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Files also include details about Epstein's relationship with Larry Summers and apparently fake letter to Larry NassarA newly released batch of the so-called Epstein files on Tuesday includes many references to Donald Trump, including a claim by a senior US attorney that the US president was on a flight in the 1990s with the now-deceased convicted child sex offender and a 20-year-old woman.There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing. Continue reading...

Justice department says FBI confirmed letter is fake and lists why it was not deemed genuine by authorities

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Department of Veterans Affairs says justice department found procedure not to be legally soundThe Department of Veterans Affairs can no longer provide abortions to veterans, including in cases of rape or incest, following a Department of Justice memo that found last week that the practice was not legally sound.The ban follows months of efforts by the Trump administration to roll back a Biden-era policy that, for the first time, permitted the VA to counsel veterans and their families about abortion, as well as offer the procedure in cases of rape or incest, or when a veteran's pregnancy imperiled their health. In August, the administration filed paperwork to officially roll back the policy, which had helped the VA's network of 1,300-plus healthcare facilities - which treat nearly 10 million veterans each year - expand access to abortion, especially in the wake of the US supreme court's 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade. Continue reading...

A Drag Queen Christmas, featuring artists from RuPaul's Drag Race, will stop in Pensacola despite the state attorney general's efforts to stop itA drag queen Christmas tour has become an annual holiday tradition in Florida - and in recent years, so has the ensuing backlash.Now in its 11th year, A Drag Queen Christmas, featuring performers from RuPaul's Drag Race, will stop in the Florida Panhandle city of Pensacola on Tuesday night, despite state officials' best efforts to cancel the show for what they claim is an anti-Christian" performance at a city-owned theater. Continue reading...

Weiss ought to cut her losses, green-light the piece, and try to start acting like an editor - not like a cog in the machine of authoritarian politics and oligarchyOne tries to give people the benefit of the doubt. But now, when it comes to Bari Weiss as the editor in chief of CBS News, there is no longer any doubt.

Documents give further insight into former royal's ties to sex offender and raise fresh questions for Donald Trump

Documents released in relation to Jeffrey Epstein contain emails between Maxwell and an individual signing off as A' and The Invisible Man'Emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and an individual signing off as A" are among the largest dump yet of documents released by the US Department of Justice in relation to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.While A" - who also refers to themselves as The Invisible Man" - is not explicitly identified in the emails, they include key details that corroborate the suggestion that they are Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was then still a working royal known as Prince Andrew. Continue reading...

Un-redacted text from released documents began circulating on social media on Monday eveningPeople examining documents released by the Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein case discovered that some of the file redaction can be undone with Photoshop techniques, or by simply highlighting text to paste into a word processing file.Un-redacted text from these documents began circulating through social media on Monday evening. An exhibit in a civil case in the Virgin Islands against Darren K Indyke and Richard D Kahn, two executors of Epstein's estate, contains redacted allegations explaining how Epstein and his associates had facilitated the sexual abuse of children. The exhibit was the second amended complaint in the state case against Indyke and Kahn. Continue reading...

Tips include flushing rat, squirt soap into toilet or if the rat is too large close toilet lid and call pest control expertsResidents in Washington state have been told to be aware of unwanted festive visitors before Santa comes down the chimney - rats coming up from the toilet.Health officials in Washington warned that recent flooding in the state may sweep rodents into the sewer systems". In a Facebook post, the Seattle and King county public health department wrote: If a rat visits your toilet, take a deep breath and follow these tips," before outlining the steps to take if a rodent emerges from your commode. Continue reading...

Sasse, who is 53 and voted to impeach Trump, says he has metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer'

Former Barclays boss and ex-US Treasury secretary named in versions of will of convicted child sex offenderThe former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and the ex-US Treasury secretary Larry Summers were appointed as executors of Jeffrey Epstein's estate, according to a newly released tranche of documents linked to the deceased child sex offender.Filings published on Tuesday by the US Department of Justice included various versions of Epstein's last will and testament, which showed the financier intended to hand responsibility of managing his affairs to associates including the two high-profile men in the event of his death. Continue reading...

Inmates' escape from DeKalb county jail discovered during routine security check early MondayThree inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including one who was being held on a murder charge, have been apprehended in Florida, a member of a federal fugitive taskforce confirmed.Eric Heinze, assistant chief inspector with the US Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, declined to share further details ahead of a news conference planned in Atlanta later on Tuesday. Continue reading...

