Plan to install barriers through popular national park sparked outrage from advocates and politicians alike

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expanding the border wall and other security infrastructure across the Big Bend region of west Texas, where contentious plans to build roads and vehicle barriers through a popular national park have led to furious backlash and public protests.

US district judge Kathleen Cardone’s ruling after a Friday hearing in El Paso deals a major blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to expand the border wall through west Texas at breakneck pace, while riding roughshod over the objections of local business owners, landowners, public land advocates and politicians from both parties.

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© Photograph: Scott McWilliams/AP

© Photograph: Scott McWilliams/AP

© Photograph: Scott McWilliams/AP

Ukraine's Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi discussed the security situation in Ukraine and the country's needs in countering Russian strikes during a meeting with U.S. Charge d'Affaires Paul Houston and William Solley, Head of the Law Enforcement Section at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Kevin Warsh’s predecessor had been investigated over cost overruns related to central bank renovation project

The US ⁠justice department is not reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell ⁠for cost overruns ⁠related ​to the central bank’s building renovation project, a department spokesperson said on Friday.

Attorney general Todd ⁠Blanche – in comments to Bloomberg News, which first reported the development – said he has not ruled out ⁠continuing to look into the project’s oversight and potentially take ​action if evidence of ‌wrongdoing came to ‌light.

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© Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

© Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

© Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Dozens of residents testify to legislature’s redistricting committee in heated hearing, the last of eight

Hundreds of people gathered across from the Mississippi state capitol building on Thursday evening to rally against the aggressive Republican efforts to draw maps that favor their own party.

Shortly after the US supreme court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais, which severely weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Tate Reeves, the Mississippi governor, moved in lockstep with other Republican governors and lawmakers to call for a special session to redraw maps. However, before that special session could occur, Reeves canceled it and wrote on X that he expected “lawmakers to redraw congressional lines BETWEEN NOW and 2027 elections!”

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© Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

© Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

© Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

The Russian threat concerns not only Ukraine but the security of all of Europe, so Ukraine is ready to share its experience of defending against it.

Senate Leadership Fund is redirecting ad spending from Michael Whatley’s campaign to support other candidates

A major Republican political action committee pulled the plug on financial support for its Senate candidate in North Carolina, Michael Whatley, according to multiple reports, as the party begins to triage resources amid increasingly dire midterm polling.

The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the campaign arm of the Senate majority leader, John Thune, has withdrawn its ad spending in North Carolina to redirect support to other candidates, Semafor reported on Friday. The New York Times, CNN and other publications have confirmed the report with sources close to the fund.

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© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/POOL AFP/AP

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/POOL AFP/AP

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/POOL AFP/AP

Ceremony will not be hosted at its traditional home for the first time since awards began in 1978

The Kennedy Center Honors will take place away from its traditional home this year for the first time in its history as the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts remains in jeopardy amid Donald Trump’s ongoing battle to have it named after himself.

The Capital One Arena in Washington DC is now set to host the ceremony on 7 December, a Kennedy Center spokespersonsaid. The list of honorees this year has not yet been announced.

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© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Support for 37-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins could upend the governor’s race in the heavily Republican state

This July, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spent four days and 450 miles (725km) wending his way down the Yukon River in a 24ft Alweld skiff, a flat-bottomed aluminum boat built for shallow Alaska rivers.

Starting in Koyukon Athabascan country, he passed through Indigenous Deg Hit’an communities like Anvik, before ending among the Yup’ik villages of the lower river, Russian Mission and Pilot Station among them. The boat carried him through 11 villages – some only reachable by water or small plane, and most with fewer than 300 residents, and fewer still who could recall the last time they had seen a candidate for Alaska governor, Republican, Democrat or independent.

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© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

Trump has repeatedly acted to boost like-minded and authoritarian leaders across Latin America using funds allocated for the European defense against Putin

© Getty

NATO allies must be prepared for further hostile actions by Russia against the Alliance, and the response should be increased support for Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law ratifying the Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, on the other, on Ukraine's participation in the European Defence Fund (EDF).

The case of the Siders family illustrates major shortcomings among Ohio’s political and administrative authorities

In June 2025, Jody Walker stood in front of Ohio lawmakers at a senate finance committee meeting in Columbus. As the head of South Central Ohio Job and Family Services, he was desperate for help.

“I have been a county director since 1999, yet I have not seen such a challenging time in the child welfare system as I do today,” he said, “specifically in terms of the needs of our children.”

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© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

These graphics explain what the Democrats would need to do to flip the Senate and House of Representatives

A turning point in Donald Trump’s second term will soon arrive. On 3 November, voters across the US will decide whether to keep the president’s Republican allies in control of Congress, or return Democrats to the majority.

Many indicators of voter sentiment suggest the Democrats are favored to take back control of the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate. Winning either would be a significant victory for the party and give it the power to block Trump’s legislative agenda and more aggressively investigate his administration.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

Ukraine is working to hold the first international summit on civilian detainees in Paris, launch joint medical commissions to provide access to seriously ill and severely wounded detainees, and create an international coalition to secure their return.

Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is surprising everyone, as polls have him leading his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, in the Republican-led state of Texas.

Jonathan Freedland speaks to James Henson, founder and executive director of the Texas Politics Project, about why a blue wave in the Lone Star state would be seismic

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has briefed Jeffrey van Leeuwen, Director of the Office of the NATO Secretary General, during his visit to Kyiv on Russia's ongoing campaign of terror.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday threatened unspecified measures against Ukraine unless Kyiv acknowledged a confidentiality agreement that Seoul says covered the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers and issued an apology.

President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with the ambassadors of European Union countries in Ukraine.