Investigators arrested Sterling Williams, who allegedly admitted he turned water off to toilet covering hole in wallA maintenance worker at New Orleans's jail has been arrested on allegations that he turned water off to a toilet covering a hole in the wall that 10 men who escaped from the facility early Friday used for their getaway.Investigators arrested 33-year-old jail maintenance worker Sterling Williams after he allegedly admitted to officials that one of the men advised him to turn the water off in the cell" before the men slipped away through the hole in the wall at the Orleans Justice Center (OJC), the Louisiana attorney general's office said in a statement. Continue reading...
The administration's attacks on the American Bar Association are part of a long line of actions that have clear commonalitiesLast week, a federal judge blocked the justice department from canceling $3.2m in federal grants to the American Bar Association (ABA). The court agreed with the ABA's claim that the administration was retaliating against it for taking public stances against Donald Trump.But how had the US president retaliated? Which grants had he clawed back? Those supporting programs that train lawyers to defend victims of domestic and sexual violence. Continue reading...
Warren, Wyden and Sanders push for information to determine if media company violated federal bribery statuteDemocratic US senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden, along with their liberal colleague Bernie Sanders, are pushing for information on Paramount's efforts to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against CBS News's 60 Minutes - in hopes of determining whether the media company is violating a federal bribery statute, the Wall Street Journal reported.In a letter to Paramount chairperson Shari Redstone, the senators wrote that they are concerned the media company may be engaging in improper conduct involving the Trump administration in exchange for approval of its merger with Skydance Media". Continue reading...
With Democrats reeling after last election, Joan C Williams explains what has gone wrong and how to win over votersDonald Trump's second election to the presidency sparked soul-searching among Democrats about why the party has continued to lose a range of traditional Democratic constituencies, especially voters without college degrees. In a new book released this week, Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back, Joan C Williams argues that the left fundamentally misunderstands working-class voters.Williams is a law professor and social scientist who has spent decades studying the relationships between class, gender, labor and politics. Her previous book, 2017's White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America, argued that working-class Americans felt abandoned by the political establishment. Her new book argues that the Democratic party and the cultural left face an uphill - but not impossible - battle to win back the many Americans who have been drawn to Trump's rightwing populism. Continue reading...
A new documentary explores how the legend of one of the league's greatest quarterbacks endures, despite the multiple scandals that have engulfed himBrett Favre was the man with the golden arm - a three-time NFL MVP who revived the Green Bay Packers while setting the league record for consecutive starts and all-time yardage, raising the standard for toughness and productivity at quarterback. It's his thumbs that let him down in the end. He could play through the thumb injuries - but allegedly not the urge to send lewd text messages to a staff member at the New York Jets, or the digital impulses that would tie him to allegations over a $94m welfare scandal in his home state of Mississippi.Are people in these positions above the law?" Rebecca Gitlitz wonders. Have they been told so many times that whatever they do they can get away with it? Stuff like that, where history repeats itself, I wanted to see how that happens." Continue reading...
Over half (54%) of companies surveyed by insurer Allianz say they will have to raise prices to accommodate cost of tariffsA majority of US companies say they will have to raise their prices to accommodate Donald Trump's tariffs in the US, according to a new report.More than half (54%) of the US companies surveyed by insurance company Allianz said they will have to raise prices to accommodate the cost of the tariffs. Of the 4,500 companies across nine countries, including the US, UK and China, surveyed by Allianz only 22% said they can absorb the increased costs. Continue reading...
When artwork is invented by a machine, it loses its most important power: to help people connect. In an already lonely era, that is particularly dangerousThe artificial intelligence giant OpenAI recently announced that its ChatGPT platform now provides free image generation, prompting an online flood of images imitating the styles of the animator Hayao Miyazaki and other well-known artists. This has been heralded as the next step in the death of art and artists, joining the impending death - or zombification - of the writer, as AI-generated novels are slated to flood the market. But a peculiar feeling, or rather lack thereof, arises when trying to engage with AI art objects.It is not simply that AI lacks originality; after all, so too does most human art. The problem runs far deeper: the essence of art is lost in the process of its machinic invention and, with it, the very possibility of a democratic society is put under threat. Continue reading...
Florida governor stands isolated from Trump and is feuding with Republicans at home - is he drifting to irrelevance?These are challenging days for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, the man who would have been king. Barely two and a half years since his landslide re-election and anointment as DeFuture" of the Republican party in a fawning New York Post cover, he stands isolated from the national political stage, feuding with his once blindingly loyal Florida legislature, and limping towards the finish line of his second term with an uncertain pathway beyond.It has been, in the view of many analysts, a fall of stunning velocity and magnitude. And while few are willing to completely rule out a comeback for a 46-year-old politician who was the darling of the Republican hard right until he dared to challenge Donald Trump for his party's 2024 presidential nomination, it is also clear that everything has changed. Continue reading...