After years of fatalities and bizarre incidents, the Georgia reservoir has spawned countless ghost stories. Are they merely legend or the after-effects of a history steeped in racial trauma?Kile Glover was the entertainer in the family, the pride of his stepfather, the R&B superstar Usher. He sang, he danced - he burned CDs of his own music, styled the covers with self-made art and was otherwise expressing his creativity in internet videos before it was trendy. He would've been a YouTube sensation by now," says his mother, the celebrity stylist Tameka Foster. But that future was thwarted on a family trip to Lake Lanier, just outside his Atlanta home town, in July 2012.Kile was only 11 when he was struck by a speeding jetski while tubing and knocked unconscious. Foster, on the island of Saint Martin at the time, managed to get to Kile's hospital bedside within hours thanks to Usher sending a private plane - an olive branch that came amid a bitterly public custody battle over their two younger sons. As Kile lay on life support, Foster passed the time Googling for information about Lake Lanier. She is still horrified by what she learned. Continue reading...

The very same immigrants welcomed to the US after risking their lives to fight the Taliban now fear detention or worseAli was 25 and a pilot for the Afghan air force, just like his father before him; he arrived at the special mission wing 777 airbase in Kabul around 11am one day in August 2021.The moment he stepped through the gates, he sensed something was wrong. Continue reading...

As chief of staff, she has stifled her temptation to intervene time and time againSusie Wiles has the gimlet eye of an alcoholic's daughter. She is always on edge, vigilant to the slightest movement, fearful of sudden danger, and has learned to withdraw herself from the chaos in order to survive. She is keenly observant, sees through people around her who are not drinkers to decipher their underlying motives that might flare into unexpected menace, and practiced in passive aggression of which her interview with Vanity Fair is a classic case study.

A growing group has found community around Cincinnati. Trump's ICE crackdown threatens to send them back to Mauritania, rife with human rights issuesMusician Khalidou Sy recalls the night his concert was shut down before he was taken away by the Mauritanian police and jailed for five days.While he was never given a reason for his detention, in his show Sy criticized the lack of electricity available to the Mauritanian public and called on the authorities to make a change. Continue reading...

US government continues holding on to massive amounts of seized personal property, from diaries to cellphonesGeorgia's historic racketeering case in connection with opposition to the police training center known as Cop City continues hanging over the heads of 61 defendants, drawing into focus the state's continuing possession of hundreds of cellphones, laptops and personal items.The state's case is believed to be the largest ever leveled against a protest or social movement using Rico, a law created to go after the mafia and usually associated with organized crime but here deployed against a largely environmental and criminal justice-focused movement. Continue reading...

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro warns Trump administration may destabilise the entire region' amid rising tensionsWhile all eyes are on the four-month-long US military campaign against Venezuela, the White House has been quietly striking security agreements with other countries to deploy US troops across Latin America and the Caribbean.As Donald Trump announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions and ordered the seizure of vessels amid airstrikes that have killed more than 100 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the US secured military deals with Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago in the past week alone. Continue reading...

Across the US, people have been carrying their passports amid reports of citizens being detained. Five people explain what living this reality is likeAcross the United States, citizens say they have started carrying their passports with them through their daily activities as widespread immigration raids create a pervasive climate of fear, and reports of citizens being detained circulate in the media.The Guardian talked to people living this reality. Continue reading...

By representing its region's distinct culture and players, the Canadian Premier League team aims to boost the province's undoubted soccer potentialBoulevard Saint-Laurent is one of Montreal's great arteries, a throughway for gourmands coveting smoked meat sandwiches or proper pizza at one of a dozen different joints in Little Italy. It's also home to Evangelista Sports, a shop that has doubled as a shrine to the city's soccer-obsessed for more than 40 years and is every bit a part of Montreal's cultural fabric as poutine or lamenting the cold.It's also where FC Supra du Quebec opted to announce their first-ever signings last week. The Canadian Premier League (CPL) expansion team is looking to become part of the city and province's cultural identity, hoping their commitment to recruiting a full roster of Quebec-born or raised players, inspired by European clubs like Athletic Bilbao, will go a long way in helping to build a pathway which has so often seen talent slip through the cracks. Continue reading...

This normalization of gun violence in the US - who is it serving? Why can we not collectively make this not normal again?On her first day of fourth grade, wearing her magenta spectacles, my daughter Anna arrived to the Big School where she couldn't reach the drinking fountains. She was small for her age, in terms of stature, though she had big ideas.I went to pick her up that afternoon, the first day of school, and I looked eagerly at all the young faces streaming out the door, but no Anna. The high schoolers flooded out, then the middle schoolers. Still no Anna. I started to get that mother panic vibration thing in my belly and I called the lower middle school office.Sarah Ruhl is a playwright, essayist, teacher, mother of three and Brown University graduate. Her most recent book is Lessons from my Teachers, from preschool to the present. Her collaboration with A Great Big World, the musical Wonder, is at American Repertory Theater in Boston through February Continue reading...

