defense department is to have plans for any contingency'

Security guards wrestled Padilla out of the conference room as he explained he was a senator and wanted to ask the homeland security secretary a question. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, claimed the senator 'lunged' toward Noem during the press conference. Noem later said she had spoken to Padilla after the incident

CBP claims in statement that they are providing officer safety surveillance when requested by officers'

Air India tragedy comes after Boeing agreed US justice department payment to avoid prosecution over 2018 and 2019 crashes

The flag serves as a reminder of a fundamental truth about Mexican Americans: we are from here; we are also from thereRepublicans are using images of Ice protesters waving Mexican flags atop burning Waymo cars to foment fear among Americans. Like this photograph that Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday: a shirtless protester wielding the Tricolor atop a vandalized robotaxi as flames billow toward the weak sunlight backlighting the flag. His dark curls fall to his bare shoulders. He stares into the camera.Frankly, the image belongs in a museum. Continue reading...

The lawmaker will run against Ernst, who had told a town hall we're all going to die' in reply to Medicaid cut concernsWhen Iowa senator Joni Ernst now infamously told a town hall audience last month that we're all going to die" in response to concerns about proposed cuts to Medicaid in Donald Trump's signature spending bill, her Democratic challenger JD Scholten was on his way to a funeral.Scholten, a state lawmaker and minor league baseball player, said it was at that funeral for a local Democratic activist that his tentative plans to run for Congress for a third time - this time for the upper chamber - suddenly became more certain. Continue reading...

Facilities appear to be unprepared for rush of detained people, including young children. Plus, UK-bound Air India flights crashes with more than 200 onboard Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Immigrants, including families with small children, have been held in a cramped office basement for days without enough food and water after being detained by authorities in raids in Los Angeles, lawyers have said.Why are troops being sent to California? Following protests against immigration raids, Donald Trump ordered the military's deployment despite objections from the state's governor, Gavin Newsom.How long has Khalil been detained for? He has been held in a detention facility in Louisiana since March. Continue reading...

One of the world's best strikers talks about being part of a revolution, moving to Gotham FC and the upcoming EurosEsther Gonzalez is at the top of her game. The 32-year-old striker's list of accolades - World Cup winner, three-time Liga F champion, National Women's Soccer League champion, Copa de la Reina victor and Concacaf W Champions Cup winner - is matched by few in the sport. But as a young girl growing up in southern Spain, her path was uncertain, rife with obstacles. As a child, I dreamed of what I wanted to be when I grew up," she says. It was a soccer player. But, let's say, circumstances didn't allow me to see women's soccer or anything close to women's soccer."As she grew up with three sisters, Gonzalez's earliest memories of football were playing with her hermanas in their small village in Andalusia. She dreamed of being a footballer, but there wasn't a path before her. The shy young talent with a nose for goals would play with the local boys: they needed a goalscorer and she stepped in. As Gonzalez grew, her father took her on car journeys of more than four hours each way to get to training. Continue reading...

Advocates worry debt burden is worse with installment payments as credit card debt balloons to over $1tn in USWhen Nicole Hartman purchased her home in Berwick, Pennsylvania, in 2019, the place needed remodeling.The 44-year-old home help aide needed to replace the hot water heater, get two new appliances and fix a water issue, along with making the home more medically accessible for her children. Continue reading...

We are Jewish scholars who filed an amicus brief with the US supreme court on Harvard's discriminatory assumption that being Jewish means supporting IsraelHarvard is suing to stop the Trump administration's unprecedented interference in the operation of the university, supposedly to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. Harvard maintains it has already addressed a crisis of antisemitism on campus. The government is wrong in attacking Harvard, but so is Harvard in its defense.We are part of a group of 27 Jewish scholars of Jewish studies who have filed an amicus brief in Harvard's lawsuit against the Trump administration. We submitted the brief, drafted by the civil rights attorney Yaman Salahi, because we support the university's fight against government overreach. Yet in doing so, the institution has committed a different kind of discrimination - one that violates federal civil rights law. We reject Harvard's troubling assumption that being Jewish necessitates supporting Israel, or that criticism of Israel's genocide in Gaza constitutes antisemitism. Continue reading...

