At least two people were killed and nine others wounded at Brown University in the US on Saturday, after a man dressed in black opened fire during final exams at one of the country's most prestigious colleges.Hundreds of police spent the night scouring the campus in Rhode Island and nearby neighbourhoods as the suspect remained at large Continue reading...
The president announces non-existent emergencies to invoke extraordinary powers - and neutralizes the oppositionThis month, we learned that, in the course of bombing a boat of suspected drug smugglers, the US military intentionally killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage after its initial air assault. In addition, Donald Trump said it was seditious for Democratic members of Congress to inform members of the military that they can, and indeed, must, resist patently illegal orders, and the FBI and Pentagon are reportedly investigating the members' speech. Those related developments - the murder of civilians and an attack on free speech - exemplify two of Trump's principal tactics in his second term. The first involves the assertion of extraordinary emergency powers in the absence of any actual emergency. The second seeks to suppress dissent by punishing those who dare to raise their voices. Both moves have been replicated time and time again since January 2025. How courts and the public respond will determine the future of constitutional democracy in the United States.Nothing is more essential to a liberal democracy than the rule of law - that is, the notion that a democratic government is guided by laws, not discretionary whims; that the laws respect basic liberties for all; and that independent courts have the authority to hold political officials accountable when they violate those laws. These principles, forged in the United Kingdom, adopted and revised by the United States, are the bedrock of constitutional democracy. But they depend on courts being willing and able to check government abuse, and citizens exercising their rights to speak out in defense of the fundamental values when those values are under attack.David Cole is the Honorable George J Mitchell professor in law and public policy at Georgetown University and former national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. This essay is adapted from his international rule of law lecture sponsored by the Bar Council. Continue reading...
Black and brown former employees from CBS, NBC and Teen Vogue talk about the effects of being let goTrey Sherman was traveling to work on the New York subway when he received an email from David Reiter, a CBS News executive, about an imminent meeting on 29 October. Sherman, an associate producer of CBS Evening News Plus at the time, suspected that he would be laid off. CBS News's parent company, Paramount, had closed a merger with the Hollywood studio Skydance in August, and planned to slash more than 2,000 jobs as part of corporate restructuring.Sherman, who is Black, and Reiter, who is white, had an amicable conversation, according to Sherman. Reiter told Sherman that he was being laid off because his show was being eliminated, Sherman said, and that Reiter was unable to assign the team to other positions. Sherman accepted the news and the two men wished each other good luck. Continue reading...
While acting on your moral convictions can be risky, it can also feel profoundly goodIn the eleven months since Donald Trump took office - during which he has unleashed unprecedented assaults on the checks and balances of American democracy - there has been a wave of warnings and advice from activists, writers and scholars who have either fought against authoritarian regimes or studied them closely. A common thread runs through much of their guidance: Americans, especially those in positions of power, must find the courage to stand up for what is right, even when doing so carries personal risk.Yet few have addressed the harder questions: how does one become courageous? How much of courage is innate, and how much is learned? And what can we do to help people find the courage to act?Yaqiu Wang is a Chinese human rights researcher and advocate. She is currently a fellow at University of Chicago's Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. Continue reading...
by Aram Roston, and Cate Brown in Washington on (#7258H)
Exclusive: group behind notorious Florida immigration detention center created bid for reconstruction dealTrump 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. Continue reading...
National Labor Relations Board, the federal watchdog for workers' rights, has been rendered toothless as employees grapple with corporationsOn a cold January day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, workers at a Whole Foods Market store in the heart of the city made history. Organizers won a vote to form a union for the very first time in one of the grocery chain's 530 US stores.Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, which has spent years quashing unionization efforts within its sprawling empire. This result amounted to another blow in the tech giant's armor. Continue reading...
by Jonathan Yerushalmy (now); Nadeem Badshah (earlier on (#7252P)
This live blog is now closed. You can read more on this story herePolice said no weapons were recovered from the scene and the last sighting of the suspect was him leaving the Hope Street side of the building on foot.Timothy O'Hara, a deputy police chief, told a press conference that the suspect is a male dressed in black" who exited the complex at Brown University. Continue reading...
