US news | The Guardian

The seizure of Venezuelan leader was induced by the prize of petroleum, but driven by spectacle, geopolitics and domestic politicsIt's all about oil. That was the reason Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan leader illegally abducted by US forces at the weekend, had given for Donald Trump's fixation with his country. A better way to think about Venezuelais that oil was necessary but not sufficient. The presence of vast reserves made Mr Trump's interest understandable - if Venezuela's main export was bananas this would not have happened. But oil alone cannot explainthe timing or scale of the move.Venezuelan crude is extra-heavy as well as expensive and slow to bring online; it will not immediately transform US energy systems, nor rescue refineries that have already adapted to years without it. Instead, oil is the prize" around which other agendas cohere. These include future profits for US firms; modest downward pressure on oil prices; depriving China of a meaningful ally in America's backyard; putting pressure on Cuba; and US domestic political signalling in Florida. Each gain is small. But collectively Mr Trump could justify a highprofile, theatrical - and unlawful - intervention even if the economic returns are incremental. 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...

Industry insiders say US oil firms want to avoid getting screwed' and will proceed with extreme caution in region

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...

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...

Nicolas Maduro's seizure by US reopens question of who controls country's reserves held in the UK

Hockey fans threw thousands of stuffed animals on to the ice for the Hershey Bears annual teddy toss. The stuffed animals collected will now be distributed to over 60 local charities as part of the club's Hershey Bears Cares program, where they will go to children in need.The Bears collected 81,796 stuffed animals, increasing the total number of teddy bears and stuffed animals collected to 648,246 since Hershey hosted its first Teddy Bear Toss event in 2001. Continue reading...

President and Republican allies have tried to make sure the deadly attack on the Capitol has been erased from memoryFive years after the deadly attackon the US Capitol, Donald Trump and other Republicans have engaged in a near-complete effort to rewrite the history of the day and erase it from the collective American memory.On his first day in office, Trump pardoned anyone involved in the attack, a move that affected some 1,500 people. His administration has paid $5m to settle a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter killed by a Capitol police officer as she attempted to breach doors near the House floor. Hundreds of other rioters are also seeking millions of dollars in compensation. Continue reading...

Increasingly, teens are given only parts of books, and they often read not in print but on school-issued laptopsReading fiction has been such a joy for me that my heart broke a little to learn recently that many schools no longer assign full books to high school students.Rather, teens are given excerpts of books, and they often read them not in print but on school-issued laptops, according to a survey of 2,000 teachers, students and parents by the New York Times.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture 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 federal officials provide a full accounting" of officers who have been redirected to immigration enforcement and a list of all investigations impacted by the reassignments. Continue reading...

The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking the weaker. The US was founded on that principleTrump's domestic and foreign policies - ranging from his attempted coup against the United States five years ago, to his incursion into Venezuela last weekend, to his current threats against Cuba, Colombia, and Greenland - undermine domestic and international law. But that's not all.They threaten what we mean by civilization.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out nowGuardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US? On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedland, Tania Branigan and Nick Lowles as they reflect on the first year of Donald Trump's second presidency. Book tickets here or at guardian.live Continue reading...

The activist had held a sign written with my daughter's crayon. Try explaining that to a four-year-oldIt was 6am. London. A few days before Christmas. My four-year-old is singing at the top of her lungs and charging around my parents' house on a hunt for the perfect crayon. There is nothing particularly unusual about this scene except for the fact that the crayon in question was for Greta Thunberg. The world's most well-known activist needed a writing tool and my daughter, O, was on the case. (Remember this crayon: it's going to be important later on.)O, I should note, had absolutely no idea who Greta was. We're not longtime chums or anything like that. Rather Greta was in London to support the Palestine Action-linked hunger strikers. She needed somewhere to stay and my dad, who is a Palestinian refugee, and appreciative of anyone speaking up about the place where he was born but can't return to live in, keeps an open house for activists who need a bed or a meal. When the visit had been hastily arranged by a friend of a friend of my sister a couple days earlier, we'd tried to explain to O that Greta was a famous activist who tried to help people and the environment.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

President protests innocence in US court as countries at UN meeting condemn Donald Trump's crime of aggression'

The US president has been quite clear that Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland are in his sights. We must believe himAs Venezuela's skyline lit up under US bombs, we were watching the morbid symptoms of a declining empire. That may sound counterintuitive. After all, the US has kidnapped a foreign leader, and Donald Trump has announced that he will run" Venezuela. Surely this looks less like decay than intoxication: a superpower high on its own force.But Trump's great virtue, if it can be called that, is candour. Previous US presidents draped naked self-interest in the language of democracy" and human rights". Trump dispenses with the costume. In 2023, he boasted: When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil, it would have been right next door." And this was no off-the-cuff remark. The logic of an oil grab, and much more besides, is laid out plainly in Trump's recently published National Security Strategy. Continue reading...

