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After Charlie Kirk's killing, the US president has unleashed an assault on free speech. Some conservatives are questioning his razor sharp U-turnIt has taken barely two weeks for Donald Trump to turn the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk to his political advantage, unleashing an unprecedented peacetime assault on free speech and a free press on the back of the assassination.Since Kirk's death, the president and his top team have:forced a private media company to suspend late-night TV star Jimmy Kimmel for inaccurate comments he made about Kirk's suspected shooter;threatened other TV networks with losing their licences should they say things Trump doesn't like;vowed to prosecute hate speech" that is fully protected under the first amendment;declared antifa a terrorist organisation in an indiscriminate attack on political ideology;and told journalists covering the Pentagon that they will have their access revoked unless they agree to restrictions on their reporting. Continue reading...

Democrats are abandoning their careful messaging in favor of gut-level rhetoric that's unapologetically more profane as the party faces an authenticity problemDemocrats want your attention, and they're done asking politely.Several months into Donald Trump's second term, presidential aspirants, members of Congress and party officials are abandoning carefully calibrated messaging in favor of gut-level rhetoric that is angrier, rawer and unapologetically more profane. Continue reading...

Basketball can provide players with huge financial rewards as well as intense scrutiny. How do they adapt to life in the public eye?Michael Cooper knew pressure. The NBA's 1987 Defensive Player of the Year had won five rings with the 1980s Showtime Lakers, blocking shots alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and finishing Coop-a-loop" passes from Magic Johnson for dunks. But in 2000, things were different. He wasn't in the game, he was coaching it from the sidelines for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. And despite Cooper being named coach of the year, the Sparks fell short in the playoffs to the Houston Comets.When we lost that," Cooper says, people said, Coop, you're supposed to be this great coach. And you can't get the Sparks over the hump.'" It was hard to swallow. When most people come up short at work, the world doesn't know about it - or debate it on live television. With fame comes consequences," says Cooper. You have to take the good and the bad." Continue reading...

At a pro-Palestine protest, Petro urged US soldiers to disobey Trump's order' and not point their rifles at humanity'The US state department said on Friday it would revoke the visa of Colombian leftist president Gustavo Petro for his incendiary actions" during a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York.Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence," the state department said on X. Continue reading...

This blog is closed. Read more hereWell, the president is awake.Donald Trump has posted the following on his Truth Social social media network:JAMES COMEY IS A DIRTY COP. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can't imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED! It is not a complex lie, it's a very simple, but IMPORTANT one. There is no way he can explain his way out of it. He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he's off to a very good start. Nevertheless, words are words, and he wasn't hedging or in dispute. He was very positive, there was no doubt in his mind about what he said, or meant by saying it. He left himself ZERO margin of error on a big and important answer to a question. He just got unexpectedly caught. James Dirty Cop" Comey was a destroyer of lives. He knew exactly what he was saying, and that it was a very serious and far reaching lie for which a very big price must be paid! President DJT Continue reading...

New York Times reports Michele Beckwith's firing came after she reminded Border Patrol to comply with courtsDonald Trump fired a top federal prosecutor in Sacramento just hours after she warned immigration agents they could not indiscriminately detain people in her district, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times.Michele Beckwith, who became the acting US attorney in Sacramento in January, received an email at 4.31pm on 15 July notifying her that the president had ordered her termination. Continue reading...

President says I think there'll be others' as justice department condemned for enacting retribution campaignDonald Trump said on Friday that he expected more people whom he considers his political enemies to face criminal charges, a day after the justice department indicted former FBI director James Comey and faced a torrent of criticism for enacting the president's campaign of retribution.It's not a list, but I think there'll be others," Trump said as he departed the White House to travel to the Ryder Cup golf tournament. I mean, they're corrupt. They were corrupt radical left Democrats." Continue reading...

