Footage posted by US Southern Command and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, appears to show the US military intercepting a Venezuela-linked tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday. It was released on the same day US forces also intercepted and seized the Russian-flagged Marinera in the north Atlantic
by Lucy Hough, Pjotr Sauer Bryony Moore Natalie Gegan on (#72NJD)
The US has dramatically seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker between the UK and Iceland, with the support of the UK government. The operation comes after US attacks on Venezuela, the abduction of Nicolas Maduro, and threats against Greenland.Lucy Hough speaks to the Russian affairs correspondent Pjotr Sauer Continue reading...
Median sale price was at $410,800 last year, according to the Census Bureau, even as Trump campaigned on affordabilityDonald Trump said his administration was moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in a bid to reduce home prices.In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the US president said he will be asking Congress to codify the measure and will be discussing additional housing and affordability proposals in a speech at the Davos World Economic Forum. Continue reading...
Top Trump officials briefed 100 US senators on weekend raid while defending military operation and US presidentTop officials from the Trump administration arrived on Capitol Hill this morning to defend one of the most audacious military operations in recent US history: the forcible capture of a sitting head of state from his own capital.Secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, attorney general Pam Bondi, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Gen Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, briefed all 100 US senators on Operation Absolute Resolve, the lightning raid that plucked the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, from his Caracas residence and deposited him in a New York City jail cell. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Letter decries stunning abdication of basic responsibilities' and demands to know how many officers divertedThe Trump administration has abandoned efforts to combat child exploitation, human trafficking and cartels as it diverts thousands of law enforcement personnel to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Democratic senators said in a letter to the White House.Ruben Gallego of Arizona, along with 28 other Democratic senators and one independent, wrote to the president, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) on Monday demanding that federal officials provide a full accounting" of officers who have been redirected to immigration enforcement and a list of all investigations affected by the reassignments. Continue reading...
US to remove some sanctions to allow it to keep selling country's supplies after laying claim to blockaded crudeBusiness live - latest updatesThe US plans to control Venezuela's oil sales indefinitely" after laying claim to 50m barrels of blockaded crude and seizing a Russian oil tanker linked to the South American country.The White House already plans to sell up to $3bn (2.2bn) worth of Venezuelan crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities into the oversupplied global market after the American military's capture of Nicolas Maduro. Continue reading...
By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhereWe do need Greenland, absolutely," Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, We need it for defence." His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? ... The US is the power of Nato ... obviously Greenland should be part of the United States." His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption soon". It's hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning?Still, we're right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: Maybe they're just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela", or surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?"Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Lindsey Halligan was installed in the position by the president to prosecute Letitia James and James ComeyA judge has ordered the Donald Trump-appointed lawyer who led failed prosecutions of two of his political opponents to explain why she is still representing herself as US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, after another judge ruled she was in the position unlawfully.In an order filed in the district's Richmond division on Tuesday, Lindsey Halligan was given seven days to explain why she had engaged in professional misconduct" by continuing to sign indictments. Continue reading...
After their lives were upended last year, they're finally regaining their footing - but memories of the fires still haunt themFew among the nearly 10 million people who live in Los Angeles county were left untouched by last year's disastrous firestorm. Driven by strong winds through parched vegetation, multiple fires exploded in quick succession last January, and devoured roughly 16,000 structures on all sides of LA.Thirty-one lives were lost and thousands more were forever changed. For many, a new chapter of the disaster began to unfold when the flames were extinguished, while the slow road to recovery started to take shape in the year that followed. Continue reading...
A slew of high-profile names have resided in Metropolitan detention center, accused of unsafe, inhumane conditionsAfter US military forces seized Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas during a controversial pre-dawn raid, they were ultimately spirited to one of this country's most infamous jails: Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, New York.The deposed Venezuelan president and Flores will almost certainly reside in Metropolitan detention center (MDC) until their federal trial on drugs and weapons charge - inducting them into a notorious group that counts Sean Diddy" Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo" as either current or previous members. Continue reading...
Administration has alleged fraud in decision to halt grants from California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New YorkDonald Trump's administration said Tuesday that it is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud.The US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds.The child care and development fund subsidizes day care for low-income households, enabling parents to work or go to school.Temporary assistance for needy families provides cash assistance and job training so parents in poverty can afford diapers and clothes and earn paychecks.The social services block grant, a much smaller fund, supports several different social service programs. Continue reading...