Agency has been significant target of Doge while nearly 69 million Americans receive benefitsRetiree and disability beneficiaries are worried about delays in payments, processing and services amid cuts being made to the US's social security system under the Trump administration.Angel Morgan, a 44-year-old disability benefits recipient in Nashville, Tennessee, said she felt like she was running in circles" navigating long lines at her local social security office and difficulties in trying to make an appointment online to talk about her benefits and how to participate in the Ticket to Work program, which provides career development services for disability beneficiaries. Continue reading...
UK, France and Canada warn Israel of action if egregious' conduct in Gaza continues. Plus, Trump and Putin discuss UkraineGood morning.The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC this morning that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time. Five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday but Fletcher described this as a drop in the ocean" and totally inadequate for the population's needs.What else is the UN saying about Israel's aid blockade, in place since 2 March? A UN-backed report recently estimated that one in five people in the territory were facing starvation. The UN posted a statement on Monday reading: Everyone in Gaza is hungry. Without immediate action, nearly a quarter of the population could be pushed into famine. Food aid must be allowed into Gaza now to prevent a catastrophe."Here's what the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said: Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of a basic quantity" of food, after coming under increasing international pressure. But yesterday Netanyahu hit back at the UK, France and Canada for condemning Israel, calling on them to follow Donald Trump's example.What's the latest with Israel's ongoing military bombardment? Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel had killed at least 44 people in Gaza today. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces bombed a pharmaceutical laboratory. Hundreds of people have been killed in the past week, many of them women and children, as Israel's attacks have intensified. Continue reading...
The world's most famous player had some complaints about MLS referees, and the league helps nobody by burying themInter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, have been terrible lately. On Sunday, their complaints to the referee only made their situation worse.That sentence was fairly easy for me to type, at least in part because it is rooted in the clearly visible. Inter Miami have been terrible. Their complaints to the referee on Sunday did make their situation worse. These dynamics are not just surprising given Miami's star-studded roster and record-setting performance last season, they are interesting. They are worth talking about and reacting to. They're the sorts of things that get people thinking about the player, the team, the league, the sport. The more business-oriented among us may say they drive engagement." Continue reading...
Between his tariffs and his regressive big, beautiful bill', the president is wreaking havoc - and he never learnsWith his usual threats, Donald Trump is trying to ward off the dire reality that he has created and is bearing down on him. He can clamp migrants in foreign gulags, coerce white-shoe law firms into becoming his pro bono serfs and try to simply erase the National Endowment for the Humanities, but he can't rescind his harm to the economy. Trump can slash the National Weather Service, but he can't stop the storm he's whipped up. He's shouting into the wind at his twister.No matter how much he might lower his draconian tariffs after his 90-day breathing spell, the velocity of damage is just building. It's not a mistake that can be rectified. There's no do-over. It's not a golf game at one of his clubs where he gets endless mulligans and is declared the champion. Nor does Trump really want to draw back completely from his tariffs as if he never had proudly displayed his Liberation Day" idiot board.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 Continue reading...
The Russian leader is a master manipulator. Until he is forced to face reality, there is no hope of ending the bloodshedAfter more than three years of stalled diplomacy, the past few days have brought a flurry of activity in the Russia-Ukraine peace process - sadly none of it with any meaningful progress. The much-anticipated Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul - billed as the first serious negotiations since 2022 - came and went with little more than symbolic fanfare. The subsequent two-hour phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday concluded with Trump appearing to withdraw from mediating the peace talks altogether. Once again, the Russian president got what he wanted without even showing up to a meeting that he himself requested.Trump's statement that the conditions for [the peace] will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be" sounded like the opposite of his boast last year that only he could end this war, and in a single day at that. Even more jarring was Trump's emphasis on the economic opportunities that Russia offers - tone-deaf, given the scale of Russian atrocities, and a slap in the face to the US's European allies.Olga Chyzh researches political violence and repressive regimes. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto Continue reading...
Andrew Smith called true hero' after using drone to deliver flotation device to girl ensnared by Pensacola Beach currentA Florida man who fishes sharks has been called a true hero" after saving a teenage girl from drowning in a rip current by using a drone to deliver a flotation device to her.Andrew Smith's heroics - which have gone viral in corners of the internet dedicated to uplifting news stories - unfolded after he left work on 15 May and made the last-minute decision to go to Pensacola Beach to try fishing in the waters there, according to the Florida station CBS 12. Continue reading...