Two men were injured and one was killed by an alleged lone shooter at an immigration detention center in TexasMultiple news reports have identified the three men shot at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Dallas on Wednesday.Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez of Mexico, Jose Andres Bordones-Molina of Venezuela and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes of El Salvador were shot in what the FBI has described as a targeted attack" on Ice by the 29-year-old alleged shooter, Joshua Jahn, CNN reported. Continue reading...

It's not about revenge,' Trump claims as lawmakers raise alarm over blatant abuse' of justice department - key US politics stories from Friday 26 SeptemberDonald Trump has denied the indictment of former FBI director James Comey is part of a campaign of retribution against his political opponents.The US president told reporters on Friday: It's about justice, it's not about revenge. He didn't think he'd be caught, and he got caught," Trump said, referring to the former FBI director he fired in 2017. He lied. He lied a lot," the president claimed. Continue reading...

Rolex CEO stressed US president's remarks were made in jest' in letter to Elizabeth Warren, who had raised concernsDonald Trump asked Rolex executives if he would have been invited to watch this month's US Open final from the luxury watchmaker's VIP box had he imposed steep tariffs on Swiss exports weeks earlier.The US president's remarks were made in jest", stressed Jean-Frederic Dufour, the Rolex CEO, in a letter to Elizabeth Warren, the US senator who had raised questions about the decision to invite Trump - including whether the conglomerate was seeking to curry favor" with the administration. Continue reading...

Historical records say the US army killed about 250 Lakota Sioux people in the 1890 massacre in South DakotaDefense secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that 20 US soldiers who took part in the 1890 massacre of hundreds of Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee will keep the Medals of Honor that were awarded to them.The move is the latest in a number of contentious actions taken by the Trump administration to reinterpret US history. Continue reading...

Justices rule in favour of administration, handing Trump another victory in dispute over presidential powerThe supreme court on Friday extended an order that allows Donald Trump's administration to keep frozen nearly $5bn in foreign aid, handing him another victory in a dispute over presidential power.The court acted on the Republican administration's emergency appeal in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago. Continue reading...

Rafie Ollah Shouhed, 79, a US citizen, was held for 12 hours after sustaining broken ribs and a traumatic brain injuryThe 79-year-old owner of a Los Angeles area car wash is seeking $50m in damages from the federal government after US immigration authorities allegedly slammed the US citizen to the ground and detained him for almost 12 hours.Rafie Ollah Shouhed suffered significant injuries during an immigration raid this month, his attorney said, including broken ribs and a traumatic brain injury. The agents violated the Constitution, California civil rights law, and basic human decency", V James DeSimone, a civil rights attorney representing the man, said in a statement on Thursday. Continue reading...

Prosecutors allege Rubin and his ex-assistant Jennifer Powers trafficked and assaulted dozens of women for yearsRetired US financier Howard Rubin was arrested Friday on sex-trafficking charges for allegedly trafficking dozens of women, including former Playboy models, to be sexually and physically assaulted during encounters in his New York City penthouse in a soundproofed room described in court papers as The Dungeon".Authorities announced the arrest of Rubin and his former personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, on charges in an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court. Continue reading...

Surveillance footage shows a masked agent pushing 79-year-old US citizen Rafie Ollah Shouhed to the ground after entering his car wash business in Los Angeles on 9 September. Video footage outside the car wash shows an agent apprehending an employee, and then Shouhed appears. Once again, the agent tackles him to the ground Continue reading...

Mark Francis Ford is accused of sexual crimes allegedly starting in 2004 against a then 10-year-old boyA man who once served in the administrations of two Louisiana governors has been arrested on allegations that he molested a child whom he met while ministering to disabled children in New Orleans as a Roman Catholic priest during a previous career, according to authorities and an attorney representing the accuser.Mark Francis Ford, 64, faces charges of first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile after federal agents arrested him on Thursday in Portage, Indiana, on a warrant obtained by police in New Orleans, Brian Fair of the US Marshals Service said. Continue reading...

