As the president’s attacks are met with a distinct lack of resistance, critics warn that freedom of the press is eroding in plain sight

Bernie Sanders, the venerable democratic socialist senator from Vermont, was not in a mood to pull punches.

“Trump is undermining our democracy and rapidly moving us towards authoritarianism, and the billionaires who care more about their stock portfolios than our democracy are helping him do it,” he fumed in a statement last week.

Up to 10in of rain fell overnight, prompting flash flooding in region west of Austin hit by long drought

• Texas flooding: latest updates

Torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday, killing at least 24 people as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said.

Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, authorities said.

Nayib Bukele disputed claims of Ábrego García’s lawyers that he was tortured and deprived of sleep while in custody

The president of El Salvador has denied claims that Kilmar Ábrego García was subjected to beatings and deprivation while he was held in the country before being returned to the US to face human-smuggling charges.

Nayib Bukele said in a social media post that Ábrego García, the Salvadorian national who was wrongly extradited from the US to El Salvador in March before being returned in June, “wasn’t tortured, nor did he lose weight”.

Paramount agreed to pay $16m to Trump’s future library or other cause, but not to him, and made no apology in the deal

Donald Trump has reached a $16m settlement with Paramount, the parent of CBS News, over what he claimed was false editing of a pre-election interview with the Democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris, in what is likely to be seen as a further example of capitulation by media companies hoping to smooth the waters with Trump.

Trump had filed a $10bn lawsuit against the company in October, one of a string of legal actions against US media conglomerates over what the US president maintains was biased, incorrect or “fake” news reporting.

New White House-approved painting was donated after Trump described the original as ‘purposefully distorted’

Months after Donald Trump expressed strong negative opinions about a presidential portrait of him in the Colorado state capitol that he described as “purposefully distorted”, a White House-approved replacement now hangs in its place.

The new portrait, which Trump reportedly demanded be printed with a golden border so it would catch the light and “glimmer”, bears a close resemblance to Trump’s official second-term photograph, which hangs in more than 1,600 federal buildings across the US and thousands more on a voluntary basis.

Expansion of As Ever product line marks latest foray into lifestyle branding, with wine manufactured in Napa valley

The Duchess of Sussex has announced her latest foray into lifestyle branding, with Meghan expanding her As Ever product line to feature a “thoughtful” collection of wines.

A press release on Tuesday described the first wine to become available as “a light, fresh, and effortlessly celebratory 2023 Napa Valley Rosé, thoughtfully curated by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex”.

Memo says those subjected to civil proceedings are not entitled to an attorney like they are in criminal cases

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The Trump administration has codified its efforts to strip some Americans of their US citizenship in a recently published justice department memo that directs attorneys to prioritize denaturalization for naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes.

The memo, published on 11 June, calls on attorneys in the department to institute civil proceedings to revoke a person’s United States citizenship if an individual either “illegally procured” naturalization or procured naturalization by “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation”.

Amir-Saeid Iravani says Tehran is ready for negotiations but Trump’s ‘unconditional surrender is not negotiation’

Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that the Islamic republic’s nuclear enrichment “will never stop” because it is permitted for “peaceful energy” purposes under the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

“The enrichment is our right, an inalienable right, and we want to implement this right,” Iravani told CBS News, adding that Iran was ready for negotiations but “unconditional surrender is not negotiation. It is dictating the policy toward us.”

Democratic mayoral candidate denies Trump’s accusation that he is communist while reaffirming push to tax wealthy

Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to cut New York City off from federal funds if favored mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, “doesn’t behave himself” should he be elected.

Mamdani, meanwhile, denied that he was – as the president said – a communist. But he reaffirmed his commitment to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers while saying: “I don’t think that we should have billionaires.”

New York’s financial elite compare the city to crime-riddled Gotham after democratic socialist bests Cuomo in Democratic mayoral primary

When Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-described socialist, won New York’s mayoral Democratic nomination last week over a seasoned but scandal-scarred veteran, the city’s financial elite had a meltdown.

This was the start of “hot commie summer” in the city, New York hedgevfund billionaire Daniel Loeb posted to X. John Catsimatidis, billionaire CEO of grocery chain Gristedes and friend of Donald Trump, warned on Fox Business: “If the city of New York is going socialist, I will definitely close, or sell, or move.”