Liberal democracies view Putin's Russia as a bully - and Trump's US as an angry drunk with a bazooka. The response is pure venomThere are people who argue that Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine is not motivated by fears or imperial ambitions, but by other countries' disrespect. Russia once commanded authority as one of the world's two superpowers, but it has since forfeited that status. It knows it has lost the respect of other countries (Barack Obama famously dismissed Russia as just a regional power"), and the Ukraine war is its way of winning it back.What is perhaps surprising is that Donald Trump's turn against Europe has similar motivations. Putin knows his aggressive revanchism won't win Russia any love among countries whose respect he craves. But if he can't be loved, he hopes at least to be feared. If you are in a social order that regards you as inferior, you have every incentive to turn spoiler.Henry Farrell is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University. Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E Schmidt distinguished professor at the Henry A Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Continue reading...

Decision comes amid growing public support for Guan Heng - who secretly filmed detention facilities in China - after he illegally entered US by boatThe Department of Homeland Security has dropped its plan to deport a Chinese national who entered the country illegally, two rights activists have said, after his plight raised public concerns that if deported the man would be punished by Beijing for helping expose human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer who assisted in the case, said Guan Heng's lawyer received a letter from the department stating its decision to withdraw its request to send Guan to Uganda. Asat said she now expected Guan's asylum case to proceed smoothly and favourably". Continue reading...

In his first comments since the release, the president expressed sympathy for high-profile figures, including Bill Clinton, who have come under scrutinyDonald Trump has broken his silence on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, complaining that people who innocently met" the convicted paedophile could have their reputations destroyed.In his first comments since the justice department began releasing the materials on Friday, the US president on Monday expressed sympathy for prominent Democrats who have come under renewed scrutiny over their associations with Epstein. Continue reading...

Donald Trump is on a naming spree; Schumer asks Senate to back legal action over partial Epstein files release - key US politics stories from Monday 22 December at a glanceDonald Trump has announced plans for the US navy to build a new generation of warships - known as Trump-class".The ships will be bigger, faster and a hundred times more powerful than any previous US-built warship, the president said on Monday. The project will begin with construction of two such battleships and eventually be expanded to 20 to 25 new vessels. Continue reading...

Food and Drug Administration's approval hands drugmaker Novo Nordisk an edge in the race to market an obesity pillUS regulators on Monday gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity.The US Food and Drug Administration's approval handed drugmaker Novo Nordisk an edge over rival Eli Lilly in the race to market an obesity pill. Lilly's oral drug, orforglipron, is still under review. Continue reading...

Move comes as union representing US diplomats said it was deeply concerned' by the process, which could politicise' foreign serviceThe Trump administration has quietly recalled nearly 30 ambassadors and other senior overseas diplomats as the Trump administration plans to promote appointees loyal to the new administration to higher levels of the state department, according to diplomatic sources.The recall of the ambassadors or heads of mission, which were confirmed by several current and former senior diplomats, was unusual for targeting career foreign service officers heading embassies overseas who are generally left in place after a change in administration because they strive to be apolitical. Continue reading...

President says the ships will be bigger, faster and a hundred times more powerful than any previous US-built warshipJust when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. Donald Trump has announced plans for the US navy to build a new generation of warships - known as Trump-class".The ships will be bigger, faster and a hundred times more powerful than any previous US-built warship, the president said on Monday. The project will begin with construction of two such battleships and eventually be expanded to 20 to 25 new vessels. Continue reading...

The statement says the release was a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation'

Attorneys general from 21 states and DC argue defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unlawfulA coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to prevent Donald Trump's administration from defunding the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by refusing to request money from the Federal Reserve.Democratic attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit in federal court in Oregon, arguing that the administration's decision not to seek additional funding for the US consumer watchdog is unlawful and undermines Congress's authority under the US constitution. Continue reading...

An atmospheric river is forecast to drive storms across the state this week, bringing rain, high winds and risk of floodsOne person has died in California amid heavy flooding, as residents across the state brace for a week of brutal storms that are predicted to bring extensive rainfall throughout the Christmas weekend.Authorities in Redding, a city in northern California, reported that a motorist died on Sunday after becoming stranded in their vehicle. Continue reading...

Top Democrat to introduce resolution after Department of Justice misses deadline for all files linked to sex offender

Governor calls accusations that students with disabilities may have been confined in boxes highly disturbing'A school district board in upstate New York is investigating school officials amid accusations that the district may have confined elementary school students inside wooden timeout" boxes.Images of the boxes, which resemble tiny padded cells, first spread on social media last week, after a former member of the Salmon River school district school board accused officials of building them to seclude children with disabilities. The images unleashed an immediate uproar in the small district, which teaches about 1,300 children and lies on the border between New York state and Canada. Continue reading...