For years Netanyahu has divided and disrupted his opponents. But new leaders are beginning to organise Aluf Benn is the editor-in-chief of HaaretzIn his successful quest to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has leveraged his most valuable asset: the country's ineffective opposition. He has been playing his opponents off against each other, staying afloat while they are left powerless and irrelevant.Netanyahu has survived multiple corruption cases, an ongoing criminal trial and recurring elections. Even after Hamas invaded Israel by surprise, on 7 October, 2023, leading to the longest, deadliest and most ruinous war in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the opposition failed to pose a political threat to Netanyahu. This week, Israel continues its expanded offensive across Gaza alongside a deadly bombing campaign. Rather than bearing the responsibility for the unparalleled tragedy and being kicked out of office in disgrace, the prime minister has only grown more powerful, expanding his governing coalition, shrugging off any responsibility for the disaster and firing the military and intelligence leaders. Continue reading...
No one is above the law - politicians or otherwise,' interim US attorney Alina Habba said.US representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat, was charged with assaulting federal agents after a clash outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey, the state's federal prosecutor announced on Monday.Alina Habba, interim US attorney, said in a post on social media that McIver was facing charges for assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement" when she visited the detention center along with two other Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation on 9 May. Continue reading...
From locals priced out of homes to visitors shopping at global chains, all of us are cheated in a city hollowed out by tourismProtesters in Barcelona used water pistols to take aim at tourists visiting the Sagrada Familia last month. Residents' associations in Mallorca posted an open letter appealing to tourists to stay away from the island. More such actions are expected in the Canary Islands, Malaga and elsewhere as Spain braces for another massive season of overtourism.Last year, there were close to 100 million visitors to Spain, twice the population. No wonder the industry is licking its lips and rubbing its hands at the prospect of even more this year. But those of us with no stake in the hospitality trade brace ourselves for the invasion with a mixture of dread and resentment. For those on the receiving end, mass tourism feels more and more extractive to the point that it is a form of corporate colonialism.Stephen Burgen is a freelance writer who reports on Spain for the Guardian Continue reading...
Report comes as supreme court allows US president to revoke protected status for Venezuelans. Key US politics stories from 19 May 2025At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the US legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute.Published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, the report analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found. Continue reading...
President signs bill with first lady Melania Trump to criminalize sharing intimate images without consentPresident Donald Trump on Monday signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation that first lady Melania Trump helped usher through Congress, and he had her sign it, too, despite what sounded like a mild objection on her part.C'mon, sign it anyway," the president told his wife. She deserves to sign it." Continue reading...
Palestinian activist, freed just over two weeks ago from federal detention, crosses graduation stage to cheersColumbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, released just over two weeks ago from federal detention, crossed the graduation stage on Monday to cheers from his fellow graduates.The Palestinian activist was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview. He was detained and ordered to be deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime. Continue reading...
Felony charges dismissed but John Sanzone banned from serving as peace officer in state after covering up theftA former sheriff's deputy who stole $3,500 from a homeless man he arrested in California has been permanently banned from serving as a peace officer in the state, while felony theft charges against him were dropped, authorities said.John Sanzone, a former deputy with the Glenn county sheriff's office, arrested a homeless man who had been carrying $3,500 - money the man had been saving for urgent dental work. Continue reading...
Former FBI director describes as crazy' claim that seashell photo on Instagram signified assassination callJames Comey was taking a walk on the beach with his wife when they happened upon a message in the sand: 8647.According to the former FBI director, his wife initially asked if the cryptic seashell formation was an address. They puzzled over the shells, trying to decipher meaning. His wife, according to Comey's account, remembered her days as a server in a restaurant, when 86 was the term staff used to remove an item from the menu. Comey mused that when he was younger, kids would say 86 to mean to ditch a place". Continue reading...
Cato analysis goes against Trump administration's claim that only undocumented people were deported to CecotAt least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute.The report, published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found. Continue reading...
Jamie Dimon says possibility of stagflation far higher than investors realize as markets shake off Moody's triple-A cutJP Morgan's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, warned on Monday that investors were being too complacent as markets shook off news that the US has lost its last triple-A credit rating amid fresh concern over the federal government's burgeoning debt pile.Credit ratings agency Moody's dealt a blow to Washington on Friday when it stripped the US of its top-notch rating, downgrading the world's largest economy by one notch to AA1 and become becoming the last of the big three agencies to drop its triple-A rating for the US. Continue reading...
