by Oliver Laughland, Tom Silverstone and Laurence Top on (#6Z3XT)
Donald Trump's second presidency has led to allegations of pervasive self-dealing. From the acceptance of a luxury jet from the state of Qatar, to the creation of a Trump cryptocurrency, the president has been accused of monetizing the White House while enacting a swath of extreme policy. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel across south Florida, visiting Turning Point's student action summit, meeting the Republican strategist Steve Bannon, and witnessing events at the harsh new detention centre "Alligator Alcatraz". Continue reading...
Dominic Cipolla was arrested at New Orleans's international airport on stalking charges out of Kansas, officials sayA Spirit Airlines pilot has been removed from duty" after being arrested at work at New Orleans's international airport on stalking charges out of Kansas, according to officials.Dominic A Cipolla, 40, was charged with stalking two different people in a criminal complaint dated 11 July, records in the Johnson county courthouse in Olathe, Kansas, show. Officials haven't released much information about the charges against Cipolla, but the dates of birth listed in court documents for his alleged victims indicate that they are approximately 12 and 17 years old. Continue reading...
The firing of Erika McEntarfer, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, destroys the credibility of essential informationI spent much of the 1990s as the secretary of labor. One unit of the labor department is the Bureau of Labor Statistics.I was instructed by my predecessors as well as by the White House, and by every labor economist and statistician I came in contact with, that one of my cardinal responsibilities was to guard the independence of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue reading...
Hundreds of people gathered in New York to protest against Israel's war on Gaza and demand that the Trump administration put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The protest, organised by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, began at Columbus Circle and ended outside the Trump International hotel, where several people were arrested for blocking the road. Palestinian officials have said 175 people have died from hunger in Gaza since the beginning of the war, 93 of them children
With the start of the regular season almost in sight, we take a tour of the league's most compelling plotsLeave it to Jerry Jones to stink up the most optimistic time of year. The Cowboys owner has once again fumbled a contract negotiation with one of his stars. Despite fellow 2021 draftees Penei Sewell, Patrick Surtain II and Ja'Marr Chase signing long-term extensions, the Cowboys have allowed talks with Parsons to drag on. Continue reading...
After a winding career path, Abou Ali now faces the pressure of being a designated player for one of the league's best teamsAs soon as I stepped on the field on the King Abdullah II Stadium in southeast Amman in June, Wessam Abou Ali stepped off. Palestine had just had their dreams of the 2026 World Cup ended by a last-minute Oman penalty that was as soft as they come. While some players in white fell to their knees or collapsed crying into the arms of coaching staff, the 26-year-old, with scrunched-up shorts, exited stage left to head to the United States and the global stage of the Club World Cup with Egypt's Al-Ahly, after impressing so much on the African and Asian one.Now, after this busiest of summers, the Danish-born star has signed for Columbus Crew - a No 9 for one of MLS's best teams in need of one, and one who takes up one of the team's allotment of designated player spots, to boot. Continue reading...
Donald Tusk has failed to offer a positive vision for the future. Without one, liberals will just be an interval between populist actsWe were travelling across Poland by train the day after the country's sensational parliamentary elections in autumn 2023. When news of the results came through, passengers in our compartment fell into each other's arms, rejoicing as though a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Hard as it was to believe after eight years, the national populists of the Law and Justice party had been ousted from power on a record turnout of 75% of voters. We felt the potential of democracy to change things for the better as a physical sensation.Less than two years have passed but this enthusiasm has disappeared without trace. The Law and Justice-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki won the presidential election run off in June with 50.89% of the vote, securing the admiration of Donald Trump in the process. Days before Nawrocki's swearing in on Wednesday [6 August] a new poll suggested that almost half of voters would like the prime minister, Donald Tusk out. The ruling coalition is wobbling. Tusk's liberal democratic government may turn out to be nothing more than an intermezzo, a pause between rightwing populist governments.Karolina Wigura is a Polish historian and co-author of Post-Traumatic Sovereignty: An Essay (Why the Eastern European Mentality is Different). Jarosaw Kuisz is editor-in-chief of the Polish weekly Kultura Liberalna and the author of The New Politics of Poland: A Case of Post-Traumatic Sovereignty Continue reading...