The more European countries act as colonies, unable and unwilling to stand up to Trump, the more they'll be treated as suchThere is no two without a three, as we say in Italian. After their complicit silence on Israel's war crimes in Gaza and their tacit acceptance of the US/Israel attack on Iran, Europeans now hesitate to condemn the US's audacious military operation to bring about regime change in Venezuela. With few notable exceptions - such as Spain, the Netherlands and Norway - most European leaders have fudged their response. Spain, in fact, has acted without its EU partners, condemning the US attack alongside a group of Latin American countries. European governments seem unable to utter in the same breath that, although Nicolas Maduro was an illegitimate dictator, the US attack to topple him is a gross violation of international law.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, at least made reference to international law, while emphasising that they shed no tears for the end of Maduro's regime. Others, such as the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, strangely talked about looking into the legality of the US military action, as if there were any doubt about its nature. Worse still, Trump-friendly Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni defined this act of external military intervention as legitimate" self-defence against narco-trafficking.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe 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...

Speaker says Trump not looking to take control militarily as Democrats say briefing raises more questions than answersThe United States is not at war" in Venezuela, the Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson said on Monday, despite the weekend raid Donald Trump ordered to capture president Nicolas Maduro and announcement that the US would now run" the country.The surprise incursion came after months of mounting US pressure on Venezuela, which has included a blockade of some oil shipments and airstrikes on vessels off its shores that have killed at least 110 people. Continue reading...

Trump's moves spark global wave of revulsion and fears that similar actions could happen in other countries - key US politics stories from Monday 5 January at a glanceThe deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drugs, weapons and narco-terrorism charges on Monday, two days after his capture by US special forces in an operation ordered by Donald Trump that sent shockwaves around the world.As Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores addressed the court in lower Manhattan, the UN security council held an emergency meeting just a few miles to the north, where a dozen countries condemned the US crime of aggression" and secretary general Antonio Guterres suggested the operation constituted a breach of international law. Continue reading...

Department of education, across the street from the supreme court, also evacuatedArizona's supreme court building was evacuated Monday morning after multiple vials that tested positive for a homemade explosive substance were sent to the building, according to the state's department of public safety (DPS).At about 8am on Monday, DPS responded to reports of a suspicious package". Later that morning multiple agencies, including the US Bureau of alcohol firearms and tobacco responded. Continue reading...

Daughter of the Wisconsin author confirmed her father died on 29 December and did not provide cause of deathMichael Schumacher, a Wisconsin author who produced a diverse array of works ranging from biographies of film-maker Francis Ford Coppola and musician Eric Clapton to accounts of Great Lakes shipwrecks, has died. He was 75.Schumacher's daughter, Emily Joy Schumacher, confirmed Monday that her father died on 29 December. She did not provide the cause of death. Continue reading...

Move sparks praise but chain says hotel independently operated and cancellations not reflective of Hilton values'The Department of Homeland Security on Monday said a Hilton hotel canceled reservations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota, where the Trump administration has deployed officers after allegations of fraud against Somali immigrants.After ICE officers booked rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton canceled their reservations, the department said in a post on X. Continue reading...

Some demonstrators celebrated the Venezuelan president's detention while others spoke out against US imperialismDozens of demonstrators of various stripes gathered outside the federal courthouse in freezing temperatures in New York on Monday to express their views on the US criminal charges against Venezuela's forcibly removed president, Nicolas Maduro.As Maduro pleaded not guilty to charges related to international drug trafficking and weapons charges inside the heavily secured court, Alejandro Flores joined other Venezuelans outside in chants that celebrated the detention of the Latin American dictator since the early hours of Saturday. Continue reading...

Board of directors vote to dissolve organization after nearly 60 years in operation after funding cuts under TrumpThe nonprofit charged by Congress with allocating funds to NPR, PBS and other US public radio and television stations announced is dissolving after massive federal funding cuts under Donald Trump.The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization after nearly 60 years in operation. Continue reading...

The Venezuelan leader entered a heartfelt not guilty plea - and told a member of the gallery he was a prisoner of war

Jabs to prevent influenza, rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other vaccines are no longer fully recommendedThe Trump administration will slash routine vaccine recommendations during childhood from 17 to 11 jabs - the biggest change to vaccines yet under the purview of longtime vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr.The changes, which US health officials announced on Monday afternoon and are effective immediately, will erode trust and reduce access to vaccines while allowing infectious diseases to spread, experts said. Continue reading...

