Donald Trump picks space force general to lead program to create anti-missile shield - key US politics stories from Tuesday at a glanceDonald Trump has announced that his administration will move forward with developing a multibillion-dollar missile defense system, called Golden Dome", and claimed that Canada was interesting in being part of it.Once fully constructed, the golden dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space," Trump said. Forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland." Continue reading...
Outlet calls story, created by freelancer working with one of the newpaper's content partner, a learning moment'Illinois' prominent Chicago Sun-Times newspaper has confirmed that a summer reading list, which included several recommendations for books that don't exist, was created using artificial intelligence by a freelancer who worked with one of their content partners.Social media posts began to circulate on Tuesday criticizing the paper for allegedly using the AI software ChatGPT to generate an article with book recommendations for the upcoming summer season called Summer reading list for 2025". As such chatbots are known to make up information, a phenomenon often referred to as AI hallucination", the article contains several fake titles attached to real authors. Continue reading...
Temecula Valley unified district ordered to pause CRT resolution as questions of constitutionality remainA small southern California school district must immediately pause its ban on critical race theory (CRT), a California appeals court ruled on Thursday morning .The 4th district court of appeals ruling put a halt to the Temecula Valley unified school district ban until its litigation is settled in the California legal system. The decision is the latest in a long-running legal battle over the CRT ban, which was first adopted as a resolution by the Temecula Valley Board of Education in December 2022 as they attempted to purge elementary school textbooks that reference gay rights icon Harvey Milk. Continue reading...
Gen Michael Guetlein of Space Force will be in charge of defense system that could cost $540bn over 20 yearsDonald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration will move forward with developing the so-called Golden Dome" missile defense system that he envisions will protect the United States from possible foreign strikes using ground and space-based weapons.Flanked by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, in the Oval Office, Trump also said that he wanted the project to be operational before he left office. He added that Republicans had agreed to allocate $25bn in initial funding and Canada had expressed an interest in taking part. Continue reading...
by Lauren Gambino and Associated Press on (#6XDZP)
Critics say shift will negatively affect people who are not high risk but want to be vaccinated against the diseaseThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday that it will limit access to seasonal Covid-19 boosters for healthy Americans under 65 without clear evidence of clinical benefit - a shift, critics say, that will make access difficult for people who are not high risk but want to be vaccinated against the disease.Top officials at the FDA outlined a new framework for approving Covid-19 vaccines, saying that the US would make the boosters available for Americans over the age of 65 and for adults and children above the age of 6 months with at least one condition that increases their risk of severe Covid-19. Continue reading...
Cuts to continue through October amid runway construction aimed at curbing delays and cancellationsThe Federal Aviation Administration has finalized an interim order to temporarily cut the number of flights coming in and out of Newark Liberty international airport as the embattled transit hub has recently experienced widespread delays and cancellations due to air traffic control operations.Beginning on Tuesday, 20 May, Newark airport's maximum hourly rate is now 28 arrivals and 28 departures, for a total of 56 hourly operations. Prior to this change, Newark typically handled more than 77 flights per hour during peak times, according to USA Today. Continue reading...
Officials say ship must be operated by specialized harbor pilot as investigation into crash that killed two continuesThe Mexican navy has said that the pilot navigating the training ship Cuauhtemoc during its Saturday night crash into the Brooklyn Bridge was New York-based.The ship must be controlled by a specialized harbor pilot from the New York government," Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Angeles said at a press conference. Continue reading...
Laurel Libby was punished by state house after she posted picture of transgender student athlete on social mediaThe US supreme court has restored Maine lawmaker Laurel Libby's right to vote in the state house for the time being, saying in a brief order that she cannot be censured and barred from voting despite a controversial post on social media about a transgender student athlete.The court's decision did not explain its reasoning, though two of the court's liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. Jackson said in her scathing dissenting opinion that she did not think Libby had met the high bar required for supreme court intervention. Continue reading...
President says party has unbelievable unity' to ensure passage in House but some lawmakers remain opposedDonald Trump traveled to the Capitol on Tuesday to insist that the fractious House Republican majority set aside their differences and pass his wide-ranging bill to enact his taxation and immigration priorities.In a speech to a closed-door meeting of Republican lawmakers in Congress's lower chamber, the president pushed representatives from districts in blue states to drop their demands for a bigger State and Local Tax (Salt) deduction, and also sought to assuage moderates concerned that the legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, would hobble the Medicaid health insurance program. Continue reading...
US senator Chris Van Hollen has accused the Trump administration of 'making a mockery' of the US refugee process, turning it into a system of 'global apartheid' by granting asylum status to white Afrikaners while turning away refugees from war-torn countries, including Sudan. The first group of white Afrikaners arrived in the US last week
Tim Kaine condemns secretary of state for admitting Afrikaners while cancelling refugee schemes for othersMarco Rubio, the secretary of state, has defended the Trump administration's controversial decision to admit 59 Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees after Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator from Virginia, claimed they were getting preferential treatment because they were white.Kaine, Hillary Clinton's former running mate, challenged Rubio to justify prioritising the Afrikaners while cancelling long-standing refugee programmes for other groups that have been more documented as victims of conflict or persecution. Continue reading...
Hospital plans to keep Adriana Smith on life support until August, when doctors will deliver baby via C-sectionThe fetus of a brain dead Georgia woman who is being kept alive to carry out her pregnancy is continuing to grow, the woman's mother said late Monday, days after the controversial case exploded into the national news and sparked questions about the ethics of using the state's anti-abortion law to keep a woman with no chance of recovery on life support.He has his toes, arms, limbs - everything is forming," the woman's mother, April Newkirk, told the local news station 11Alive. We're just hoping he makes it." Continue reading...
Move comes one week after Trump announced all US sanctions on Syria would be liftedThe EU has agreed to lift economic sanctions on Syria in an effort to help the war-torn country recover after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.After the decision by EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, the EU's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, wrote on X: We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria." Continue reading...
Kinda, who played four seasons for Sporting Kansas City, died after being hospitalized with a complex medical battle'Former Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gadi Kinda died, his club Maccabi Haifa FC announced on Tuesday. He was 31.Kinda was hospitalized while going through a complex medical battle in recent weeks," Maccabi Haifa announced two weeks ago. Continue reading...
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...
US news | The Guardian