While heart-rate monitoring has provided us with some evidence, it fails to capture the ineffable nature of match dayA recent study of Brazilian football fans, supporters of Atletico Mineiro, monitored their heart rates before and during a big match and concluded that, a single goal aside, the collective rituals of the day were more emotionally intense than anything else. So going to the football is about more than the football; but we surely knew that anyway? Does the kind of neurophysiological approach take us any further?In the end this study relied on a very small sample - just 17 fans - and a very particular sample at that; the kind of supporter who shows up more than four hours before a game, and is all-in with the choreographed pre-match rituals of flares, fireworks and singing. Even then, the idea that heart rate is the most useful cipher for emotion is too crude a proposition to capture how we experience the game. This research was done at the final of the Minas Gerais state championships, against their eternal local rivals; I wonder what the results would have looked like from one of Bristol Rovers' tortuous late-season defeats this year? What is the physiological metric for ennui?David Goldblatt is the author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football and The Game of Our Lives. His new book Injury Time: Football in a State of Emergency (Mudlark) will be published in August Continue reading...

The league will relish the long-awaited chance to go toe-to-toe with the world, but they may not love the result

Several service members told advocacy groups they felt like pawns in a political game and assignment was unnecessaryCalifornia national guards troops and marines deployed to Los Angeles to help restore order after days of protest against the Trump administration have told friends and family members they are deeply unhappy about the assignment and worry their only meaningful role will be as pawns in a political battle they do not want to join.Three different advocacy organisations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions. Continue reading...

Troops are trained for war, where they can shoot to kill. Asking troops to police is an invitation to brutalityThis was the moment that Donald Trump was waiting for. A Democratic city, Los Angeles. A Democratic state, California. His most popular issue, immigration. And protests where occasional violence could be spotlighted endlessly on social media. What better time to summon the troops and burnish the president's tough-guy image.But Trump should be careful what he wishes for. The spectacle of needlessly calling in 4,000 national guard troops and 700 Marines may be red meat for his Maga base, but for most everyone else it is a bright warning sign of Trump's autocratic tendencies. Rather than quell the protests, he is provoking more, not only in LA but in at least two dozen cities across the US. Even if this is not yet the mass mobilization that such repression has sparked in other countries, it is making Trump's true colors clear.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, is a visiting professor at Princeton'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...

The protesters in LA have a clear message: don't arrest our friends and neighbours when they pose no danger to anyoneWhen Donald Trump was elected the first time round, the works of the German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt flew off the shelves in the US. It wasn't all good news - JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy was also enjoying a surge in popularity and Trump was, of course, still about to be president. But Arendt's famous 1951 work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, was selling at 16 times its usual rate, which meant that by the time of the protests centred on the inauguration in January 2017, at least some of those people had read it.Arendt's view of popular demonstrations was complicated. She wasn't blind to the way authoritarian rulers use public protest as an excuse for a display of physical power, embodied in the police, which turns the state into an army against its people, altering that relationship. If it's no longer government by consent, it's rule by force, and they have the equipment. Yet how many people here still believe", she wrote of Germany in the 1930s, quoting the French activist David Rousset, that a protest has even historic importance? This scepticism is the real masterpiece of the SS. Their great accomplishment. They have corrupted all human solidarity. Here the night has fallen on the future." It's an elegantly drawn lose-lose situation: if you lose the will to protest, you have been morally murdered", but if you don't, you play into the tyrant's hands.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

This blog is closing now. You can read all our coverage of the anti-Ice protests in Los Angeles and across the US here.Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to deploy National Guard troops across his state of Texas, becoming the first governor to do so as protests against Trump's immigration raids spread throughout the United States.Abbott said on X that the Texas National Guard will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order". Continue reading...

The tuxedo-clad US president - accompanied by first lady Melania - promised a golden era' for America at his first Kennedy Center production in WashingtonDo you hear the people sing? / Singing the song of angry men? / It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!"When the rousing anthem of revolution filled the Kennedy Center on Wednesday night, Donald Trump may have had a Pavlovian response along the lines of Get me Stephen Miller" or Send in the marines". We will never know. Continue reading...

Among the names announced by the US health secretary are several who have expressed anti-vaccine viewsRobert Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, named new members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on Wednesday after abruptly firing all 17 sitting members of the independent panel of experts, according to a post on X.The eight new members of the advisory committee for immunization practices (ACIP) are: Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross. Continue reading...