Protest led by Jewish American group IfNotNow demand White House pressure Israel to let more aid into territoryMore than 40 people protesting the war and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza were arrested outside the Trump International hotel in New York City on Monday evening.The protest, organized by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, had begun earlier in the evening at Columbus Circle. Hundreds gathered under the banner Trump: Jews Say No More" to demand an end to the war in Gaza and that the Trump administration pressure Israel to allow greater humanitarian aid to enter into territory, as health officials there continue to report deaths from starvation and malnutrition. Continue reading...
by Coral Murphy Marcos, Shrai Popat, Lucy Campbell an on (#6Z34W)
This liveblog is now closed.As he boarded Air Force One on Sunday, the president told reporters that a new leader for the Bureau of Labor Statistics would be announced over the next three to four days". Trump added that he had no confidence" in commissioner Erica McEntarfer, who he fired on Friday.The director of the White House Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, defended the president's decision in an interview with NBC on Sunday. He wants his own people," Hassett said. Despite not being able to offer evidence that suggested the jobs data McEntarfer published was, in fact, rigged". Continue reading...
Governor Greg Abbott orders arrest of Democratic legislators who fled state; ex-leaders of statistics bureau say firing of commissioner undermines credibility' - key US politics stories from 4 August 2025Texas governor Greg Abbott on Monday ordered the department of public safety to arrest and return any House member who had left the state and abandoned their duty to Texans", as Democrats thwarted plans to redistrict the state along lines that would favour Republicans.There are consequences for dereliction of duty," Abbott said in a statement on Monday, after the Republican-dominated House issued civil arrest warrants in an attempt to compel the return of the members who fled the state in order to deny the legislature a quorom. Continue reading...
Artificially generated video of Oliver, one of 17 victims of the shooting, addresses Acosta in one of a kind interview'Jim Acosta, former chief White House correspondent for CNN, stirred controversy on Monday when he sat for a conversation with a reanimated version of a person who died more than seven years ago. His guest was an avatar of Joaquin Oliver, one of the 17 people killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.The video shows Oliver, captured via a real photograph and animated with generative artificial intelligence, wearing a beanie with a solemn expression. Acosta asks the avatar: What happened to you?" Continue reading...
Rollback on Biden-era policy would prohibit abortions for veterans, even in cases of rape, incest or health threatsThe Trump administration is seeking to block veterans from receiving abortions at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs in cases of rape or incest, or when a veteran's pregnancy has imperiled their health, according to new paperwork filed by the administration.The administration is seeking to roll back a Biden-era policy that, for the first time, permitted the VA to counsel veterans and their eligible family members about abortion, as well as offer the procedure to veterans in limited circumstances, even in states that banned abortion after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022. At the time,veterans affairs secretary Denis McDonough called the move a patient safety decision". Continue reading...
Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Republican visit for undermining efforts to stop the war and cycle of violence'Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza.The excursion followed Johnson's arrival in Israel on Sunday on an unannounced visit with other Republican lawmakers, and his meeting with Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and foreign minister Gideon Saar. Continue reading...
Georgia congresswoman says she has no plans to leave Republican fold but urges party to support America first'Marjorie Taylor Greene, historically one of the most prominent voices in Donald Trump's Maga movement, has declared in an interview that she feels that the Republican party has lost touch with its base, but she said she has no plans to leave the party.After telling the Daily Mail this week she was questioning whether she still belongs in the Republican fold, the Georgia congresswoman told the Guardian she would not become independent or seek a third party option. Continue reading...
