The attorneys general of 21 Democratic states and Washington, D.C., as well as a pair of advocacy groups, sued the Education Department on Monday over a recent rule change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) student debt relief program. The Trump administration finalized a rule change last week that said those who are engaged in what it called “unlawful activities” won’t qualify for student debt relief under the PSLF program, which allows government workers or nonprofit employees to receive forgiveness after 10 years of payments.

The U.S. Department of Education released its final rule on Thursday aimed at limiting eligibility for a popular student loan forgiveness program for public servants. The rule, which takes effect July 1, 2026, will change the definition of a “qualifying employer” under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. PSLF, signed into law in 2007 by George W. Bush, offers debt cancellation after a decade to borrowers who work for non-profits and the government. Under the new Trump administration policy, organizations “that engage in unlawful activities” such as “supporting terrorism and aiding and abetting illegal immigration” will be excluded from the program, according to an Education Department statement.

Small businesses that sued President Trump over his tariffs aren’t looking just to end them; they are also hoping to receive a refund from Uncle Sam to compensate for their losses over the past months. The Supreme Court is set to hear their case Wednesday in what is shaping up as one of the significant cases this term, testing the limits of the president’s powers. Michael McConnell, one of the attorneys for the five small businesses, said they have sustained serious setbacks since the president raised tariffs. One of the businesses is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, had a glittering - if controversial - career in American public life. He served as President Gerald Ford's White House chief of staff in the 1970s, before spending a decade in the House of Representatives. President George HW Bush made him defence secretary during the first Gulf War and the US invasion of Panama.

Few things are more disconcerting than feeling the ground shift beneath you, as anyone who has experienced a serious earthquake knows. This is what we are living through. A way of ordering economic life — neoliberalism — that emerged in the 1980s is weakening rapidly. Once-heretical ideas such as raising tariffs have gained influence, and believers in the old order, plus almost everyone else, have become disoriented. Where are we heading? Are we subject to the whims of a madman? For the first time in most people’s memory, our economic future seems uncertain for a new reason: The immediate past cannot tell us what comes next.

The Senate returns to Washington, D.C., this week as the government shutdown nears a record-shattering milestone and as lawmakers remain entrenched in their positions. Come late Tuesday night, the government shutdown will officially become the longest on record, at 36 days, smashing through the previous record etched into the history books in early 2019. And while that record approaches, and payday deadlines are missed and federal benefits dry up, the Senate is still largely in a holding pattern.

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia will choose their next governors on Tuesday in a pair of races that will serve as an early gauge of the American electorate's response to President Donald Trump's norm-shattering nine months in office. Meanwhile, in New York City's mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, faces 67-year-old former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent. The campaign has laid bare the Democratic Party's generational and ideological divides as it seeks to rehabilitate its damaged brand.

Dick Cheney, the former White House chief of staff, member of Congress, secretary of defense and US vice-president, has died, his family has said. He was 84. Cheney was one of the country’s most powerful vice-presidents, widely reported to wield great influence over the less experienced George W Bush, the president under whom he served. Cheney was in office on 11 September 2001 during the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. While Bush was hurried to safety, Cheney worked with the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to assume policy control. Troops were soon in Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban and hunting al-Qaida.

A new breath test for pancreatic cancer is undergoing a world-first large-scale trial across 40 sites in England, Wales and Scotland. Source: New pancreatic cancer breath test hailed as major breakthrough Wow.

From Popeye to Top Cat, the decade was full of classic toons.