Cuban officials denounce the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast. Key US politics stories from 13 December 2025Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday, calling it an act of piracy and maritime terrorism", as well as a serious violation of international law" that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.The tanker, which was reported now to be heading for Galveston, Texas, was believed to loaded with nearly 2m barrels of Venezuela's heavy crude, according to internal data from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, as reported by the New York Times. Continue reading...
The jailing of a Sudanese militia leader is an anomaly in a world where Putin, Netanyahu and yes, Hegseth, act without fear of international lawIt was a rare success for international courts struggling to resist a rising tide of official lawlessness. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a leader of the notorious, government-backed Janjaweed militia that committed genocide in Sudan's Darfur region from 2003 to 2005, was jailed for 20 years last week by the international criminal court (ICC). He had been found guilty on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.Although hundreds of militia were involved, Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person to be convicted of atrocities in Darfur, now again the scene of terrible violence in Sudan's civil war. The ICC has charged Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president at the time, with genocide and war crimes. Ahmad Harun, a former minister, faces similar charges. But both men have evaded arrest. Continue reading...
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed deal in October, but president says tribe is now trying to exit contractA Native American tribe in Kansas is facing criticism from other tribal groups after its economic development subsidiary secured a $29.9m federal contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to design potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities.The development entity of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed the contract to design the detention facilities in October, leading to criticism that the tribal group, which was uprooted from the Great Lakes region to reservation lands north of Topeka, Kansas, in the 1830s, was itself benefiting from forced removals under the Trump administration. Continue reading...
Kevin Rodriguez Zavala died from blunt-impact trauma on ride at Universal's Epic Universe theme parkA Florida sheriff's office has concluded that the death of a 32-year-old man while riding a high-speed roller coaster at Universal's Epic Universe theme park was accidental.According to a report released Friday by the local medical examiner, Kevin Rodriguez Zavala suffered a deep cut on the left side of his forehead, a fracture to the bone ridge above his eye and bleeding above his skull. Additional injuries included bruises on his arms and abdomen, a broken nose and a fractured right thigh bone. Continue reading...
US Central Command reports an ambush on Saturday, the first attack to inflict US casualties since fall of Bashar al-AssadTwo US army soldiers and one American civilian interpreter have been killed and several other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the Pentagon said.The attack on US troops in Palmyra is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of the former Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, a year ago. Continue reading...
No fatalities reported in flooding, which prompted Trump to approve emergency declaration request from governorRecord-breaking flood waters in Washington state have started slowly retreating after days of devastation that saw neighborhoods inundated, emergency rescues from cars and rooftops, and widespread evacuations.This is not just a one- or two-day crisis," Washington's governor, Bob Ferguson, said during a press briefing. These water levels have been historic, and they're going to remain very high for an extended period of time." Continue reading...
Cuban foreign ministry called US military action maritime terrorism' under a policy of economic suffocation'Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday, calling it an act of piracy and maritime terrorism" as well as a serious violation of international law" that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela's legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba," the Cuban foreign ministry statement said. Continue reading...
Arabella McCormack, 11, died after being tortured and starved by adoptive family and police and church failed to interveneA lawsuit over the death of an 11-year-old California girl who was allegedly tortured and starved by her adoptive family reached a settlement on Friday totaling $31.5m from the city and county of San Diego as well as other groups.The suit was brought on behalf of the two younger sisters of Arabella McCormack, who died in August 2022. The girls were ages six and seven at the time. Their adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and McCormack's parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, are facing charges of murder, conspiracy, child abuse and torture. They pleaded not guilty to all charges, and their criminal case is ongoing. Continue reading...
Dense, 450-mile-long fog bank lingering over central valley as experts blames unusual combination of weather factorsNew Nasa satellite images reveal the scope of central California's dreary December, caused by an enormous fog formation that has been haunting the Central Valley for weeks, trapping residents in colder-than-usual temperatures.The low cloud formation, known as tule fog, first formed over central California in November and persisted into early December. The Central Valley typically sees this type of fog during the colder months of the year, when the air near the ground is cold and moist, and the winds are calmer, allowing moisture in the air to transform into a thick layer of fog. Continue reading...