Suspect allegedly stabbed New Jersey brothers Abed and Mohammed Assad because they gave him eggplant not eggA knife-wielding man recently slashed and stabbed two bakery owners because they gave him the wrong sandwich four years earlier, authorities in New Jersey said.Brothers Abed and Mohammed Assad were attacked at their store in Paterson on 31 July after the disgruntled customer complained that the sandwich they served him made him ill, according to Moneer Simrin, a friend of the victims. Continue reading...
Former commissioners call on Congress to act after Trump fires Erika McEntarfer over rigged' employment dataThe former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioners and non-partisan economic groups have criticized Donald Trump's shock firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July jobs report data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer.Trump, without any evidence to back his claims, alleged McEntarfer faked" employment numbers in the run-up to the 2024 election to boost Kamala Harris's chances and said that the recent data was rigged" to make Trump and Republicans look bad. Continue reading...
Steve Witkoff to travel to Moscow before US president's Friday deadline after which new sanctions could be imposedDonald Trump's special envoy is expected in Moscow days before the US president's deadline on Friday for Russia to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine or face increased US sanctions.Trump said Steve Witkoff would visit Moscow on Wednesday or Thursday. When asked what message Witkoff would take to Russia and what Vladimir Putin could do to avoid new sanctions, the US president answered: Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed." Continue reading...
Hollywood star's more is best' attitude to commercial tie-ins is one thing, but politics and celebrity rarely mix wellIt is one of the questionable perks of Donald Trump's wall of sound" approach to communication that the slightly icky moment when the world of Maga and one of Hollywood's hottest young stars connected was broadcast live and uncut.As the US president boarded Air Force One, a reporter asked whether he had any thoughts on Sydney Sweeney, a very hot actress right now", being a registered Republican. Of course he did. Continue reading...
The congresswoman in an interview called herself Trump in high heels' and promised to be a super Maga governor'Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a once moderate Republican turned Trump loyalist, officially launched her bid for governor of South Carolina on Monday.Currently serving her third term in Congress, Mace, 47, was once a Trump critic. Now, per the Associated Press, she calls herself Trump in high heels" and promises to be a super Maga governor" in the largely Republican state. Continue reading...
JB Pritzker said lawmakers are doing the right thing' after a group left Texas to prevent House vote on redistrictingThe Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, has vowed to protect the Democratic members of the Texas house of representatives who left the state in an attempt to block Republican efforts to redraw Texas's congressional maps.We're going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that - 'cause we know they're doing the right thing, we know that they're following the law," Pritzker said at a press conference on Sunday in Illinois alongside some of the the Texas Democratic lawmakers. Continue reading...
US state department has plans to issue bonds for some tourism and business visas, according to a federal noticeThe US state department has prepared plans to impose bonds as high as $15,000 for some tourism and business visas, according to a draft of a temporary final rule.The bonds would be issued to visitors from countries with significant overstay rates, under a 12-month pilot program. Continue reading...
In many watering holes, avoiding politics is an unspoken rule. Staying neutral is getting harder under this regimeDeke Dunne relocated to Washington DC from Wyoming in 2008 to pursue a career in politics. Though a progressive himself, he worked as a legislative aide for Republican senator Mike Enzi and spent many nights at local watering holes, guzzling $10 pitchers and eating wings with fellow broke staffers from both sides of the aisle. Long before he began moonlighting as a bartender, he learned that talking politics in DC bars was always a recipe for disaster.When I used to work in politics, I would spend a lot of time in bars near Capitol Hill," said Dunne, so I was exposed to more political professionals. In those spaces, you often find yourself witnessing knockdown, drag-out arguments about politics." Continue reading...
An innovative program providing crisis support for gun-violence survivors has closed, and the organization that ran it is now at riskYvonne Miller was beside herself with grief when her 23-year-old son, Christopher B Kelly, died from gun violence in August 2020. She connected with the Trauma & Resilience Initiative, a Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, mental health non-profit, and executive director Karen Crawford Simms soon showed up at her door to help her process her trauma.Every week, Simms encouraged Miller to cherish the memories of her son and offered her a space to cry. At Simms's suggestion, Miller kept a diary in which she documented the ebb and flow of denial and anger. Continue reading...