The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes GreenlandWhen a bleary-eyed Trump explained the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro this past Saturday, he invoked the Monroe doctrine: while the US president sounded like he was reading about it for the first time, historians of course recognized the idea of Washington as a kind of guardian of the western hemisphere. Together with the national security strategy published in December, the move on Venezuela can be understood as advancing a vision for carving up the world into what the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt called great spaces", with each effectively supervised by a great power (meaning, in today's world, Washington, Moscow and Beijing). But more is happening than a return to such de facto imperialism: Trump's promise to run the country" for the sake of US oil companies signals the internationalization of one aspect of his regime - what has rightly been called the logic of the mafia state. That logic is even more obvious in his stated desire to grab Greenland.The theory of the mafia state was first elaborated by the Hungarian sociologist Balint Magyar in 2016. Such a state is less about corruption where envelopes change hands under the table. Instead, public procurement is rigged; large companies are brought under the control of regime-friendly oligarchs, who in turn acquire media to provide favorable coverage to the ruler. The beneficiaries are what Magyar calls the extended political family" (which can include the ruler's natural family). As with the mafia, unconditional loyalty is the price for being part of the system.Jan-Werner Muller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...
In Vallejo, California, trad sons' report feeling trapped by family obligations, slim job prospects and the fear of violence - leaving little room for romanceAre boys becoming men later? In recent decades, the markers of adulthood have shifted for young American men: they are almost twice as likely to be single, less likely to go to college and more likely to be unemployed. Most significantly for their parents, they are also less likely to have fled the nest, with the term trad son" springing into social media lexicon in recent months. In the 1970s, only 8% of Americans aged 25 to 34 were living with their parents, but by 2023, that figure had jumped to 18%, with men more likely to live at home than women, according to a Pew survey.But not everywhere in the US has the same rates of adults living in their familial home. The living arrangement is least common in the midwest and most common in the north-east. Topping the list was Vallejo, where 33% of young adults live with their parents. How were they making it work? Continue reading...
Democrats should go on the offense against Republicans, but they should also lay out a vision for renewing the promise of a middle-class lifeBy January 2029, Donald Trump will be capping off a nearly 14-year stretch at the helm of American politics. While he will no longer serve as president of the United States, his shadow over the future of American politics will continue to loom large across both sides of the aisle. Following Trump's popular-vote victory in the 2024 election, the Democratic party has been forced to wrestle with what went wrong and how they can regain the support of an American majority to win back the White House. To win back Americans' trust, Democrats have to prioritize affordability, broaden their cultural appeal, and reconnect with disaffected voters beyond their base.Trump's political success has long been defined by his willingness to take on elite institutions and buck convention, putting distance between himself and weaknesses in the Republican brand while simultaneously undermining advantages in the Democratic brand. He's ignored the wrath of editorial boards and economists while offering policy ideas and messaging that speaks to what voters think.Colin Seeberger is a senior adviser for communications at the Center for American Progress Continue reading...
Scientists predict increased disease outbreaks after Trump officials no longer recommend third of childhood vaccinesThe bombshell announcement that the Trump administration no longer fully recommends a third of childhood vaccines means the US moved from leading globally on vaccination to lagging behind other high-income nations in preventing disease, experts say.The move is the latest and most significant escalation against vaccines from Robert F Kennedy Jr, a longtime vaccine skeptic and current secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Continue reading...
by Gabrielle Canon in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, on (#72N4X)
After the devastating fires, neighborhoods pledged to build back stronger and better than before. A year later, they're still untangling issuesFog shrouded the ruins still standing at the center of the Pacific Palisades on a morning in December, a once-vibrant Los Angeles community decimated by flames. Melted newsstands that distributed the Palisadian-Post, an almost century-old paper that ceased operating in the fire's wake, sit on crumbled concrete. Weeds spread over an expanse of emptied lots, painting the blackened foundations and chimneys with swaths of green.It's been a year of recovery and reckoning in Los Angeles since the unprecedented wildfires erupted in the parched southern California hillsides and cascaded into the surrounding suburbs with shocking ferocity, killing 31 people. Continue reading...
