Good morning.
US immigration officers are increasing immigration sweeps in Los Angeles again after the supreme court reversed a temporary restraining order that banned the Trump administration from stopping people based solely on their race, language or job.
The court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration, granting a stay against a restraining order from another judge that found “roving patrols” of immigration agents were conducting indiscriminate arrests in LA.
What did the court’s three dissenters say? “Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor. Today, the court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”
House committee releases apparent Trump birthday note to Epstein
House Democrats on Monday released an image of a sexually suggestive letter and drawing of a female body to Jeffrey Epstein from 2003 that appears to bear the signature of Donald Trump.
“It’s time for the president to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all the Epstein files,” said Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the panel.
What does the message say? “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey … Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” Trump allegedly wrote to the financier, who was later convicted of sex offences and accused of abusing dozens of underage girls before he killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial.
How has the White House reacted? Officials sought to discredit the note, suggesting the signature was falsified.
Spanish PM accuses Israel of ‘exterminating a defenceless people’
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has stepped up his scathing criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “exterminating a defenceless people” by bombing hospitals and “killing innocent boys and girls with hunger”.
Meanwhile, the US refusal to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation to the UN general assembly has led to calls for a one-day conference on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to be moved from New York to Geneva. The Trump administration has blocked visas for about 80 Palestinian officials.
What did Sánchez say? “Protecting your country and your society is one thing, but bombing hospitals and killing innocent boys and girls with hunger is another thing entirely.” He added that in “exterminating a defenceless people”, Israel was “breaking all the rules of humanitarian law”.
What’s the context? The UN general assembly is opening today. Five of Israel’s allies: France, the UK, Belgium, Canada and Australia, have said they will declare recognition of a Palestinian state.
Court rejects Trump’s attempt to overturn E Jean Carroll’s $83.3m verdict
Donald Trump cannot claim presidential immunity to get off the hook from paying $83.3m in damages to the writer E Jean Carroll, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday, upholding a jury’s 2024 award against the president for defamation.
What did the ruling say? “We conclude that Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity,” the panel wrote.
What are the details of the case? Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, accused Trump of attacking her in 1996. Trump said she had concocted the story to sell a memoir. The case led to a separate $5m jury verdict against Trump in 2023 over sexual abuse (the jury rejected the claim of rape) and defamation.
In other news …
A flotilla carrying aid for Gaza appears to have been struck by an incendiary device in Tunisia, footage shows.
Rand Paul, the Republican senator who chairs the committee on homeland security, criticized JD Vance for “despicable” comments supporting the extrajudicial military killing of 11 alleged drug traffickers last week.
Israeli officials said Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a crowded bus stop in the northern outskirts of Jerusalem, killing six people and injuring several others.
The French prime minister, François Bayrou, was ousted in a confidence vote on Monday, collapsing his minority government.
Stat of the day: Labor union density falls to 5.1% in ‘right-to-work’ states
A state of the labor unions report found the 26 states with “right-to-work” laws had a far lower union density – at 5.1% – compared with the 24 states plus DC that protected collective bargaining rights, at 14.2%. Lawmakers Elizabeth Warren and Brad Sherman are pushing to invalidate right-to-work laws, for weakening labor union power.
Don’t miss this: Mahmoud Khalil on exile, liberation and Ice detention
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian rights activist born in Syria, spoke to the Guardian in a wide-ranging conversation after his detention by Ice. “What shocked me at the very beginning, when I was kidnapped, was just how reminiscent that was to cases I witnessed in Syria,” he says.
Climate check: Disposable masks breaking down into harmful microplastics, research suggests
An estimated 129bn disposable masks a month were being used at the height of the Covid pandemic. There was no recycling system, meaning many became litter or landfill. Now they’re breaking down, releasing harmful microplastics and chemicals, research suggests.
Last Thing: ‘I got a robot massage. Was it as good as a real, human experience?’
“I love massages – I am never happier than when the profane flesh sack I call my body is being kneaded like Wagyu beef,” writes Madeleine Aggeler – so she went to investigate whether a $60 robotic massage felt any good.
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