Plaintiffs allege ‘profound’ chilling effect on protected work of international criminal court officials and others

Two US advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, alleging that sanctions targeting Palestinian rights organizations, international criminal court (ICC) officials and a UN expert have unlawfully violated Americans’ first amendment rights.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, argues that the administration’s sweeping 2025 sanctions package has had a “profound” chilling effect on Palestine-related advocacy, compelling Americans to sever professional relationships and abandon constitutionally protected work.

Trump’s secretary of state claims the global tribunal is interfering with US military and law enforcement operations

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, launched a campaign to dismantle the international criminal court (ICC) on Monday, claiming the global tribunal was interfering with US military and law enforcement operations at the risk of American sovereignty.

Rubio invoked images of US border patrol agents and elected leaders being “dragged before an international court” and tried by judges from around the world in a lengthy op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Monday.

Draft resolution seeks to shield board members and security forces from potential prosecution for work in Gaza

The UN-sanctioned Board of Peace announced by Donald Trump earlier this year to rule Gaza is planning a sweeping grant of legal immunity for itself, according to a draft of the resolution obtained by the Guardian. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge”.

The four-page resolution, labeled “sensitive but unclassified”, extends broad protections to every member of the Board of Peace and its administrative affiliate, the office of the high representative (OHR), as well as to the Palestinian technocrats, international military forces and nonresident contractors lined up to perform work in Gaza. It defines legal processes from which they would have immunity as “any arrest, detention or legal proceedings in the courts or other entities in Gaza”.

Party’s incumbents had resisted Trump’s bruising campaign to pressure them into redrawing congressional districts

A majority of Indiana Republican legislators whose opponents were backed by Donald Trump lost their primaries on Tuesday, giving the president wins in a deep-red state just months after lawmakers there rejected his redistricting plan.

Of the seven Trump-endorsed challengers to state senate candidates, at least five won.

Lawmakers and reporters in shock after Washington press event abruptly ends following gunshots

• Trump evacuated after shots fired at White House correspondents’ dinner – what we know

• White House correspondents’ dinner – latest updates

Lawmakers and journalists were in shock after a Washington media tradition turned violent on Saturday night, halting the White House correspondents’ dinner while the first course of burrata and greens sat on their plates.

“We thought that some of the plates for the dinner fell, and next thing you know, we all went under the table screaming,” said Jamie Raskin, a Maryland congressman who was among the 2,000 attendees gathered to celebrate press freedom. It was the first time that Donald Trump chose to attend the annual Washington event.

Administration offers shifting explanations as it acts without congressional approval or legal premise

The Trump administration is waging an illegal war on Iran, one that defies both the US constitution and international armed conflict laws, according to several legal scholars and bipartisan lawmakers.

The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to halt Donald Trump’s military offensive, which he launched on 28 February. Hundreds of people, including six US personnel, have been killed in a conflict that has now expanded to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel and the Persian Gulf.

Frigate goes down off Sri Lanka as Washington and Israel step up their offensive and promise to hit ‘deeper’ targets in Iran

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A torpedo fired by a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka as the Trump administration followed through on its threats to destroy Tehran’s military and political leadership.

At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack on the Iris Dena on Wednesday. The frigate was sailing in international waters as it returned from a naval exercise organised by India in the Bay of Bengal. The torpedo strike prompted questions from former US officials about whether Washington’s aim of eliminating all of Iran’s military breached international law.

Elected officials visited Trump properties 145 times since his inauguration, records show

Elected leaders from Israel to Iowa have visited Donald Trump’s various properties 145 times since his inauguration last year, according to a new report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), a political watchdog group.

Trump’s luxury resorts have offered the chief executive an unusual political arena – and a source of profit. A Guardian analysis of campaign finance records found that US political campaigns and committees spent at least $1.3m at Trump properties since January 2025.

Exclusive: approximately 350-acre compound planned as base for multinational force, according to records reviewed by the Guardian

The Trump administration is planning to build a 5,000-person military base in Gaza, sprawling more than 350 acres, according to Board of Peace contracting records reviewed by the Guardian.

The site is envisioned as a military operating base for a future International Stabilization Force (ISF), planned as a multinational military force composed of pledged troops. The ISF is part of the newly created Board of Peace which is meant to govern Gaza. The Board of Peace is chaired by Donald Trump and led in part by his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff

Last spring, the National Security Agency (NSA) flagged an unusual phone call between two members of foreign intelligence, who discussed a person close to Donald Trump, according to a whistleblower’s attorney who was briefed on details of the call.

The highly sensitive communique, which has roiled Washington over the past week, was brought to the attention of the director of national intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard.

Exclusive: Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entry

The United Arab Emirates plans to fund “Gaza’s first planned community” on the ruined outskirts of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Palestinian residents there will have access to basic services like education, healthcare and running water, as long as they submit to biometric data collection and security vetting, according to planning documents and people familiar with the latest round of talks at the US-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Israel.

The planned city would mark the UAE’s first investment in a postwar reconstruction project located in the part of Gaza currently held by Israel. The wealthy Gulf state has contributed more than $1.8bn of humanitarian assistance to Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to UAE state media, making it Gaza’s largest humanitarian donor.

Actors, doctors and human rights leaders sign letter calling for restoration of medical care to ‘collapsed’ system

Dozens of artists, including Cynthia Nixon, Mark Ruffalo and Ilana Glazer, have joined with doctors, human rights leaders and humanitarian organizations to call for the immediate restoration of medical care in Gaza in a letter addressed to the state of Israel and world leaders.

“Israel’s systematic attacks on hospitals and unlawful blockade have collapsed Gaza’s healthcare system,” says the letter, which was shared exclusively with the Guardian. “Through its policies and military activities, the government of Israel has deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza and then denied the very help that could save them.”

Exclusive: group behind notorious Florida immigration detention center created bid for reconstruction deal

Trump administration insiders and well-connected Republican businesses have been jostling to dominate pending humanitarian aid and reconstruction logistics in the shattered Gaza Strip, according to sources and documents reviewed by the Guardian.

With three-quarters of Gaza’s structures damaged or destroyed by two years of Israeli strikes, the rebuilding effort to come – estimated at $70bn by the United Nations – could be a rich prize for companies that specialize in construction, demolition, transportation and logistics.