This summer's tournament is seen as a culmination, but in truth it's the next World Cup where the USMNT may have the most successWhen the US was confirmed as a future World Cup co-host on the eve of the 2018 tournament in Russia, the USMNT were still stuck under the rubble of their shocking failure to qualify. Mauricio Pochettino was just establishing himself among European club soccer's managerial elite, taking Tottenham to the Champions League final a year later.Few could have imagined that he'd be leading the USMNT into the 2026 World Cup, and perhaps fewer believe he'll stick around for the next cycle. Nevertheless, after a 2-1 win over Australia in Commerce City, Colorado to end the October window, Pochettino noted he's building a team with 2030 in mind, too. Continue reading...
The rapper's recent cosying up to the Trump administration has upset a lot of her fans, but is she playing the long game?Starships are meant to fly, but Nicki Minaj's musical career is now doing a Maga-propelled nosedive. For the past few months, the rapper and former gay icon has been horrifying many of her fans by cosying up to the Trump administration.In November, for example, Minaj shared a post by Donald Trump about the treatment of Christians in Nigeria and agreed to collaborate with the administration on awareness around the issue. Then, in December, the rapper made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest convention, where she heaped praise on the late Charlie Kirk (who once said Minaj was not a good role model for 18-year-old Black girls") and the vice-president, JD Vance. She also accidentally called Vance an assassin" while talking to Erika Kirk, Charlie's widow, but was quickly forgiven for her word choice. I love this woman," Erika Kirk proclaimed after the weird gaffe.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...
The PM won't call out Trump over Venezuela, and won't commit to Europe. His refusal to choose leaves vital choices for Britain to be made by othersFor an inveterate liar, Donald Trump is remarkably honest. The best guide to what he thinks is what he says. When forecasting his likely course of action, start with his declared intentions - removing the president of Venezuela, for example - and assume he means it. When he says the US must take possession of Greenland, he is not kidding.The motives are sometimes muddled but rarely hidden. Trump likes making deals, especially real estate deals, and money. He wants to be great and to have his greatness affirmed with praise and prizes. He craves spectacle. The world as he describes it doesn't always resemble observable reality, but there is an effortless, sociopathic sincerity to his falsehoods. The truth is whatever he intuits it to be in the moment to advance his interests and manipulate his audience.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Democrats condemn move in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, calling it vindictive' and cruel'Donald Trump's administration is freezing more than $10bn in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said, citing what it called concerns about fraud and misuse.For too long, Democrat-led states and Governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch," Andrew Nixon, HHS spokesperson, said in a statement. Continue reading...
Deal indicates Venezuelan government is responding to Trump's demand that they open up to US oil companies or risk more military interventionDonald Trump has said Venezuela will be turning over" $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States, a flagship negotiation that would divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!" Trump said in a post online. Continue reading...
White House says using US military to secure arctic territory is always an option' as European leaders push back - key US politics stories from 6 January 2026 at a glanceDonald Trump has renewed his push for the US to acquire Greenland, the territory of Nato member Denmark. Leaders from Greenland, Denmark and several other Nato-member nations are pushing back against the presiden.Trump and his advisers are looking into a range of options" in an effort to acquire Greenland, noting in a White House statement on Tuesday that using the US military to do so is always an option". Continue reading...
Conservative commentator contributed to Newsmax and was known for eponymous talk radio showMichael Reagan, the eldest son of Ronald Reagan and a conservative commentator, has died. He was 80.The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute announced his death in a post on the social platform X on Tuesday, calling him a steadfast guardian of his father's legacy". Continue reading...
In damaging intelligence breach, Ames admitted to passing information to Moscow for nearly a decadeAldrich Ames, the CIA agent who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in US history, has died in a Maryland prison. He was 84.His death on Monday was confirmed by the Bureau of Prisons.Ames is best known as an ex-CIA agent who spied on the US on behalf of the Soviet Union. Ames, along with his wife, Rosario Ames, was arrested in February 1994 and pleaded guilty without a trial to espionage and tax evasion. Aldrich was charged with espionage, and his wife with aiding and abetting his activities. Continue reading...
Justice department translated recordings made in Portuguese by man believed to be behind killingsThe man accused of killing an MIT professor and two students at Brown University left behind video recordings in which he says he had planned the attack for years, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.The shooter in the 13 and 15 December attacks was a former Brown student and Portuguese national, whom law enforcement found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility days after the shootings. Continue reading...