One-in-30m' find spared from menu and released into Long Island Sound after being spotted in upstate grocery storeA rare orange lobster was released back into the wild this week after being spotted by an enthusiast at a local grocery store.The lobster, swiftly nicknamed Jean-Clawed Van Damme, is a one-in-30m catch, according to Humane Long Island, a wildlife rescue group, and the New York Aquarium, who aided in releasing it. Continue reading...

Medical examiner says autopsy of Shane Tamura, who played football in high school, showed evidence of brain diseaseThe mass shooter who suspected he had CTE when he killed four people and himself in a Manhattan office building in July did in fact have the degenerative brain disease, the New York City medical examiner said on Friday.Shane Tamura, who was 27 and played football in high school, had unambiguous diagnostic evidence" of low-stage chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the medical examiner found. The condition, which can only be diagnosed posthumously, is caused by repeated exposure to head trauma and is most commonly associated in the US with tackle football players, in particular those who have made it to the NFL. Continue reading...

Monica Moreta-Galarza was pleading with officer to release her detained husband when he pushed her to the groundA federal officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has been relieved of his duties" after a video showing him pushing a woman to the floor at an immigration court in New York City spread quickly on social media.Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, sent a statement to the Guardian, saying the officer's actions were unacceptable and beneath the men and women of Ice". Continue reading...

Nineteen in immigration processing unit striking for access to medical and mental health care, among other demandsNineteen people detained at an immigration detention center that the Trump administration opened within Louisiana's infamous Angola prison were entering their fifth day on hunger strike on Sunday, according to advocacy groups.Those striking at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) processing center set up at Angola's former Camp J are demanding access to medical and mental health care - including prescription medications, according to the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition (SEDND) and the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG). Continue reading...

John Gillette on X called for people like' Pramila Jayapal to be hanged' in response to her video on anti-Trump protestsAn Arizona Republican state representative who has expressed support for January 6 insurrectionists on Wednesday called for a Democratic congresswoman to be executed, as a response to a video clip.The comment on X by state representative John Gillette of Kingman, Arizona, first reported by the Arizona Mirror, was a reaction to a short clip drawn from a YouTube video in March by US representative Pramila Jayapal, a longtime Democratic congresswoman representing Washington state, entitled The Resistance Lab." In the video, Jayapal discusses preparations for street protests against the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Bolton says the world leader who handled the US president better than anyone else was Shinzo Abe: he never asked Trump for anything

Amid financial struggles and presidential criticism, USPS is facing challenges. But it plays an essential role in US lifeIn towns where Washington DC is an abstraction, the post office is the front desk of American democracy - sometimes the only public space at all. Here, postmasters are the human side of government", as the senator Jennings Randolph put it in 1976. When such offices are closed," he warned, the American flag really comes down."Championed by Benjamin Franklin in 1775, the roots of the US postal service - whose mandate is to bind the nation together" - are older than the republic itself. The constitution calls for post offices and post roads". The USPS is still legally obligated to provide a basic and fundamental" service to all Americans. In Scottsbluff, Nebraska, a rural carrier drives more than 700 miles a year to serve just two households.Niamh Rowe is a New York-based writer and podcast producer Continue reading...

We would like to hear from Californians about how they view the redistricting proposalOn 4 November, residents of California will get to vote on a new congressional map drawn up by the state's legislature.The ballot measure, Proposition 50, temporarily gives power to the legislature to redraw congressional borders, returning it to an independent redistricting commission in 2031. Continue reading...

Comey, one of Trump's frequent targets, indicted on counts of making false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceedingJames Comey, the former FBI director and one of Donald Trump's most frequent targets, is expected to surrender to the authorities in the coming days after being indicted on Thursday evening on one count of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding.The stunning indictment by a grand jury was the latest and most dramatic move yet in the president's retribution campaign against his political adversaries. Continue reading...

