1+ week, 2+ day ago (569+ words) Brendan Carr, head of FCC, asks if programme ever aired in US which is seen as key to any future litigation A US media regulator led by a close ally of Donald Trump is examining whether an edition of the BBC's Panorama broke US regulations in the way it edited one of the president's speeches. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by Brendan Carr, has written to the BBC's outgoing director general, Tim Davie, asking whether the programme was ever aired in the US. Davie and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, resigned after complaints about the show by a former independent adviser to the broadcaster. The BBC has since apologised for splicing two clips of a speech Trump made before the Capitol riots in January 2021. Trump has since threatened to sue the corporation in Florida for up to…...

3+ day, 1+ hour ago (721+ words) The attack makes the troops" Washington DC exit less likely and offers a convenient data point for rightwing narratives "Washington DC is considered a safe zone," Donald Trump declared on Tuesday, veering off topic at the national Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House. "This was one of the most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city." A day later, two national guardsmen from West Virginia were shot in a busy area a few blocks from the White House in downtown Washington. The ambush took place outside the Farragut West Metro railway station within sight of the Guardian"s office (I had been in the station three hours earlier and witnessed national guard troops milling around). In a speech from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Wednesday evening, Trump said the…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (269+ words) Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days Between the demands of loyalty, the attack on institutions and the targeting of enemies, Amy Hawkins explored the "cultural revolution" under way in the US, and how life in Trump's America is becoming eerily familiar to those who lived in China under Mao. A company called Strike 3 has clogged US courts with lawsuits, mostly against porn watchers who feel shamed into settling privately. Tarpley Hitt explored a legal phenomenon which has landed on the desks of federal judges across the US, led to the birth of a cottage industry of defence attorneys taking on the cases, and raised complex questions about the technology underpinning the lawsuits. Have you ever heard a word that jolts you to attention? That word, for me,…...

1+ day, 18+ hour ago (505+ words) Democratic safeguards won't work unless they're backed by the will of the people, argues Peter Loschi, while Roger Heppleston calls for wholesale reform of the British political system. Plus letters from Rob Hunter, Peter Buckman and Dr Piers Brendon Timothy Garton Ash has produced an excellent list of safeguards against extremism (My guide to populist-proofing your democracy " before it's too late, 25 November). Unfortunately, they don't work in the long term. The finest minds of the Enlightenment devised the checks and balances of the US constitution, and an authoritarian like Donald Trump brushed them aside in two minutes. Laws and regulations to guarantee good government only work if the people want them to. If they're not bothered, then no'amount of safeguarding is of much use. We could replace the House of Lords with a citizens' assembly, comprising a randomly chosen cross-section…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago (491+ words) Kevin Roberts, whose group pushed Project 2025, had defended ex-Fox News host's talk with Nick Fuentes The leader of the conservative thinktank behind Project 2025 apologized for supporting a white nationalist amid turmoil on the right over the mainstreaming of extremist ideology, but is resisting calls to resign. Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, previously defended former Fox host Tucker Carlson for having Hitler fan Nick Fuentes on his podcast without pushing back on his white supremacist views. In leaked footage of a Heritage town hall from Wednesday, staffers largely said Roberts' decision to align the thinktank with Fuentes was a mistake. "I made a mistake and I let you down and I let down this institution. Period. Full Stop," he told Heritage staff. He also claimed he "didn't know much" about Fuentes before he recorded a video and posted…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (1355+ words) Fifty years after writing a book which would change how Australians view their history and culture, the author and journalist isn't slowing down Anne Summers is scrutinising street numbers as we walk. Pausing in front of a 19th-century mansion, the author and journalist looks up to its second storey. "This is where I was arrested." "Oh wow," she says, taking in its immaculate sandstone facade. "It didn't look like this then." We're in an area real estate agents now call Potts Point, but in 1974, it was the Cross. When Summers moved to Sydney in her 20s, from her home town of Adelaide " "an incredibly boring place" " every aspect of the notorious neighbourhood excited her. The luminous purple jacarandas and exotic frangipanis, the steep geography and sparkling harbour, but most of all "the incredible mix of people". While Victoria Street's buildings were…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (906+ words) Donald Trump says "we have nothing to hide" as Maga suspicions grow over files " key US politics stories from Monday 17 November at a glance Donald Trump has told his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a sudden reversal of his earlier position. The US president"s post on his Truth Social website came after the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said previously that he believed a vote on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations "that he [Trump] has something to do with it. Late on Sunday, Trump wrote on his social media platform: "House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide. "And it"s time to move on from this Democrat…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (146+ words) Karin Immergut said earlier she "found no credible evidence" that protests in Oregon city were out of control A judge has issued her final order and formally blocked Donald Trump from sending the national guard to Portland, Oregon. The district court judge, Karin Immergut, delivered her final order in the case on Friday. Earlier this week, Immergut barred Trump"s administration from deploying the national guard to Portland until at least Friday, saying she "found no credible evidence" that protests in the city had grown out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall. The city and state sued in September to block the deployment. This is the latest development in weeks of legal back and forth in Portland, Chicago and other US cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the national guard…...

4+ day, 6+ hour ago (759+ words) Trump's defense secretary orders US Navy secretary to investigate "potentially unlawful comments' made by Kelly " key US politics stories from 25 November 2025 The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, escalated attacks by Trump administration chiefs on Arizona senator Mark Kelly on Tuesday by ordering the secretary of the US navy to investigate "potentially unlawful comments" made by Kelly in a social media video with other lawmakers. Hegseth's order came in the form of a memorandum to John Phelan asking the Navy secretary to review Kelly and a group of fellow Democrats' comments in the video last week that sought to remind serving soldiers and intelligence officers that they have the right to refuse unlawful orders. Hegseth said in the memo that he wanted a brief from Phelan that he could review by 10 December. The Pentagon had issued a statement on Monday that…...

3+ day, 4+ hour ago (883+ words) Two national guard members were critically wounded in attack near White House " key US politics stories from Wednesday 26 November at a glance Two West Virginia national guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after they were shot near the White House in Washington. Local officials and federal authorities called the shooting a "targeted" attack and have a suspect in custody. In response, Donald Trump has ordered more troops to the nation's capital. US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said that Trump has asked for 500 additional troops to be deployed to Washington. "This happened just steps from the White House and it will not stand and that's why President Trump has asked me " and I will ask the secretary of the army to the national guard " to add 500 additional troops, national guardsmen, to Washington DC," Hegseth said. Trump's request for additional troops…...