ICE held more than 68,400 people as of 14 December, breaking previous high set at beginning of DecemberThe number of people in immigration detention in the US has hit an all-time high according to data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The data, which comes out every two weeks, shows that as of 14 December 2025, ICE held more than 68,400 people.This many people in immigration detention is a new record, breaking the previous high set at the beginning of December. Continue reading...

During her time as a ranger Soskin sought to shed light on experiences of women of color during the second world war

A side that once looked resilient has collapsed into historic futility, with Wolves now facing the grim task of avoiding the worst season English league football has ever seenSaturday's defeat at home to Brentford means Wolves have taken just two points for 17 games. No side in the entire history of English league football, in any division, has ever made a worse start than that. To reach 11 points, the record low for a Premier League season set by Derby County in 2007-08, would require a significant improvement.How can this have happened? Wolves finished 16th last season, recovering after a dismal start. When Vitor Pereira took over on 19 December last year, they were second bottom on nine points from 16 games. They picked up 23 points from the final 22 games of the season and effectively ended any prospect of relegation with a run of six successive victories in the spring. How can a team go from averaging near enough a point a game to a 10th of that? The drop-off is extraordinary.This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he'll answer the best in a future edition. Continue reading...

Tenures end for mission chiefs in at least 29 countries, including 15 in Africa, as US reshapes its diplomatic postureThe Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of Donald Trump's America first" priorities.The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two state department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves. Continue reading...

The Guardian US reviewed figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since Trump's inaugurationDonald Trump campaigned on a platform of mass deportation. Since he took office, his administration has reshaped immigration enforcement across the country. The Guardian US, using data published every two weeks by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is tracking the number of people the administration has arrested, detained and deported. Continue reading...

WBD had urged shareholders to reject $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount, which is controlled by the Ellisons, following $82.7bn Netflix dealThe tech billionaire Larry Ellison has agreed to provide a personal guarantee of more than $40bn for Paramount Skydance's fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery, amid an extraordinary corporate battle over the entertainment giant.WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount - which is controlled by the Ellisons - last week, having agreed to sell its storied movie studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in a $82.7bn deal earlier this month. Continue reading...

Some US citizens, grappling with issues from LGBTQ+ rights to the economy, are looking to the countries their families once left behindDaniel Kamali was born and raised in New York City, where he spent his summers riding his bike around Brighton Beach before pedaling home to his Brooklyn Jewish" mother and his smooth talker" father. He went out for Cub Scouts and soccer before realizing, during his time studying at MIT, that he loved sailing most of all. Now 48, he is a professional tenor with the opera, performing in and around New York.Kamali never considered that he might want to be anything but American - why would he? His life was shaped by the freedoms and opportunities that his father, Ivan Kamali, risked everything for. Continue reading...

Once loose, erratic and reliably unreliable, Jacksonville have hardened into something far more serious, with Trevor Lawrence's control and confidence turning a hot streak into a genuine AFC threatSeven weeks ago, the Jaguars were still that team: loose, entertaining, unreliable. The kind that could light up a quarter and then spend the next three undoing it. Now, they're a wagon.After beating the Broncos on Sunday, the Jaguars have ripped off six straight wins. They've won 11 regular-season games for the first time since 2007. And with two winnable games to close the season, they have a solid path to the No 1 seed, with the AFC potentially running through Jacksonville. Continue reading...

The documents are disturbing. But they seem largely to reflect information that has already been made publicAfter months of public outcry and pressure from within the Maga coalition, Donald Trump's justice department released what it called The Epstein Files, with the Trump world's typical fanfare. A media frenzy ensued. But the files" that were released by Pam Bondi's Department of Justice left many observers frustrated and confused. The release was partial and heavily redacted; much of the information had already been made public. Media figures were incensed, and members of Congress pledged to push the Trump administration for more. The episode left Washington watchers frustrated. It fueled speculation that Trump, who had long opposed the release of the documents, had something to hide.That was on 27 February, when a group of 15 rightwing media figures who had taken a special interest in the Epstein case were summoned to the White House and given white binders labeled The Epstein Files." The release was meant to allay pressure from the president's conspiracy-minded base and neutralize the Epstein issue, which has dogged Trump since the financier sex offender and former close friend of the president died in prison during his first term in 2019. But those who received the binders said that there was little new information in them. The episode only further inflamed tensions and increased the salience of the Epstein issue. Continue reading...