Sir Keir Starmer and European leaders must defend the rule of international law, as a dangerous new world order emergesThe initial reaction of European leaders to Donald Trump's illegal military intervention in Venezuela wasnot only weak, it also had the briefest of shelf lives. Refusing on Sunday to condemn the attack as abreach of international law, European Union memberstates called hopefully for a negotiated, democratic, inclusive and peaceful solution to the crisis, led by Venezuelans". The delusional nature of that responsewas laid bare as Mr Trump told reportersthesame day: We're in charge."So much for the restoration of democracy. The USpresident also repeated threats of further military action, should the repressive regime left behind when Nicolas Maduro was seized fail to do Washington's bidding. As Mr Trump's marginalising of the Nobel prize-winning opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado illustrated early on, the will of Venezuelans is not on his list of priorities. Operation Absolute Resolve was about exercising raw power to dominateasovereign nation, and controlling Venezuela's future oil production. Continue reading...

US ambassador defends attack as law enforcement' action against an illegitimate' leader, not an act of war

William Defoor, 26, to appear in court Tuesday after arrest for alleged attack on vice-president's Cincinnati homeA man arrested during an incident where someone appeared to be trying to break into the Ohio house of JD Vance with a hammer is to appear in court on Tuesday.The vice-president on Monday thanked law enforcement in Ohio for arresting someone he referred to as a crazy person" who had turned up at his Cincinnati home overnight. Continue reading...

Kentucky woman reportedly ordered medication to end her pregnancy and buried remains in her yardA Kentucky woman is facing multiple criminal charges after she allegedly induced her own abortion using medication.Kentucky state police arrested the woman, Melinda S Spencer, 35, on charges of fetal homicide in the first degree, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to a local Kentucky news outlet. Spencer reportedly ordered medication online to end her pregnancy, then buried the remains of her pregnancy in her backyard. Continue reading...

The US might aim to unlock the country's reserves, but cost and political uncertainty make it look an uncertain option

Trial is the most severe criminal case brought against US students who staged protests against Israel's war in GazaFive Stanford University students are facing trial beginning on Monday over felony charges stemming from a pro-Palestinian protest on campus - the most severe criminal case brought against some of the thousands of students who staged nationwide protests and encampments against Israel's war in Gaza.The northern California students are part of a group of 12 who were charged with felony conspiracy to trespass and felony vandalism in connection to an hour-long, June 2024 occupation during which the group barricaded themselves inside the university president's office to demand Stanford consider a student resolution to divest from Israel, among other requests. Continue reading...

First and only GLP-1 pill on the market costs significantly less than injectable versionsThe first pill version of the blockbuster GLP-1 weight loss drugs has been launched in the US by Novo Nordisk at a lower cost than jab varieties, accelerating a price war in the sector.The Danish pharmaceutical company said on Monday that its once-a-day Wegovy pill, which received approval from the US regulator just before Christmas, was now available in the country. Continue reading...

South American nation's tar-like oil is what many Gulf coast facilities were built for but ramping up production to 3m barrels a day will be a long gameClustered along the US Gulf coast are some of the largest and most complex heavy-oil refineries in the world. These sprawling industrial hubs, owned by major US oil companies, stand ready to emerge as some of the major victors of Donald Trump's swoop on Venezuela.In some ways, these refineries are a relic of another time; built to process the heavy, unctuous crude imported from Latin America before the boom in lighter US shale oil emerged earlier this century. Continue reading...

US defense secretary also started proceedings that could strip Kelly from retired military rank and cut pensionDefense secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that he had issued a formal censure to Democratic senator Mark Kelly and initiated proceedings that could strip the Arizona lawmaker of his retired military rank and cut his pension, escalating a dispute that began when Kelly urged service members to resist unlawful orders.Just days after a covert mission to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and strike the capital city, Hegseth announced that Kelly faces retirement grade determination proceedings, a rare administrative action that could see the former astronaut and navy captain demoted in his retired rank. Hegseth accused Kelly of making seditious statements" that undermined military discipline. Continue reading...

Zohran Mamdani's optimistic inauguration contrasted in every single way with Trump's brazen invasion of VenezuelaThe new year opened with a pair of scenes that illustrated the great divide within the US and the stakes of the ongoing contest over its future. On 1 January, in a star-studded inauguration ceremony of uncommon pomp and optimism, Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist, was sworn in as the new mayor of New York and delivered a speech that declared the era of small government and centrist inhibition to be over, and a new dawn of ambitious social welfare programs to begin.The new mayor's inauguration is the culmination of a decade of growth from the Democratic party's insurgent left wing, and results from a feat of organizing within the country's largest city that relied upon mass mobilization from downwardly mobile and economically disenfranchised millennial and gen Z voters. It was hailed as a generational shift in US politics, inaugurating a new, 21st-century vision for the party. Continue reading...

The head coach (or manager?) fired cryptic shots at his bosses, then was fired himself.