About two dozen protested after midnight, carrying flags and signs and calling out baby killer' and free Palestine'

Detroit are making the wrong kind of baseball history after a late-season freefall threatens a once certain playoff place. But at least they're now underdogsOn Wednesday night against the Cleveland Guardians, Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson stood stunned as he watched a routine ground ball spin off his glove and into right field. Later, his teammate, catcher Dillon Dingler, doubled over in disbelief after an innocent foul pop up plopped off his mitt and on to the dirt. These were some of the low-lights of yet another Tigers loss, their eighth straight, a defeat which dropped them completely out of first place for the first time since April, shortly after the 2025 season began.Collapse is not a powerful enough descriptor to characterize Detroit's sudden and dramatic downfall, which we'll get to momentarily. But first, some housekeeping. With three games to go of the regular season, the Tigers and the Guardians are tied for first place in the AL Central, but Cleveland own the tiebreaker as they have the better head-to-head over the course of the season. The Tigers do hold a one-game lead over the Houston Astros for the final wildcard place, but if their collapse continues and the Astros do well in their final games, Detroit would be in serious trouble. For the Tigers, who were skating towards the playoffs with a 9.5-game lead in the AL Central with just 16 to play as recently as 10 September, there are three ways their regular season could end. On Monday morning, their fans could wake up dazed but with a division title, sputtering it was all just a terrible dream." Or Detroit could be preparing for a humiliating but somewhat face saving wildcard series. The third option, in which the Astros overtake them and the Tigers miss the postseason altogether, is that the franchise becomes the holder of what is arguably the most catastrophic late season collapse in nearly 150 years of Major League Baseball. Continue reading...

Drug overdoses are now a leading causes of death among US teens as fentanyl possibly drives surge, researchers warnFewer than one in three teenagers with opioid use disorder receive treatment, according to a study published in this month's Health Affairs journal that looked at the disorder in minors from 2022 to 2023.In 2023, 557 teens died of opioid overdose, nearly threefold as many as in 2018, while adult opioid deaths only went up by 65% during this time, according to the study. Drug overdoses are now among the leading causes of death for US teenagers. Continue reading...

Reports say PR teams are working busy rewriting history in real time - not that the American media needs the helpIf a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?You've heard that one before, but here's a new version of the thought experiment: if a genocide takes place but you prevent foreign journalists from observing it, kill the key witnesses and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on propaganda, then will anyone care? Continue reading...

Government data shows 16,523 people with no record, versus 15,725 with a record and 13,767 with pending chargesImmigrants with no criminal record are now the largest group in US immigration detention, according to data released by the government. The number of people with no criminal history arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and detained by the Trump administration has now surpassed the number of those charged with crimes.Ice, the federal agency most heavily relied upon by Donald Trump to carry out the US president's mass deportation campaign, released its latest numbers on Thursday. Continue reading...

Ex-FBI director indicted on counts of making false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. Plus, human origins may reach back far deeper in time than previously thought

Trump is clearing the way for US investors to control a wildly popular platform where millions get their newsIn 2020, only a tiny fraction of Americans got news from TikTok. These days, that number has soared to one in five.For young adults, those figures are much higher, with almost half of adults under 30 getting news there, according to the Pew Research Center.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Have you been following the big stories in football, rugby union, golf, athletics, cricket and the NFL? Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Read the full story hereDozens of House Democrats have signed a letter to Donald Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio, urging the administration to recognize Palestinian statehood.The letter, led by California Democrat Ro Khanna, has 46 signatures, and lawmakers will send it to the US president on Friday, according to plans first provided to the Guardian. Continue reading...

President announces 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs, 25% on heavy-duty trucks and 50% on cabinetsDonald Trump on Thursday announced a new round of punishing tariffs, saying the United States will impose a 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs, 25% tariff on imports of all heavy-duty trucks and 50% tariffs on kitchen cabinets.The US president also said he would start charging a 50% tariff on bathroom vanities and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture next week, with all the new duties to take effect from 1 October. Continue reading...

