4 h. ago The Trump administration has decided coal is female – here’s why | Arwa Mahdawi

What is really behind the US Department of Energy’s weird pronouncement on social media?Have you ever tossed and turned at night wondering what the correct pronouns are for a lump of coal? No, me neither. However, it seems someone at the US Department of Energy has devoted a few spare brain cells to this matter and decided that coal is a she/her.Co-opting a phrase adopted by the LGBTQ+ community, the official energy department X account tweeted on 31 July: “She’s an icon. She’s a legend. And she is the moment,” alongside a sparkling picture of coal. This comes as the Trump administration devotes considerable energy to making fossil fuels great again. The president has signed numerous executive orders aimed at “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry” and reversed Biden-era pollution regulations on coal-fired power plants. These plants, according to a 2023 report, killed at least 460,000 Americans over the past two decades. Deaths declined when the environmental regula...

Politics

15 h. ago Mexico expels 26 cartel figures wanted by US officials in deal with White House

High-ranking figures extradited to US as Trump officials ratchet pressure on networks sending drugs across borderMexico has extradited 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as US authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks sending drugs across the border.Authorities sent 26 prisoners who were wanted in the US for ties to drug-trafficking groups, Mexico’s attorney general’s office and security ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The transfers were carried out after a promise from the US justice department that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty in any of the cases. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Judge orders ICE to improve conditions after NYC immigration detainees complain of mistreatment

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately improve conditions at a New York City immigration holding facility

Events

22 h. ago NYC candidate Zohran Mamdani is making his messaging for the mayoral race clear: Me vs Trump

Mamdani is warning New Yorkers about the Trump administration’s impacts to the city — and his opponents’ ties to the president

Politics

22 h. ago US court says Trump’s Doge team can access social security numbers and other sensitive data

Court refuses to block ‘department of government efficiency’ from accessing data such as citizenship statusUS politics live – latest updatesA US appeals court on Tuesday rejected a bid by a group of unions to block the Trump administration government downsizing team known as the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) from accessing sensitive data on Americans.The Virginia-based fourth US circuit court of appeals in a 2-1 decision said the unions were unlikely to prevail on claims that Doge would violate federal privacy laws by accessing data at the US Department of Education, treasury department, and office of personnel management. Continue reading...

Events

25 h. ago Democrats call Trump’s DC police takeover ‘a distraction’ from Epstein files, tariffs and tax bill – live updates

Chuck Schumer called Trump’s decision to federalize the DC police and deploy national guard to the city ‘attempted distraction’ from ‘other scandals’Later on, we’ll hear from the Trump administration for the second day in a row. The president won’t make an appearance, but press secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a White House briefing at 1pm ET.Defense secretary Pete Hegseth says he’s proud to be part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network of Christian congregations.Pastor Doug Wilson, a CREC co-founder, leads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, the network’s flagship location. Jovial and media-friendly, Wilson is no stranger to stirring controversy with his church’s hard-line theology and its embrace of patriarchy and Christian nationalism.Wilson told The Associated Press on Monday he was grateful Hegseth shared the video. He noted Hegseth’s post was labeled with Christ Church’s motto: “All of Christ for All of Life.” Continue reading...

Politics

26 h. ago Trump’s Washington DC intervention labelled as ‘unsettling and unprecedented’ by mayor – US politics live

Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, declined to criticise president directly while head of National Action Network calls move ‘disgusting and dangerous’Later on, we’ll hear from the Trump administration for the second day in a row. The president won’t make an appearance, but press secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a White House briefing at 1pm ET.Defense secretary Pete Hegseth says he’s proud to be part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network of Christian congregations.Pastor Doug Wilson, a CREC co-founder, leads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, the network’s flagship location. Jovial and media-friendly, Wilson is no stranger to stirring controversy with his church’s hard-line theology and its embrace of patriarchy and Christian nationalism.Wilson told The Associated Press on Monday he was grateful Hegseth shared the video. He noted Hegseth’s post was labeled with Christ Church’s motto: “All of Christ for All of Life.” Continue reading...

Politics

39 h. ago Ivanka Trump's surprise role in her dad's administration revealed... after being absent for most of second term

The daughter of president Donald Trump served as a full-time adviser during her father's first term in office, between 2017 and 2021. She has largely been absent since he returned to the Oval Office.

Politics

42 h. ago US judge hears if Trump team broke law during LA Ice protests

Federal judge began hearing evidence and arguments on deployment of national guard and marines to curb protestsUS politics live – latest updatesA federal judge in San Francisco on Monday began hearing evidence and arguments on whether the Trump administration violated federal law when it deployed national guard soldiers and US marines to Los Angeles after protests over immigration raids this summer.The Trump administration federalized California national guard members and sent them to the second-largest US city over the objections of the California governor, Gavin Newsom, and city leaders, after protests erupted on 7 June when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers arrested people at multiple locations. Continue reading...