Patient, 41-year-old man, was able to to go off dialysis with technique that two doctors worked for years to developSurgeons in California have performed the first ever successful bladder transplant, aiding a patient who previously had his bladder and both kidneys removed as a result of cancer treatment and end-stage kidney disease.The treatment allowed the patient, 41-year-old father of four Oscar Larrainzar, to go off dialysis - although the surgery comes with considerable short- and long-term risks and unknowns. Continue reading...
Justices grant homeland security request to end temporary protected status while appeal proceeds in lower courtDonald Trump's administration can end legal protections that have shielded about 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation, the supreme court ruled on Monday.America's highest court granted a request by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court. Continue reading...
Family sought $30m in damages after Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by police during 2021 US Capitol breachThe Trump administration has reportedly reached an agreement to pay nearly $5m to the family of the woman who was fatally shot by police while participating in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol carried out by the president's supporters.Citing multiple sources, the Washington Post reported on Monday that the Trump administration had agreed to pay the family of Ashli Babbitt to settle the wrongful death lawsuit they filed after the attack. Continue reading...
Doge illegally took over the congressionally created and funded thinktank through blunt force', rules federal judgeA federal judge on Monday blocked efforts by the Trump administration and its so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) to dismantle the US Institute of Peace, at least temporarily.Doge, initially overseen by billionaire Donald Trump supporter Elon Musk, took over the congressionally created and funded thinktank in March and had fired most employees by a late-night email after the US president targeted the institute and three other agencies with an executive order. Continue reading...
Sidewinder Ranch, a 40-acre property built over natural rock formations, comes with desert views and a bulldozerWant to commune with nature? Bring the outside in? Ditch your white-noise machine for a babbling brook going through your living room?A home that went on the market last month in Arizona offers all this and more. Sidewinder Ranch is a 40-acre hillside property built over natural rock formations. Every room is of geological interest, with a TV shelf perched on rock and boulders creeping to the foot of the bed. A fountain built inside has the feel of a mountain stream, and the property has stunning desert views. Buy 40 acres but it might as well be 400," read the listing. Continue reading...
President urges major investigation' of Beyonce, Oprah, Bruce Springsteen and others in late-night social media rantDonald Trump laced into a few celebrities who endorsed Kamala Harris in late night and early morning screeds on Monday, saying he would investigate them to see if they were paid for the endorsements - repeating a common refrain on the right about the star-studded list of Harris supporters.How much did Kamala Harris pay Bruce Springsteen for his poor performance during her campaign for president?" Trump posted in all caps on Truth Social at 1.34am Monday. Why did he accept that money if he is such a fan of hers? Isn't that a major and illegal campaign contribution? ...And how much went to Oprah, and Bono???" Continue reading...
Closure reflects Trump's downgrading of US-Palestinian relations, which started with closure of Jerusalem consulateThe United States has officially closed its Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem, according to an internal state department memo seen by the Guardian, in effect eliminating the Palestinians' dedicated diplomatic channel to Washington.The closure, which took effect on Friday, follows through on the secretary of state Marco Rubio's announcement earlier this month that the office would be merged into the US embassy in Jerusalem. Continue reading...
US vice-president delivers letter from Donald and Melania Trump during talks with pontiff at the VaticanDonald Trump has issued a White House invitation to Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff who as Cardinal Robert Prevost previously criticised Trump's administration.The invitation came via a letter from the US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, that was delivered to the pope by the US vice-president, JD Vance, during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday morning. Continue reading...
America Sanchez and Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos died in the wreck that injured 22 other crew membersMexico is grieving two cadets in the country's navy that were killed on Saturday when the tall training ship Cuauhtemoc crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.America Sanchez, 20, and Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos, 23, died in the wreck that injured 22 other crew members, including three critically. Continue reading...
Exotic, who is serving 21 years for murder-for-hire plot, urges president: Just let me go to Mexico'Joe Exotic - star of the 2020 Netflix true crime documentary Tiger King - is publicly pleading for Donald Trump to pardon him from federal prison after his husband was deported to Mexico.It's really past time to have one of your people watch Tiger King Season 2, where they all admitted to perjury and a plot to kill me on world television and let me out," Exotic, whose name is Joseph Allen Maldonado, wrote late on Sunday on social media to the president whom he has politically supported. I know that you are not fond of my lifestyle, but I supported you just allow me go to Mexico with my husband." Continue reading...