European leaders push back forcefully against US president's desire to seek takeover of Arctic territoryDonald Trump and his advisers are looking into a range of options" in an effort to acquire Greenland, noting in a White House statement on Tuesday that using the US military to do so is always an option".President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it's vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Continue reading...
Another 2,000 ICE and homeland security agents will reportedly head to the state, targeting immigrant populationsThe Trump administration has sent more immigration agents to Minnesota, part of escalating attacks and rhetoric against the state and its immigrant populations in what immigration officials are saying is the agency's largest operation to date".A 100% chance of ICE in the Twin Cities - our largest operation to date," the official Immigration and Customs Enforcement account on X wrote on Tuesday afternoon. If you're a criminal illegal alien and/or you are engaged in fraud, expect a visit from ICE." Continue reading...
American Federation of Teachers sues over what it says are unconstitutional investigations into social media commentsA major Texas teachers' union filed a federal lawsuit against the state on Tuesday challenging what it describes as unconstitutional investigations into hundreds of educators who posted comments on social media following the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.The Texas American Federation of Teachers, which represents approximately 66,000 public school employees, is asking a federal court to block the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner, Mike Morath, from continuing investigations that the union argues violate teachers' free speech protections. Continue reading...
President calls deposed leader Maduro a violent guy' in speech that receives warm reception from RepublicansDonald Trump has received rapturous acclaim from congressional Republicans as he touted a brilliant" and incredible" attack on Venezuela that led to the capture of its leader, Nicolas Maduro.The US president is facing accusations from former allies, such as ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, that he abandoned his America First" commitment to avoid foreign entanglements and eschew regime change. Continue reading...
In an interview with Nick Robinson, the Tory leader made it clear she was thrilled to see the back of international law. May the best country win!These weren't exactly the words Kemi Badenoch had been hoping to hear. Halfway through her interview on the Today programme on Tuesday morning, the BBC presenter Nick Robinson observed that, in regard to the US coup in Venezuela, the Conservative leader's position wasn't that far off from Keir Starmer's. You could sense the air go out of the room. In KemiWorld there is no greater dishonour than a likeness to the prime minister. Time for the fightback to begin. To create some distance.OK, Kemi said. Yes, she too drew the line at Greenland. That would be a step too far. There was no need for Donald Trump to claim the country for America. That was an action that could threaten Nato. And besides, as far as she knew, Greenland wasn't a rogue narco state. She, too believed in a world of moral relativism. One where it was fine to invade countries whose regimes we disliked. There was one rule for the west and another for the rest. Continue reading...
New leadership claims former allies are trying to repurpose $160m in NRA Foundation donations for personal gainThe National Rifle Association (NRA) is suing its own charitable arm, the NRA Foundation, claiming that its leaders are trying to seize control of the gun rights organization and illegally repurposing" $160m in donations to support their thirst for power".The allegations come in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Washington DC laying bare the turmoil that has plagued the NRA since its disgraced long-time chief executive Wayne LaPierre was ousted in 2024 alongside other senior figures after a financial corruption scandal. Continue reading...
by Joseph Gedeon in Washington and Dani Anguiano on (#72MBE)
LaMalfa's death cuts the House Republican majority to 218-213, tightening GOP control for passing billsDoug LaMalfa, a California Republican who represented the state's rural northern region in the House and was known for his work on water and forestry policy, has died at age 65, according to statements from Republican officials.LaMalfa, a fourth-generation rice farmer who previously served in the California state legislature, was in his seventh term representing California's first congressional district. He sat on the House agriculture, natural resources, and transportation and infrastructure committees. Continue reading...
Conway, a conservative lawyer and ex-husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, is vying for a New York district seatGeorge Conway, the former Republican turned Donald Trump critic and ex-husband of the US president's 2016 campaign manager and senior aide Kellyanne Conway, is running for Congress.Conway, a conservative lawyer who helped start the Lincoln Project, a prominent anti-Trump group of Republicans, launched his bid as a Democrat seeking to represent New York's 12th congressional district, in what will be a crowded field of contenders. Continue reading...