The OpenAI CEO gushed about the bot's parental-assistance abilities. Is it really his best child-rearing hack?Just how does he do it all? Every time I look at the news, Sam Altman's face seems to be staring back at me. The CEO of OpenAI, a well-known workaholic, is constantly in the public eye explaining how AI will probably cure cancer and transform the social contract and generally change the world. While doing all that he's reportedly gearing up for OpenAI to file for a stock market listing valuing the company at $1tn, as soon as next year. And he's also a new dad: Altman and his husband, Oliver Mulherin, welcomed their first child into the world in February. So he's got a lot on his plate.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
After Trump ended key repayment plan, 40% of borrowers say their student loans make it harder to cover essentialsA recent survey found that a whopping 40% of student loan borrowers say that their loans have negatively affected their ability to cover their basic needs, such as food, housing and transportation - a financial burden that becomes even more apparent around the holiday season.At first glance, someone like Ben L should not be struggling financially. He attended Georgetown University and Columbia University for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, respectively, and now earns a six-figure salary working at a biotech company. Still, the 36-year-old is drowning in student debt. Continue reading...
The wife of the Trump adviser aims to entice conservative women into Maga - but like much of the rest of the movement, her sales pitch is fundamentally lackingWhen Katie Miller, the wife of Donald Trump's powerful adviser Stephen Miller, interviewed Pete Hegseth on her podcast last week, she didn't ask him about whether the war secretary had ordered the US military to kill the shipwrecked survivors of an airstrike. She didn't ask him about the settlement he paid a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. Nor did she ask about allegations of alcohol abuse, or the accusation that he had made his ex-wife so terrified that she hid in a closet.Instead, when Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, appeared on the Katie Miller Podcast, the titular host asked questions like: If you could write one Hegseth family rule on that whiteboard, what is that?" Continue reading...
Trump's racist remarks on Ilhan Omar and Somali immigrants reveals his vision for the US as a white Christian nationA rally on affordability in Pennsylvania on 9 December devolved into a racist tirade when Donald Trump said to the crowd: We only take people from shithole countries. Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? ... From Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime."Referring to the US representative Ilhan Omar's hijab as a little turban", Trump continued: She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out." His supporters erupted in chants of: Send her back." Continue reading...
The US's national security strategy, shared last week, claims European immigration will cause civilisational erasure'How do you create a foreign policy manifesto for a US president who leads from the gut?The initial draft fell to Michael Anton, a Maga firebrand whom officials have called the lead author behind the US's radical new national security strategy (NSS). The document shocked US allies, warning that immigration to Europe would cause civilizational erasure", reviving the Monroe doctrine in the western hemisphere, and downgrading the US's responsibility for great power competition with China and Russia. Continue reading...
By using music from SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo in ICE videos, the government is playing a game of rage-baitLast week, as the Trump administration was engulfed in controversy over its illegal military strikes near Venezuela (among numerous other crises), a Department of Homeland Security employee - I picture the worst sniveling, self-satisfied, hateful loser - got to work on the official X account. The state-employed memelord posted a video depicting Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting people in what appeared to be Chicago, celebrating the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants as some sort of patriotic achievement. The vile video borrowed, as they often do, from mainstream pop culture; in this case, a viral lyric from Sabrina Carpenter's song Juno - Have you ever tried this one?," referring to sex positions - overlaid clips of agents chasing, tackling and handcuffing people, cheekily nodding to all the methods in ICE's terror toolbox.Carpenter, as a pre-eminent pop star, was caught in an impossible position. Say nothing, as her friend and collaborator Taylor Swift did weeks earlier when the White House used her music in a Trump hype video, and risk appearing as if you condone the administration's use of your art for a domestic terror campaign (the administration hasn't yet used Swift for an ICE video, but I'm sure it's coming); engage, even if to honestly express your utter disgust, and risk bringing more attention to objectionable propaganda designed to provoke a response. Continue reading...