The country's charm offensive and global mediator role - as well as a $400m plane - reveal a complicated relationshipOn his tour of the Middle East last week, Donald Trump was treated like royalty by the leaders of the wealthiest countries in the Arab world. The US president was feted in gilded ballrooms, his motorcade was flanked by dozens of men riding white Arabian horses and he was awarded an elaborate gold medal necklace. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates went out of their way to show Trump that they respect him more than his predecessor, Joe Biden.While Trump frequently praised Saudi and UAE leaders during his first term, he was highly critical of Qatar, a small emirate that is rich in natural gas but usually overshadowed by its two larger and more powerful neighbors. In June 2017, Trump said Qatar has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level" and he supported a blockade against the country, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Qatar's neighbors accused it of financing terrorism by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and being too cozy with Iran. The blockade, which disrupted the lives of thousands of people across the Persian Gulf, stretched until early 2021. Continue reading...
The guard is the type of player around which you can build a highlights reel, but not a championship. Maybe that's enough when the highlights were so goodIs it really the end this time? For Russell Westbook, Sunday's Game 7 decider between the Thunder and the Nuggets was a homecoming in more senses than one: not only was he returning to the city to which he'd given his best years, a court on which he'd embodied more than any other player in the franchise's brief history the thunder of Oklahoma City's name, he was also a man in search of a place to call his own - a role, an identity - after years of peripatetic wandering across the NBA in which teams have often seemed unsure how best to exploit the 2017 MVP's prodigious, if fading, gifts.After near-misses with Oklahoma City in the 2012, 2014 and 2016 playoffs, the litany of injuries that followed, and the long search for a basketball home in the years since - which have seen him play both an ill-fitting support position in the LeBron James-Anthony Davis Los Angeles Lakers and a starring hand for the cross-town Clippers that did little to hide metastasizing deficiencies in his game - the move to Denver last summer seemed to offer hope for a reset: occupying a clear sixth man role, Westbrook was brought in to supply experience and energy off the bench for those crucial minutes when Nikola Joki and Jamal Murray needed a rest. Continue reading...
Cuts worth $880bn could leave 13 million Americans without insurance in proposal that has divided RepublicansUS advocacy groups are waging an intensive campaign to protect Medicaid and Obamacare from Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill", after House Republicans proposed an $880bn cut that could leave an estimated 13 million Americans without health insurance.The House bill left Republicans' most controversial proposals on the table, but has divided Senate Republicans: one called the effort to yank away healthcare morally wrong and politically suicidal". Others have described the cuts as insufficient and anemic". Continue reading...
Veteran activist reflects on Malcolm's legacy and decades of progress now rolled back by Trump and white supremacy on steroids'When African Americans protested police brutality in New York, they were portrayed as rioters, Malcolm X told an audience at the London School of Economics. When shop windows were smashed in the Black community, he said, the press gave the impression that hoodlums, vagrants, criminals" wanted to break in and steal merchandise.But this is wrong," Malcolm contended. In America the Black community in which we live is not owned by us. The landlord is white. The merchant is white. In fact, the entire economy of the Black community in the states is controlled by someone who doesn't even live there ... And these are the people who suck the economic blood of our community." Continue reading...
The right wants American women to bear more children and withdraw from full participation in societyLast month, the White House issued a proposed budget to Congress that completely eliminated funding for Head Start, the six-decade-old early childhood education program for low-income families that serves as a source of childcare for large swaths of the American working class.The funding was restored in the proposed budget after an outcry, but large numbers of employees who oversee the program at the office of Head Start were laid off in a budget-slashing measure under Robert F Kennedy Jr, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. On Thursday, Kennedy said funding for the program would not be axed, but more cuts to childcare funding are likely coming: some Republicans have pushed to repeal a five-decade-old tax credit for daycare. The White House is entertaining proposals on how to incentivize and structurally coerce American women into bearing more children, but it seems to be determined to make doing so as costly to those women's careers as possible. Continue reading...
The WNBA stars are helping drive record-setting interest in the league. But the conversation distracts from other players, and brings in unwelcome uglinessAt first, it seemed that the Indiana Fever's home win over Chicago Sky on Saturday would be just another spicy chapter in the rivalry between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Both players were typically excellent: Clark spurred the Fever to victory with a triple-double, while Reese grabbed 17 rebounds to go with her 12 points.But it was a moment in the third quarter that WNBA fans will be talking about for weeks to come. Some of them may even do so without resorting to cheap bigotry. With 4:38 remaining, Clark reached for the ball over Reese's head, made what appeared to be deliberate contact with her arm, and sent her opponent spiraling to the floor. There was a brief confrontation, Clark was hit with a flagrant foul and Reese received a technical. After the game, Clark said she didn't have cynical intent leading up to the foul, and Reese agreed calling it a basketball play." Continue reading...
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