Federal law required majority of documents to be released by 19 December, but only 125,575 pages have been publishedThe Department of Justice has released less than 1% of the so-called Epstein files, a court filing has revealed, as Democrats step up criticism of the Trump administration's lawlessness" for keeping records under seal.The department conceded that only 12,285 documents, totalling 125,575 pages, relating to the disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have been published to date, despite a federal law requiring the vast majority to be released by 19 December. Continue reading...
It didn't go very well for him last time, but the tech billionaire seems to have abandoned his plans for a third party and has renewed his bromance with the presidentYou know, I've generally found that when I get involved in politics, it ends up badly," Elon Musk mused on Nikhil Kamath's podcast in November.Oh, we know, Elon, we most definitely know. The world is still reeling from the tech billionaire's little experiment in politicking last year. Musk's department of government efficiency" (Doge) slashed federal jobs, dismantled foreign aid programmes and left a trail of chaos in its wake. It's not clear whether any taxpayer money was saved, but experts are warning a lot of lives will be lost. By one calculation, there could be about 14 million excess deaths across the globe by 2030 if the US fails to restore aid funding. Thanks, Elon! Continue reading...
Pushback from Susan Collins and Thom Tillis is striking amid tepid response from most other Republican senatorsTwo senior Republican senators on Monday openly opposed Pentagon secretary Pete Hegseth's attempt to punish their fellow Senator Mark Kelly by demoting him and cutting his pension after he released a video telling active-duty military to follow the law.Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate appropriations committee with jurisdiction over the Pentagon's budget, said she believed it was wrong to target Kelly's military benefits because of a political video. Continue reading...
Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Eritrea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain condemn attack at UN meeting. Plus, why the world's food system needs urgent change
Rescuers were called to the Truckee area after a 911 report of an avalanche, but the man was found dead under snowAn avalanche in California's Sierra Nevada on Monday buried a snowmobiler in snow and killed him, authorities said.Rescuers responded after a 911 call around 2.20pm reported a possible avalanche near Johnson Peak and Castle Peak in Truckee. Continue reading...
Last week's events in Caracas come in a long line of American interventions. The White House has awesome power and is never shy of using itIt is starting to trickle out. Last week in Caracas was not an invasion, it was a putsch. It was the militarised kidnap of one ruler to aid his more amenable deputy into power. Since April last year, according to reports, vice-president and now interim president Delcy Rodriguez and her brother Jorge - the president of the Venezuelan national assembly - have been dealing secretly with Washington. This has reportedly been via that hotspot of informal diplomacy, Qatar.We have yet to know the details. But the rumours are plausible that last week's episode was staged to look outrageous, including Delcy Rodriguez's initial condemnation of it as atrocious. President Nicolas Maduro was handed over to the Americans swiftly and peacefully. The only slip was Trump describing Delcy as quite gracious" before she was hastily sworn into office soon after the raid. A more serious slip was his dismissal of the opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, as lacking the support within or the respect within the country". She had championed Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, probable winner of the rigged 2024 Venezuelan election, for which she won the Nobel peace prize Trump so coveted. Why no mention of him from Trump?Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist and the author of A Short History of America: From Tea Party to Trump Continue reading...
From RFK Jr to Pete Hegseth, the president's top aides have been disastrous. We shouldn't be surprisedAs 2024 ended and Donald Trump's cabinet picks were rolled out, commentators scrambled to decide which one was the worst. Was it Matt Gaetz for attorney general? Or Pete Hegseth, for secretary of defense? Or maybe Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services?Soon after, the White House crowed that Trump had assembled the greatest cabinet of all time".Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty Continue reading...
Agreement finalised by the OECD waters down a landmark 2021 deal that set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%Nearly 150 countries have agreed on a landmark plan to stop large global companies shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, but the US will be exempt from the deal, angering tax transparency groups.The plan, finalised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, excludes large US-based multinational corporations from the 15% global minimum tax after negotiations between the Trump administration and other members of the G7. Continue reading...
Revelation comes as a first-in-the-nation citizen's ballot initiative to ban donations by utilities picks up steamAn investigation into Michigan election records has found a major loophole in reporting laws that makes it difficult to track when and how campaign contributions move between lawmakers and the state's controversial utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy.State law does not require the date that a contributor makes a donation to match the date that a campaign committee reports receiving it. That has created a scenario in which utilities throughout 2025 have cut checks for lawmakers around the time of controversial votes, but the lawmakers sometimes still have not reported receiving the contribution or report it much later. Continue reading...
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