11 h. ago With ‘AI slop’ distorting our reality, the world is sleepwalking into disaster | Nesrine Malik

A perverse information ecosystem is being mined by big tech for profit, fooling the unwary and sending algorithms crazyThere are two parallel image channels that dominate our daily visual consumption. In one, there are real pictures and footage of the world as it is: politics, sport, news and entertainment. In the other is AI slop, low-quality content with minimal human input. Some of it is banal and pointless – cartoonish images of celebrities, fantasy landscapes, anthropomorphised animals. And some is a sort of pornified display of women just simply being, like a virtual girlfriend you cannot truly interact with. The range and scale of the content is staggering, and infiltrates everything from social media timelines to messages circulated on WhatsApp. The result is not just a blurring of reality, but a distortion of it.A new genre of AI slop is rightwing political fantasy. There are entire YouTube videos of made-up scenarios in which Trump officials prevail against liberal forces....

Events

12 h. ago Americans detained and blacklisted from countries after using petsitting travel 'hack'

A so-called travel 'hack' has turned into a nightmare for some Americans at international borders.

Politics

16 h. ago Trump official calls for Americans to be paid reparations over trauma caused by Biden's migrant crisis

Miller was incensed by a suggestion that  Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal migrant with suspected dies to the MS-13 gang, was entitled to reparations.

Politics

19 h. ago Amy Klobuchar calls on supreme court to hold Trump officials in contempt

Senator warns of US getting ‘closer to a constitutional crisis’ as Samuel Alito’s dissent signals deference to TrumpMinnesota senator Amy Klobuchar warned on Sunday that the US is “getting closer and closer to a constitutional crisis”, but the courts, growing Republican disquiet at Trump administration policies, and public protest were holding it off.“I believe as long as these courts hold, and the constituents hold, and the congress starts standing up, our democracy will hold,” Klobuchar told CNN’s State of the Union, adding “but Donald Trump is trying to pull us down into the sewer of a crisis.” Continue reading...

Politics

30 h. ago Britain 'needs to follow Donald Trump's lead and launch a war on woke universities, rid classrooms of anti

The US President's moves to exert more influence over American colleges has sparked calls for the Labour government to ensure British institutions do not engage in 'ideological overreach'.

Politics

47 h. ago Bill Clinton urges Americans to put aside ‘resentments’ 30 years after Oklahoma City bombing

Former president spoke at commemoration for the 168 people who died in the 1995 attack by far-right extremistBill Clinton called on Americans to put aside “whose resentments matter most” and issued a defense of government employees as he returned to Oklahoma City on Saturday for a remembrance service for the 30th anniversary of the deadliest homegrown terrorist attack in US history.“If our lives are going to be dominated by efforts to dominate people we disagree with, we’re going to put the 250-year-old march toward a more perfect union at risk,” he said. “None of us would ever get much done. Believe me, we’ve all got something to be mad about.” Continue reading...

Events

59 h. ago Appeals court pauses Judge Boasberg’s contempt probe against Trump administration

A federal appeals court late Friday temporarily halted U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s contempt investigation against the Trump administration after he accused officials of failing to comply with his order regarding deportation flights to El Salvador last month.

Events

66 h. ago Trump official urges criminal probe of New York attorney general, who calls request 'retaliation'

A top housing official in the Trump administration has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James over a real estate transaction

Politics

69 h. ago Wife of Kilmar Ábrego García speaks as White House defiant over US return

Jennifer Vasquez Sura relieved husband is alive but Trump officials say in mocking X post he is ‘never coming back’US politics live – latest updatesJennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Ábrego García, the man the Trump administration has admitted it mistakenly deported, expressed relief to learn he is alive after a Democratic US senator managed to meet with him in El Salvador – as the White House posted on social media that he is “never coming back” to the US.“It was very overwhelming – the most important thing for me, my children, his mom, brothers was to see him alive, and we saw him alive,” Vasquez Sura told ABC in an interview. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Trump officials create uncertainty to evade court orders rather than comply

Recalcitrance appears to be product of Trump White House’s maximalist interpretation of executive powersFaced with a flurry of adverse court orders it would rather not follow, the Trump White House is increasingly deploying a strategy of claiming or even manufacturing its own uncertainty to dodge their effects without appearing to outright defy them.The Trump administration has faced several major legal setbacks in recent weeks, most notably in its efforts to deport undocumented immigrants without due process under the Alien Enemies Act or in spite of protective orders. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Nearly 300 apply as French university offers US academics ‘scientific asylum’