With inflation and unemployment rising, Democrats must speak out - and show they care about the average voterEconomic Growth Shatters Expectations as President Trump Fuels America's Golden Age," the White House announced on Wednesday. But within 48 hours, the data told a very different story, giving the Democrats a badly needed opening if they can muster the competence and focus to seize upon it.On Thursday, the US commerce department announced that inflation had ticked up to 2.6%. A day later, the labor department reported that unemployment had risen to 4.2% in July, and that the US had actually gained 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. Continue reading...
Death of 10-year-old came nearly a week after accident, with eight-year-old girl still in critical conditionThe US coast guard says a third child has died nearly a week after a barge struck and sank a boat during a sailing camp near Miami.Six people on the sailboat were pulled from the water after the 28 July collision, and four children were hospitalized before two girls were pronounced dead.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...
Alvaro Uribe was convicted of bribery in a development that would have seemed inconceivable a decade agoOn 25 October 1997, paramilitary groups descended upon the remote 300-person farming town of El Aro, in the Colombian state of Antioquia. Over the next five days, the drug-running paramilitaries slaughtered 17 people, raped multiple women and burned the town down, forcing the remaining townspeople to flee.The attorney Jesus Maria Valle had been pleading with the state governor, Alvaro Uribe, for over a year to stop the paramilitaries' brutal takeover of the countryside and collusion with the military. Instead, Uribe labeled Valle an enemy of the armed forces". In a statement to prosecutors after the El Aro massacre, Valle asked for a full investigation into what he described as an alliance" in Antioquia among paramilitaries, the military and Uribe to kill civilians and seize their land, in the name of fighting the country's leftwing FARC guerrillas. Within days, two men in suits strode into Valle's law office in downtown Medellin and shot him dead.Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno is CEO of RepresentUs and the author of the award-winning book There Are No Dead Here: A Story of Murder and Denial in Colombia. She spearheaded Human Rights Watch's work on Colombia during most of Uribe's presidency Continue reading...
US trade representative says the president is the president' after firing of labor statistics chief amid slow job growthDonald Trump administration officials fanned out on Sunday's US political shows to defend the president's policies after a bruising week of poor economic, trade and employment numbers that culminated with the firing of labor statistics chief Erika McEntarfer.The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said Trump had real concerns" about the jobs numbers that extend beyond Friday's report that showed the national economy added 73,000 jobs in July, far below expectations. Job growth numbers were revised down by 285,000 for the two previous months as well. Continue reading...
Some organisers say they're trying to be safe' in the face of immigration raid fears. But some have found inventive ways to fight backFor Orlando Gutierrez in Kansas City, the thought of cancelling his community's summer Colombian Independence Day festival first surfaced the week after the inauguration" in January, when the raids started happening". The decision was rooted in trying to be safe", Gutierrez said. We're not talking about folks that are irregular in terms of their immigration status. You only have to look a certain way and speak a certain language and then you're in danger."For decades prior to 2025, the event had gone on interrupted - in rain, in extreme heat" - and hosted thousands of Colombians and non-Colombians alike, Gutierrez said. Our mission is to share our culture with people that don't know it," he added. To not have the opportunity - that's where it hurts the most." Continue reading...
Six more people die from malnutrition, and Itamar Ben-Gvir is first minister to publicly pray at sensitive site. Plus, head of Google's DeepMind on our AI future
Dan Osborn is challenging Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts in Nebraska to become a rare independent senatorDan Osborn is a man who does not like to lose, and if you had asked him on election night last year whether he would run again as an independent for a US Senate seat representing the very Republican state of Nebraska, Osborn would have told you to, in his words, pound sand".Yet the results of his first bid for elected office were alluring, so much so that he has decided take another stab at becoming only the third current member of the US Senate who is not in either of the two parties. While he did not beat Republican senator Deb Fischer last November, he did narrow her margin of victory to the single digits in a state that Donald Trump won by 20 points. Next year, Osborn will challenge the state's other Republican senator, Pete Ricketts, in a contest he characterizes as a struggle between the working class and the wealthy. Continue reading...
