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Do small business owners think that Visa and Mastercard won't just recoup their fees elsewhere?Want to buy a new shirt from your friendly neighborhood small business? In some cases, be prepared to pay out 2.5% more as a financing" fee because you're using a credit card. Enjoying that meal at the local diner? Better have cash or you could be subject to the same fee. Grabbing a bag of chips and a soda at the local convenience store? Oops ... Unless you're prepared to spend a minimum of 10 bucks you can't use your credit card, sorry.I've always been irritated by these practices. And I know I'm not alone. Who carries cash any more? Why are we, the customer, being shamed because we choose to buy something using what has become a standard form of payment over something that's clearly a thing of the past? Continue reading...

Long after his conviction for sexual abuse, people in royalty, academia, business, journalism and politics sought his earHe got by with a little help from his friends. From British royalty to White House alumni, from a Silicon Valley investor to a leftwing academic, connections and influence were the ultimate currency for Jeffrey Epstein.Yet none appeared to challenge Epstein over his horrific crimes. If silence is complicity, the casual disdain of the elite circles he moved in spoke volumes. Continue reading...

Reports that fire crews were ordered to leave original site of blaze prompt tough questions for city and LAFD leadersConcerns over a small brush fire that reignited days later into the mammoth Palisades fire - the most destructive in Los Angeles history - have grown in recent weeks amid reports that firefighters were ordered to leave the original site of the smaller blaze despite their concerns the ground was still smoldering.Now, questions remain about how leaders at the Los Angeles fire department responded to a fire that leveled entire communities, and who within the agency knew about concerns the fire could still pose a threat. A former LA city councilor says the aftermath and recovery effort should serve as a Pearl Harbor moment for the city, which should never again be in a position with flames encroaching on all sides. Continue reading...

Experts say air traffic controllers quickly returning to work, with promise of full back pay, and even $10,000 bonusFears that it would take weeks or even months for flight schedules in the US to return to normal in the wake of the US federal government shutdown do not appear to be coming true and the busy upcoming holiday season should be normal for travel, experts say.That is at least in part because air traffic controllers are quickly returning to work, according to the Department of Transportation. Continue reading...

In a clear pattern, a machine designed to generate law and order morphs into an organization operating under lawlessnessWe have entered the openly repressive phase of the Trump presidency. The administration has moved beyond verbal attacks on civil society. It is now deploying coercive force against civic organizations and their leaders. While the attacks may seem contained for now, they are likely to grow. Research on other cases of democratic backsliding suggests that once coercion begins, regardless of how limited at first, escalation follows.In the months ahead, we should thus expect more, not less, government repression. To meet it, pro-democracy organizations, universities and law firms must bravely speak up against abuses of power while building the broadest possible coalition to stand up for fundamental rights. Community, labor and advocacy groups must also train their ranks in strategic nonviolence to resist provocations from the state and make repression backfire.Javier Corrales is Dwight W Morrow 1895 professor of political science at Amherst College. Daniel Altschuler is the managing director of the Freedom Together Foundation and holds a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford. Continue reading...

Gail Etienne has built a center at the former school she and her two six-year-old friends braved angry crowds to attend - the same day as Ruby Bridges' better-known experienceGail Etienne still remembers her first day at McDonogh 19 elementary school in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. As her family pulled up to the school in the car with the federal marshals, they saw crowds of angry people screaming. Some carried garbage cans and sticks. Others were holding picket signs against school integration.I'll never forget it," Etienne said. I saw this one lady was pregnant and had a garbage can top in her hand. I'm wondering, at six years old, what could I have done at six years old to these people to make them act the way they were acting? I really thought that if they could get to me, they'd want to kill me. I didn't know why. What had I done? I was just going to school." Continue reading...

Tremane Wood was prepared to die by lethal injection. A minute before he was to be put to death, a call came in

These widely condemned strikes are just the latest sign of Trump's imperialist revival - and the collapsing of the rules-based world orderThe UK's reported decision to restrict intelligence-sharing with the Pentagon on suspected drug-traffickers' boats in the Caribbean is a modest yet symbolic act of resistance to Donald Trump's imperialist revival. Britain is said to have objected to repeated, lethal US airstrikes on alleged smugglers off Venezuela's coast - which have been widely condemned as illegal extrajudicial killings amounting to murder.The strikes appear to foreshadow direct US attacks on Venezuela itself. Trump makes no secret of his wish to topple Nicolas Maduro's authoritarian, ostensibly leftist regime. Most Venezuelans support this aim, but not the means. Regime change forcibly imposed by a foreign power contravenes international law, unless it is authorised by the UN or undertaken in self-defence as a last resort. Legal or not, it never ends well. Continue reading...