With Trump championing Pete Rose and pressuring MLB's commissioner, the Hall of Fame vote became a referendum on power, memory and whether integrity still mattersSince mid-May, when Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced Pete Rose would be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration and explained his specious reasonings behind it, last week's Hall of Fame vote by the 16-member Classic Era committee carried with it a certain air of inevitability for Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, the two greatest players currently not enshrined in Cooperstown.Rose was championed by Donald Trump, who used his populism to demand the Hit King finally be allowed into the Hall, an honor denied Rose since 1989 when baseball placed him on the permanently ineligible list for betting on games when he managed the Cincinnati Reds. After Rose died in September 2024, Trump then won the presidency five weeks later and immediately increased the pressure on Manfred to end Rose's 36-year banishment - despite the absence of any evidence suggesting Rose was any less guilty in death of gambling on the sport than he had been alive. Nevertheless, Manfred acquiesced to Trump, and in 2027, for the first time, Pete Rose will be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame. Continue reading...
California jury finds company knew its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumersA California jury on Friday awarded $40m to two women who said Johnson & Johnson's baby powder was to blame for their ovarian cancer.The jury in Los Angeles superior court awarded $18m to Monica Kent and $22m to Deborah Schultz and her husband after finding that Johnson & Johnson knew for years its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumers. Continue reading...
Trump is featured in three images, while others feature Epstein with Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon and Woody Allen - key US politics stories from 12 December 2025House Democrats have published a new tranche of what they called disturbing" photographs from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, featuring among others Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the British former royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.The 19 photographs in the initial drop - some of which have been seen before - plus another 70 released later Friday afternoon represent a small number of the almost 100,000 images released to the House oversight committee, which is looking into the conduct and connections of Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by apparent suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 after he was charged with sex-trafficking offenses. Continue reading...
With insurance premiums set to rise sharply for at least 22 million Americans, Mike Johnson unveils alternativeWith health insurance premiums set to rise sharply for at least 22 million Americans who purchase their coverage through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces using tax credits that will expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts, the US House speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican alternative late Friday.Johnson's bill comes as his party refuses to extend the enhanced tax subsidies for people who buy policies through the ACA, dubbed Obamacare by opponents of the 2010 law. Those subsidies help lower premiums for Americans who do not get insurance through employers. Continue reading...
Blaine McGraw accused of inappropriately touching and secretly filming patients during appointments on baseAnother 81 women have joined a civil suit against a US army gynecologist who was recently criminally charged in connection with accusations that he secretly filmed dozens of his patients during medical examinations.The civil lawsuit, which initially began in November, alleges that Blaine McGraw, a doctor and army major at Fort Hood in Texas, repeatedly inappropriately touched and secretly filmed dozens of women during appointments at an on-base medical center. Continue reading...
Ex-Fed governor Kevin Warsh is at top of his list to succeed Powell as central bank's chair, president says in interviewDonald Trump declared he should be listened to" by the Federal Reserve, as he weighs candidates to lead the central bank amid an extraordinary campaign by the White House to exert greater control over its decisions.The US president said on Friday that former Fed governor Kevin Warsh is currently top of his list to chair the central bank. Continue reading...
National Trust looks to halt construction, claiming Trump tore down historic East Wing without needed permissionDonald Trump is facing a federal lawsuit seeking to halt construction on his $300m White House ballroom, with historic preservationists accusing the president of violating multiple federal laws by tearing down part of the iconic building without required reviews or congressional approval.The legal challenge, filed on Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the US district court for the District of Columbia, represents the most significant attempt yet to stop Trump's 90,000-sq-ft addition to the White House complex. The organization is seeking a temporary restraining order to freeze all construction activities until proper federal oversight procedures are completed. Continue reading...
by Lucy Hough Lucy Osborne Ryan Ramgobin Zoe Hitch on (#724FX)
A year-long investigation into the Free Birth Society reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors.