Critics say DoJ has been politicized like never before' and the main job requirement is now loyalty to Donald Trump'As Donald Trump's Department of Justice expands investigations of his foes and ousts dozens of lawyers and staff who worked on cases targeting himself and his allies, scholars and ex-prosecutors say the rule of law is under siege in the US as the department morphs into Trump's personal weapon".The justice department's politicization to please Trump was underscored by an announcement on 23 July of a new strike force" to investigate unsubstantiated charges that ex-president Barack Obama and top officials conspired to hurt Trump's 2016 campaign and his presidency with inquiries into Russian influence operations to help Trump win, say critics. Continue reading...
I see little sign here that the liberal establishment truly acknowledges the failures that led to the Biden election debacle. There must be a reckoningNothing is more insufferable than someone saying I told you so"; so please forgive me for being insufferable. On 29 September 2023, after a couple of months spent in the US, I published a column that was well summarised in its Guardian headline: Unless Joe Biden stands aside, the world must prepare for President Trump 2.0". We can never definitely say what would have happened if ...?", but there's a very good chance that had Biden cleared the way for a Democratic primary in autumn 2023 the strongest candidate could have defeated Trump. The entire world would have been spared the disaster now unfolding.No use crying over spilt milk," you may say. Yes, but it's always worth learning lessons for the future. I'm back in the US now, and a recent poll for the Wall Street Journal found that 63% of voters hold an unfavourable view of the Democratic party. To put it mildly, the Democrats have a way to go.Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
More than 3,200 union machinists around St Louis launch strike action as they seek new contractMore than 3,200 unionized workers who assemble Boeing's fighter jets in the St Louis area have gone on strike after rejecting Boeing's latest offer on Sunday.Boeing Defense said it was ready for Monday's work stoppage and would implement a contingency plan that used non-labor workers. Continue reading...
It is said the centre cannot hold, but what if it does? That's a frightening recipe for more stasis and more rageA new party has launched in the UK, and it didn't take long for it to become the subject of frantic speculation. Will it split the left? Will it create more of an opening for Reform UK? Should it forge an alliance with the Greens? The stunning speed with which Jeremy Corbyn's new party amassed supporters, now standing at 600,000 in a week, reasonably makes it feel like a real and viable thing. And the next logical step is to assess its chances in meaningfully challenging the mainstream. But the bigger question is, can the mainstream be meaningfully challenged, or is the future one of increasing fragmentation, with a persistent but tense monopoly on power by the political establishment?The signs that the centre is fraying at the margins became clear at the last general election. There was a historically low turnout by share of the population (resulting in the most disproportionate election outcome in history), Labour won its lowest share of the vote among those in deprived areas, and up came a new crop of independent MPs and Reform winners. Continue reading...
Ministers have accused us of infiltration' and posing a threat to national cohesion'. They're old racist tropes given a dangerous new lifeBeing a Muslim in a country with a long colonial history, which has also had to deal with terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam, is an everyday challenge.In January 2015, for example, I was as profoundly shocked as everyone else in France by the massacre of the Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris. As the country mourned, I was invited by a major radio station to comment, but was first asked, live on air, to dissociate" myself from the attackers.Rokhaya Diallo is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...