The former FBI director was fired by Trump in 2017, and has been a longtime target for the presidentDonald Trump's long public campaign to get someone in his administration to bring criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director he fired in 2017, finally succeeded on Thursday, but the president has been so public about his loathing of the indicted man, and his desire to see him jailed, that it might be hard for prosecutors to convince a jury that the case was not brought for political reasons.Comey was fired by Trump in 2017 after he reportedly refused a request to pledge his loyalty to the newly elected president, and then publicly confirmed to Congress that the FBI was conducting a counterintelligence investigation of Russian efforts to help Trump get elected in 2016. Continue reading...

Former FBI director James Comey has said he is innocent, adding let's have a trial and keep the faith'. Key US politics stories from 25 September 2025 at a glanceFormer FBI director James Comey has said he knew there would be costs to standing up to Donald Trump," after he was indicted on Thursday on one count of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction of justice, in the latest move in the president's expansive retribution campaign against his political adversaries.In a video published online, Comey said he was innocent, adding let's have a trial and keep the faith." Continue reading...

US president criticizes anarchists and agitators' as he unveils memo expected to meet fierce legal pushbackDonald Trump issued a presidential memorandum on Thursday aimed at reining in what he has called a radical leftwing domestic terror network" but which seemed likely to meet fierce legal pushback from critics depicting it as a licence for a broad crackdown on his political opponents.Prompted by journalists, Trump suggested that George Soros, the billionaire Hungarian-born philanthropist who funds the Open Society Foundations, could be in his sights. He also identified Reid Hoffman, a billionaire venture capitalist, adding: I hear about him. Maybe it could be him. It could be a lot of people." Continue reading...

Asked by a reporter if he promised leaders of Arab and Muslim countries he met this week that he would block Israel from formally annexing the West Bank territory it has occupied since 1967, Donald Trump replied: 'I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope. I won't allow it. It's not going to happen'

Police had been searching for Travis Decker since bodies of his three daughters were found at campground in JulyForensic tests confirmed that human remains found on a remote mountain in Washington state this month were those of a former soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters last spring, officials confirmed on Thursday.Travis Decker's remains were discovered in a remote wooded area in central Washington, south of the city of Leavenworth, the Chelan county sheriff's office said. Continue reading...

Democrats accuse Trump of intimidation tactics after memo outlines much more aggressive step than previous shutdownsThe White House is telling federal agencies to prepare large-scale firings of workers if the government shuts down next week in a partisan fight over spending plans - prompting the Democrats to accuse Donald Trump of intimidation tactics.In a memo released on Wednesday night, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, is not otherwise funded and is not consistent with the president's priorities". Continue reading...

Cook's lawyers say president's unprecedented move would destroy Fed's independence and disrupt financial marketsFederal Reserve governor Lisa Cook urged the US supreme court on Thursday to reject Donald Trump's attempt to fire her, telling the justices the Republican president's unprecedented move would destroy the central bank's independence and disrupt financial markets.Lawyers for Cook filed a written response opposing the justice department's 18 September emergency request to lift a federal judge's order that blocked Trump from immediately removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden, while her legal challenge continues. Continue reading...

KION-TV announces partnership with San Francisco CBS affiliate as workers condemn disservice to the community'This week KION-TV, a broadcast news outlet on California's central coast that's been on the air for more than 50 years, announced it was entering a new chapter" with a San Francisco CBS affiliate to bring expanded coverage to its viewers.But staff say the development has been devastating for the operation - the newsroom, which covers Salinas, Santa Cruz and Monterey, suddenly shuttered and more than a dozen people were laid off. Continue reading...

Texas authorities say the shooting at an Ice detention center came after a high degree of planning'Authorities said on Thursday that the words of the suspect in the shooting on Wednesday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention facility in Texas were definitively anti-Ice" but said that they did not find evidence that the suspect was a member of any specific group or entity, nor did he mention any specific government agency other than Ice".At a news conference on Thursday afternoon, Texas authorities provided more details on the shooting investigation describing messages and notes they found at the suspect's residence. Continue reading...