Events

46 h. ago Judge rejects Trump administration request to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury transcripts

Judge wrote transcripts from case of Jeffrey Epstein associate couldn’t be released because it would risk ‘unraveling secrecy’ of grand juryDismissing it as little more than a “diversion,” a federal judge in New York has formally rejected the Trump-led US justice department’s request to release transcripts of pre-indictment, grand jury interviews with witnesses in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and associate of Jeffrey Epstein.Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote that the transcripts could not be released publicly – “casually or promiscuously” – as Donald Trump’s government had pushed for because it would risk “unraveling the foundations of secrecy upon which the grand jury is premised”. Continue reading...

Politics

46 h. ago Judge denies release of sealed Maxwell files as Trump dragged back into Epstein scandal

The US Justice Department sought the unsealing of grand jury material related to Maxwell and Epstein after harsh criticism of the Trump administration’s decision to not publicly release the investigative file on Epstein

Politics

57 h. ago Former Trump adviser says Putin will walk out of Alaska summit as a 'loser'

Robert O'Brien, who served as a national security adviser in President Donald Trump 's first administration, has claimed that Putin will walk out of his summit with Trump a 'loser.'

Politics

58 h. ago Trial to start on whether deployment of National Guard to Los Angeles violated federal law

A federal judge in San Francisco will hear arguments on whether military troops deployed this summer by the Trump administration to Los Angeles violated a federal law that bars troops from conducting law enforcement duties within the country

Politics

65 h. ago JD Vance’s attempt to link Democrats to Epstein renews calls to ‘release the files’

Vice-president tries to deflect criticism and blames Biden for doing ‘absolutely nothing’ about convicted sex offenderFour days after JD Vance reportedly asked top Trump administration officials to come up with a new communications strategy for dealing with the scandal around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he appears to have put his foot in it, sparking a new round of online outrage even as he tried to defuse the furor.In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, the vice-president tried to deflect criticism of the administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files by blaming Democrats. He accused Joe Biden of doing “absolutely nothing” about the scandal when he was in the White House. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Mapped: What parts of Ukraine does Russia control as Trump suggests land swap for peace?

Donald Trump’s administration says it believes Ukraine’s hopes of forcing Russia out of occupied territory are ‘unrealistic’

Politics

3 d. ago Pam Bondi fired him for prosecuting January 6 rioters. He’d do it again: ‘it’s about justice’

After volunteering to take on cases, Mike Gordon became known as a skilled litigator who took on high profile defendantsWhen he showed up to work on 27 June, Mike Gordon was having one of the best weeks of his career.Gordon, a federal prosecutor in Tampa, had spent the last month working on a complex case involving allegations that well-known businessman Leo Govoni stole $100m from a fund for children with special needs. That Monday, the US attorney for the middle district of Florida held a press conference announcing an indictment in the case. On Wednesday, Gordon had his semi-annual performance review and received the top rating: outstanding. On Thursday, he appeared on behalf of the government in court and successfully convinced a judge that Govoni should remain in jail until his trial. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Trump administration threatens to strip Harvard University of lucrative patents

White House escalates offensive on Ivy League university by calling for review of federally funded researchThe latest phase of the Trump administration’s offensive against Harvard University is a comprehensive review of the university’s federally funded research programs, and the threat to strip the school’s lucrative portfolio of patents.In a letter to the Harvard president, Alan Garber, posted online on Friday, Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, accused Harvard of breaching its legal and contractual requirements tied to federally funded research programs and patents. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Commercial fishing in a vast Pacific nature area is halted after a judge blocks a Trump order

Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again after a judge in Hawaii sided with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of federal ocean protections

Politics

4 d. ago ‘Erasure of years of work’: outcry as White House moves to open Arctic reserve to oil and gas drilling

US Bureau of Land management is working to rapidly strip protections to largest tract of land in the USThe Trump administration’s plan to expand oil and gas drilling in a 23m acre reserve on the Arctic Ocean is sparking an impassioned response, amid fears it threatens Arctic wildlife, undermines the subsistence rights of Alaska Natives and imperils one of the fastest-warming ecosystems on Earth.More than a quarter of a million people have responded to the 2 June proposal from the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to roll back protections on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), the largest tract of public land in the US. Continue reading...

Society

4 d. ago Joe Biden is complicit in Gaza’s starvation. Blood is on his hands | Mohamad Bazzi

At several points during his presidency, Biden could have stopped starvation from spreading in Gaza. He didn’t do thatIn March 2024, the global authority on food security warned that Palestinians were experiencing “catastrophic levels of hunger”, and famine was imminent in northern Gaza as Israel continued its siege of the territory. That report was one of the most direct warnings from the UN and international relief groups, which had been raising alarms about the potential for widespread starvation in Gaza since December 2023.Joe Biden was in the White House at the time, and his administration not only failed to heed those repeated warnings, but it worked to undermine UN agencies and humanitarian groups that tried to focus attention on Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Today, Donald Trump and his administration are deeply complicit in the human-made famine unfolding in Gaza, but it’s important to remember that US complicity predates Trump – and it’s another sta...

Politics