The US is ramping up the pressure on Nicolas Maduro with a tanker seizure and expanded sanctions following threats and boat strikesEarly in his first term, Donald Trump mooted a military option" for Venezuela to dislodge its president, Nicolas Maduro. Reports suggest that he eagerly discussed the prospect of an invasion behind closed doors. Advisers eventually talked him down. Instead, the US pursued a maximum pressure" strategy of sanctions and threats.But Mr Maduro is still in place. And Mr Trump's attempts to remove him are ramping up again. The US has amassed its largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama. It has carried out more than 20 shocking strikes on alleged drug boats. Mr Trump reportedly delivered an ultimatum late last month, telling the Venezuelan leader that he could have safe passage from his country if he left immediately. There was already a $50m bounty on his head. This week came expanded sanctions and the seizure of a tanker.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Oversight Democrats have released a new batch of photos from the Jeffrey Epstein estate, including images of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Woody Allen, the former Prince Andrew, Steve Bannon and Bill Gates
The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new realityWhen are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City's Miranda Hobbes and realise that He's just not that into you". After this past week, it's clear that understates the problem. Trump's America is not merely indifferent to Europe - it's positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to climate change", but the most striking passages are those that take aim at Europe.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Displays include handcuffed baby Jesus and Mary wearing a gas mask in wake of Trump's immigration crackdownSatirical holiday displays mocking Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, portraying the newborn Jesus and his parents, Mary and Joseph, as victims of heavy-handed tactics by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), have appeared across the US.One striking retelling of the Christmas story, at Lake Street church in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, features baby Jesus lying in a manger in the snow - but wrapped in the kind of thin, foil blankets given out in emergencies and regularly as bedding to ICE detainees, and with his wrists zip-tied. Continue reading...
An array of under-the-radar initiatives are taking hold across the US, often tied to immunization, fluoridation and raw milkEven within the freak show that is Donald Trump's cabinet, the health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has a singular knack for dominating the headlines with the most disturbing sort of carnivalesque spectacle.In recent months, he's amplified harmful misinformation linking Tylenol and autism and dismissed the entire CDC vaccine advisory committee, replacing them with skeptics and conspiracy theorists. And even as that agency debated and ultimately scrapped its hepatitis B vaccination recommendation for many newborns, Kennedy courted further controversy for his alleged involvement in a tabloid-fodder love triangle.Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of the Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a contributor to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times Continue reading...
In World Cup parlance, Qatar was Fifa president Gianni Infantino's qualifier. Now it's the big time for Trump's dictator-curious protegeI used to think Fifa's recent practice of holding the World Cup in autocracies was because it made it easier for world football's governing body to do the things it loved: spend untold billions of other people's money and siphon the profits without having to worry about boring little things like human rights or public opinion. Which, let's face it, really piss around with your bottom line.But for a while now, that view has seemed ridiculously naive, a bit like assuming Recep Erdoan followed Vladimir Putin's election-hollowing gameplan just because hey, he's an interested guy who likes to read around a lot of subjects. So no: Fifa president Gianni Infantino hasn't spent recent tournaments cosying up to authoritarians because it made his life easier. He's done it to learn from the best. And his latest decree this week simply confirms Fifa is now a fully operational autocracy in the classic populace-rinsing style. Do just absorb yesterday's news that the cheapest ticket for next year's World Cup final in the US will cost 3,120 - seven times more than the cheapest ticket for the last World Cup final in Qatar. (Admittedly, still marginally cheaper than an off-peak single from London to Manchester.)Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
With ICE targeting vendors and fear rising, community groups are organising fast to keep New Yorkers working on the streets safeOn a December day when temperatures dipped below 20 degrees, Street Vendor Project staff walked along a busy commercial street in the Bronx, handing out know your rights" information to vendors selling fruits and vegetables. Several vendors mentioned they were scared after watching videos of immigration raids across the city.We used to go around helping vendors apply for permits so they wouldn't get fined," said Eric Nava-Perez, Street Vendor Project's Spanish-speaking member organizer. But now, we're out here distributing immigration rights information." Continue reading...
A doorbell camera captured the moment an explosion erupted after a gas line rupture in Hayward, California, on Thursday. The incident injured at least six people, according to local news reports.The explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area broke out about 9.30am, several hours after a construction crew allegedly damaged a gas pipe
Lawyers say people don't feel safe to leave their home' as officials target recent arrivals and those awaiting hearingsImmigration agents appear to be increasingly arresting and detaining Afghan asylum seekers, especially men, who have arrived in the US recently and are awaiting court hearings to decide their cases.Amir - an asylum seeker who came to the US via Mexico in 2024 - was driving home from his English class in Bloomington, Indiana just after noon on Monday, when he was pulled over by an unmarked police vehicle. Minutes later, the asylum seeker from Afghanistan was cuffed and driven to a detention center. Continue reading...
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