Aix-Marseille University generates interest amid a US crackdown and calls for a ‘scientific refugee’ statusNearly 300 academics have applied to a French university’s offer to take in US-based researchers rattled by the American government’s crackdown on academia, as a former French president called for the creation of a “scientific refugee” status for academics in peril.Earlier this year, France’s Aix-Marseille University was among the first in Europe to respond to the funding freezes, cuts and executive orders unleashed on institutions across the US by Donald Trump’s administration. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Kilmar Ábrego García’s wife rejects Trump officials’ depictions of him as ‘violent’

Jennifer Vasquez Sura criticizes DHS’s attempt to smear her wrongly deported husband over 2021 civil protective orderWho is Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador?The wife of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man unlawfully deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador, has strongly criticized the Trump administration’s attempt to smear his character, saying a temporary restraining order against him was “out of caution” and that “he is a loving partner and father” who is being denied justice.Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she “acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar” when she got the civil protective order in 2021, according to a statement emailed to the Baltimore Sun. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Fundraising shows something clear: Democratic voters want fighters

Analysis: From progressives like AOC, Jasmine Crockett and Bernie Sanders to mainstream Democrats like Jon Ossoff and Mark Kelly, Democrats are sending their money to elected officials they think will aggressively oppose Trump. Eric Garcia reports

Politics

4 d. ago Foreign students sue Trump officials over revoked visas as 1,000 affected

Actions by state department to terminate students’ legal status place them at risk of deportation and detentionUS politics live – latest updatesSeveral international students who have had their visas revoked in recent weeks have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing the government denied them due process when it suddenly took away their permission to be in the US.The actions by the federal government to terminate students’ legal status have left hundreds of scholars at risk of detention and deportation. Their schools range from private universities such as Harvard and Stanford to large public institutions such as the University of Maryland and Ohio State University, to some small liberal arts colleges. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump official threatens Harvard foreign student admissions as more universities rally in support

Kristi Noem demands university’s records on foreign students’ ‘illegal’ activities while president threatens to strip it of tax-exempt statusDonald Trump has declared that Harvard University should no longer receive federal funds, calling it a “joke” that “teaches hate and stupidity”, while his administration said the pre-eminent US university could lose its ability to enrol foreign students.Harvard made headlines on Monday by becoming the first university to stand up against a series of onerous demands from the Trump administration, setting the stage for a showdown between the federal government and one of the US’s most prestigious institutions. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago UK officials label trade documents ‘secret’ to shield from US eyes amid Trump tariff war

Exclusive: civil servants beef up security rules for sensitive negotiating papers over fears posed by hostile US trade policyUK officials are tightening security when handling sensitive trade documents to prevent them from falling into US hands amid Donald Trump’s tariff war, the Guardian can reveal.In an indication of the strains on the “special relationship”, British civil servants have changed document-handling guidance, adding higher classifications to some trade negotiation documents in order to better shield them from American eyes, sources told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago US judge finds probable cause to hold Trump officials in contempt over alien act deportations

Federal judge opens proceedings over administration’s use of wartime act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang membersUS politics live – latest updatesA federal judge ruled on Wednesday that there was probable cause to hold Trump officials in contempt for violating his temporary injunction that barred the use of the Alien Enemies Act wartime power to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.More details to come Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump officials face criminal contempt after defying judge’s orders in Alien Enemies Act case

Probable cause exists to hold administration in contempt for deliberately disregarding court orders to turn planes around, judge rules

Politics

5 d. ago Trump officials blocking court testimony from Social Security head over program’s ‘death list’

The request for Dudek to appear came after reports claimed that thousands were being added to the agency’s ‘death master file’ as part of a push for immigrants to ‘self-deport’

Events

5 d. ago Joe Biden accuses Trump and Musk of taking ‘hatchet’ to social security

In first speech since leaving office, ex-president spoke of ‘destruction’ current administration has wroughtJoe Biden on Tuesday accused Donald Trump and his billionaire lieutenant, Elon Musk, of taking a “hatchet” to the social security administration as part of their warp-speed effort to tear down the federal government.In his first public remarks since leaving office, the former president avoided any mention of Trump – his predecessor and successor – by name but assailed the administration for threatening social security, which he called a “sacred promise” that more than 70 million Americans rely on each month. Continue reading...

Politics