Mariann Budde gained national attention for calling on US president to consider immigrants and LGBTQ+ people

Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington DC who gained national attention when she called on Donald Trump to “have mercy” on the country’s immigrants and LGBTQ+ community after his second inauguration, is resigning.

Budde shared in her resignation letter that she will be leaving her post on 3 June 2028 after the consecration and ordination of the new diocesan bishop.

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© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes the allies will only waste time if they play around with Russian compromises.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the recent wave of Russian hybrid attacks in Europe is an attempt to intimidate the European population.

US president urges Americans to call Tom Cotton to support bill to make daylight saving time permanent

Donald Trump on Saturday put pressure on the US senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, urging Americans to call what appeared to be the personal cellphone number of his fellow Republican and the chair of the Senate intelligence committee.

The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July, but it faces roadblocks in the Senate, where some Republicans are strongly opposed to it. Proponents, including the president and his administration, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

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© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Life onboard the aircraft carrier near the strait of Hormuz as it conducts military operations against Iranian targets

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© Photograph: Ed Ou/Reuters

© Photograph: Ed Ou/Reuters

© Photograph: Ed Ou/Reuters

Frank Strada leaving position as state launches independent investigation into what went wrong

Tennessee’s top prison official is stepping down in the aftermath of the failed execution of death row prisoner Christa Pike, the state’s governor Bill Lee announced Saturday.

Frank Strada, the department of correction commissioner, will leave his position later in October as the state launches an independent investigation into what went wrong during Wednesday’s botched execution of Pike, according to Lee.

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© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

TSA says rule change is meant to keep officers ‘alert’, but union says it ignores safety and ‘common decency’

US airport security officers who verify boarding passes and IDs ahead of security checkpoints will no longer be allowed to sit down while working.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was moving forward with this change in policy to keep officers “alert”, the agency confirmed recently.

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© Photograph: Nam Y Huh/AP

© Photograph: Nam Y Huh/AP

© Photograph: Nam Y Huh/AP

President says payments, to be sent in early October, are meant to offset cost of monthly insurance premiums

Donald ⁠Trump has said the US government will send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, the ⁠health insurance program for ⁠elderly people, ​to help offset the cost of their monthly medical insurance premiums.

The president said on social media late on Friday that the ⁠payments would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he said was given $2bn by Congress to improve the Medicare fee-for-service program.

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© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Black voters reveal a generational divide, with younger voters drawn to the Democratic Socialists of America, and older voters focused on what can realistically be achieved

One of the most heated debates in the Democratic party is how left it should go – especially after a year that has seen several democratic socialists win their primary races. Moderate Democrats worry that left-wing candidates will struggle to win general elections, while progressive voters want fresh solutions to healthcare and the rising cost of living. But largely left out of this debate is one of the most critical bases of the party: Black voters.

A Pew Research Center study found that among Democrats, only 21% of Black voters are likely to positively view candidates who align with democratic socialists, compared to 40% of white, 30% of Asian, and 20% of Hispanic voters.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

Frank Strada will leave role next month after uproar over execution attempt, which sent Pike to hospital in critical condition

Tennessee’s prison chief is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike, which lawyers say was the fifth “botched” execution under his leadership across two states since 2022.

Frank Strada, the commissioner of the Tennessee department of correction, has faced mounting questions about the state’s highly secretive death penalty protocols since Wednesday evening when Pike became the first death row prisoner in the US to to be injected with lethal drugs and survive.

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© Photograph: Mark Humphrey/AP

© Photograph: Mark Humphrey/AP

© Photograph: Mark Humphrey/AP

As the Illinois governor seeks a third term, his growing national profile has fueled speculation about a possible White House bid

• Send us your questions about how the Iran war will affect US voters in the midterm election

When Donald Trump returned to power, 20 long months ago, some state leaders wrung their hands, worrying what explicit resistance might cost their citizens – and their careers – during the second term of a vengeful president. JB Pritzker was not among them.

Two days after Trump’s re-election, the Democratic governor of Illinois warned the president would need to “come through me” to reach the people of his state. He waited all of 30 days after the inauguration before drawing a comparison with Nazi Germany.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

Sailors’ relatives are relieved as the ship is expected to dock in San Diego this week after a record-breaking 250-plus days at sea

A mother in San Diego is counting down the days until her son comes home.

“I had a big sign made, welcoming him back,” she said. “I can’t wait to see him.”

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© Illustration: Guardian Design

© Illustration: Guardian Design

© Illustration: Guardian Design

John Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, a recent Brookings Institution analysis found

Nestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California’s coastline sits a valley known as the “salad bowl of the world”.

Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation’s supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life.

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© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

When the new ‘department of government efficiency’ sent young techies to disrupt federal agencies, not everyone complied. Here’s what happened when one worker fought to protect immigrant data

In the early hours of Saturday 22 February 2025 the following email landed in the inboxes of the entire US federal workforce:

From: HR hr@opm.gov

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© Illustration: Justin Metz/The Guardian

© Illustration: Justin Metz/The Guardian

© Illustration: Justin Metz/The Guardian