President's one-time ally says she has been contacted by private security firms after denunciation by president. Key US politics stories from Saturday 15 November at a glanceMarjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms with warnings for my safety" after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.In a post on X, Greene said that a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world", without referring to Trump by name, adding it was the man I supported and helped get elected". Continue reading...

Daughter of immigrants advocated for people with disabilities to have full autonomy over their livesAlice Wong, a writer and disability rights activist who was born with muscular dystrophy and whose independence and writing inspired others, has died. She was 51.Wong died Friday at a hospital in San Francisco due to an infection, said Sandy Ho, a close friend who has been in touch with Wong's family. Continue reading...

Local reports say targets include church parishioners doing yard work and workers hanging Christmas lightsFederal immigration officers on Saturday began a sweep through Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, federal officials confirmed.Local media reports said that among the locations targeted by masked federal agents was a church in east Charlotte, where an arrest was made while about 15 to 20 church members were doing yard work on the property. Continue reading...

Cedric Irving Jr, 27, is alumnus of high school where John Beam taught before gaining fame on Netflix's Last Change UA 27-year-old Skyline high school alumnus, frequently seen lingering near Laney College, has been taken into custody in connection with the fatal shooting of Oakland football coach John Beam.Police identified the suspect as Cedric Irving Jr, who was apprehended before dawn at the San Leandro, California, Bart station, ending an urgent search for the individual believed responsible. Continue reading...

One-time Maga loyalist diverges with Trump on issues including Epstein, so US president has withdrawn supportMarjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms with warnings for my safety" after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.In a post on X, Greene said that a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world", without referring to Trump by name, adding it was the man I supported and helped get elected". Continue reading...

Federal judge Rita Lin cites playbook designed to bring universities to their knees' and force them to change their ideological tune'A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funding and threatening hefty fines against the University of California amid the administration's attempts to coerce elite US universities into adopting and promoting conservative ideals.US district judge Rita Lin of San Francisco issued the preliminary injunction late Friday, saying the government was not allowed to demand payments from the California school system over the administration's claims that it violates civil rights by allowing antisemitism and practising affirmative action. Continue reading...

District attorney cites insufficient admissible evidence' against Tim Ballard in connection with allegationsA district attorney based in Salt Lake City is declining to file charges against the founder of an anti-child-trafficking organization - made famous by the 2023 movie Sound of Freedom - in the wake of sexual assault claims by several women in lawsuits.Sim Gill, the district attorney, issued a statement Friday saying there is insufficient admissible evidence", and his office has declined to file charges against Tim Ballard in connection with the allegations. Continue reading...

From Texas and Iowa to Arkansas, faith leaders are wading into politics to counter the rise of Christian nationalismHe grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress - as a Democrat. Continue reading...

Seemingly identical signatures appeared on clemency orders, which White House blamed on technical errorThe Trump administration's clemency drive is coming under scrutiny after the justice department this week replaced pardons posted online that bore strikingly similar copies of Trump's signature with others that are distinctively variable.The corrections came after online commenters seized on the similarities in the president's signature granting full and unconditional" pardons to seven men, including to former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry, former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada and former New York police sergeant Michael McMahon, on 7 November. Continue reading...

White House had demanded $1.2bn from UC to restore funding after saying it allows antisemitism on campusThe Trump administration cannot fine the University of California or summarily cut the school system's federal funding over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled late on Friday in a sharply worded decision.US district judge Rita Lin in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction barring the administration from cancelling funding to the university based on alleged discrimination without giving notice to affected faculty and conducting a hearing, among other requirements. Continue reading...