Trump angry over confirmations delay; administration suffers bruising week of poor economic, trade and employment numbers - key US politics stories from Sunday 3 August at a glanceIt has not been a brilliant weekend for Donald Trump. On Sunday administration officials fanned out on US political shows to defend the president's policies after a bruising week of poor economic, trade and employment numbers that culminated with the firing of labor statistics chief Erika McEntarfer.US trade representative Jamieson Greer said Trump has real concerns" about the jobs numbers that extend beyond Friday's report that showed the national economy added 73,000 jobs in July, far below expectations. Job growth numbers were revised down by 285,000 for the two previous months as well. Continue reading...
About 30 lawmakers are headed to Illinois for a week to hinder Republicans' redistricting plan pushed by TrumpTexas Democrats are fleeing the state to prevent a vote on Monday that could see five new Republican-leaning seats created in the House of Representatives.About 30 Democrats said they planned to flee to Illinois, where they plan to stay for a week, to thwart Republican efforts by denying them a quorum, or the minimum number of members to validate the vote's proceedings. Continue reading...
Actor died at a Los Angeles hospital after a prolonged' illness, days before her 80th birthday, her publicist saysLoni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station's empowered receptionist on the hit TV comedy WKRP in Cincinnati, died on Sunday, just days before her 80th birthday.Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a prolonged" illness, said her longtime publicist, Cheryl J Kagan. Continue reading...
Suspected gunman still at large and possibly armed after four people were fatally shot at a bar in Anaconda on FridayMontana's attorney general on Sunday released the names of the four people who were shot to death in a mass murder at a bar two days earlier.The victims were Daniel Edwin Ballie, 59; Nancy Lauretta Kelly, 64; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74. All four were residents of Anaconda, Montana, where the quadruple murder took place, a statement from the Montana attorney general, Austin Knudsen, said. Continue reading...
In May reports revealed that White House officials had set goals for Ice agents to arrest 3,000 people per dayIn a new court filing, attorneys for the Trump administration denied the existence of a daily quota for immigration arrests, despite reports and prior statements from White House officials about pursuing a goal of at least 3,000 deportations or deportation arrests per day.In May, reports from both the Guardian and Axios revealed that during a meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) leaders on 21 May, the White House adviser Stephen Miller and the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, demanded that immigration agents seek to arrest 3,000 people per day. Continue reading...
Rodman had not played since 12 April due to a lingering back issue, but helped the Washington Spirit to a win over Portland Thorns.Trinity Rodman scored in stoppage time of her first game since April to give the Washington Spirit a 2-1 victory over the Portland Thorns in the National Women's Soccer League on Sunday.Rodman was on the bench to begin the game before entering to the roar of the crowd at Audi Field in the 76th minute. Rodman had not played since 12 April because of a nagging back issue. Continue reading...
Former Fox News host boosted lies that Trump lost 2020 election because of electoral fraudThe US Senate has confirmed Jeanine Pirro - a former Fox News host and staunch Donald Trump ally who boosted lies that he lost the 2020 presidential race because of electoral fraudsters - as the top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital.Pirro - a former New York state district attorney and county judge who joined Fox News in 2011 - was confirmed on Saturday in a 50-45 vote along party lines. Continue reading...
Museum denies Trump pressured it to remove references amid concerns that history was being whitewashedThe Smithsonian will include Donald Trump's two impeachments in an updated presentation in the coming weeks" after references to them were removed, the museum said in a statement Saturday.That statement from the Washington DC museum also denied that the Trump administration pressured the Smithsonian to remove the references to his impeachments during his first presidency. Continue reading...
Republicans say they may try to change Senate rules when they return from August recess to speed up confirmationsThe US Senate left Washington DC on Saturday night for its monthlong August recess without a deal to advance dozens of Donald Trump's nominees, calling it quits after days of contentious bipartisan negotiations and the president taking to social media to tell Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to GO TO HELL!"Without a deal in hand, Republicans say they may try to change Senate rules when they return in September to speed up the pace of confirmations. Trump has been pressuring senators to move quickly as Democrats blocked more nominees than usual this year, denying any fast unanimous consent votes and forcing roll calls on each one, a lengthy process that can take several days per nominee. Continue reading...
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