The US government was shut down for weeks - and then Democrats shrugged their shoulders and gave upChuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has a pair of very sweet imaginary friends. They're a middle-class couple called Joe and Eileen Bailey and they live on Long Island. At one point the imaginary couple, who feature in Schumer's 2007 book, Positively American, were called the O'Reillys. According to the Hill, one Schumer aide said the name then was changed because the publisher thought O'Reilly was too ethnic" for mass consumption. Another aide said that claim was false, and Schumer just wanted a name that sounded more national". Naming strategy aside, the key point here is that Schumer has said he runs all his policy decisions by this completely fictional couple. He's referred to them hundreds of times throughout his political career.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Ex-FTC chair was among first to go after practice of folding local firms into larger ones leading to higher pricesExperts say New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's selection of Lina Khan, the former Federal Trade Commission chair, for his transition team acts as a warning to private equity firms in the state that have raised rents and monopolized local healthcare industries.Throughout the US, private equity has increasingly monopolized industries through the practice of roll ups," acquiring many small local firms and rolling them into one larger firm, giving them power to simultaneously raise prices and lower quality. Continue reading...

Scramble to find replacement for George Tidmarsh shines light on dysfunction at US regulatory agencyAfter the dramatic ousting of the top drug regulator at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) two weeks ago, officials have scrambled to find a replacement in a process that has revealed the agency's internal cracks and tensions.It's troubling news for a regulatory agency that has previously enjoyed a reputation for stability and consistency. Continue reading...

Official Trump social media accounts have been using The Life of a Showgirl snippets to promote his agenda. Why has Swift, who once wanted to be on the right side of history', said nothing?In the last two weeks, the Trump administration has used music from Taylor Swift's latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in three posts on social media. The first, shared by the official White House account on TikTok, was a patriotic slide show of images set to lead single The Fate of Ophelia. As Swift sings pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes", the video cuts to pictures of the US flag, President Trump, the vice-president, JD Vance, and the first and second ladies. The second and third were posted by Team Trump, the official account for the Trump Campaign. One, set to Father Figure, riffs on the lyric this empire belongs to me" with the caption this empire belongs to @President Donald J Trump", while the other, celebrating Melania Trump winning something called the Patriot of the year award, is soundtracked by Opalite.The Trump administration has found itself in dicey waters for using popular music in the past. The White Stripes and the estate of Isaac Hayes have both attempted to sue the administration for using their music without permission, while artists including Celine Dion, Beyonce, Rihanna, Abba and Foo Fighters have released statements demanding Trump stop using their songs at campaign rallies and public appearances. Most recently, Olivia Rodrigo condemned the administration after the official Department of Homeland Security and White House Instagram account used her song All-American Bitch on a video promoting its controversial deportation efforts (the song was later removed by Instagram). Continue reading...

Pair devised responses to public outrage about Epstein's criminal history, his treatment by the justice system, and his friendships with powerful people

Marina Lacerda, 37, recounts the abuse she experienced and what inspired her to speak publicly amid new revelationsWhen Marina Lacerda woke on Wednesday to learn that thousands of documents about Jeffrey Epstein had been released by House Republicans, she braced herself for a spate of new revelations.Before deciding to waive her anonymity in September, Lacerda was known for years as Minor Victim-1" - unknown, unheard, another teenager groomed and abused by the paedophile financier. Continue reading...

Sydney Sweeney has become the poster child of a predicted rightwing cultural domination. So why is no one watching her films?I was on a walk around my local area in London when I was stopped in my tracks by a young man sauntering past me, wearing stone-wash jeans, a pair of shades and a Reagan-Bush '84" T-shirt. He gave off an incredibly smug air but, to be fair, he did look good. It's a nice T-shirt, not like those garish Reform-branded football kits, so I could see why it might be appealing. A quick search informed me that for gen-Z rightwingers in the US, it has become the conservative take on a band shirt or the once-ubiquitous Che Guevara tee".That casual display of conservative aesthetics reminded me of something else too: a much discussed cover of New York magazine from earlier this year, after Trump 2.0's inauguration, which showed young rightwingers celebrating as they contemplate cultural domination". Continue reading...

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President turns on Wacky Marjorie' after congresswoman criticizes effort to block release of key Epstein documentsDonald Trump announced Friday that he is withdrawing his support and endorsement of Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally and previously fierce defender of the president and the Maga movement.Trump's move away from Greene came just hours after she said in an interview she thought the president's attempts to stop the release of the files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is insanely the wrong direction to go". Continue reading...

Newly revealed documents show sex offender messaging lawmaker, and may have influenced their questioningNewly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate show the convicted sex offender appeared to be texting with a member of Congress during a 2019 House hearing with Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former fixer and personal attorney, and that those messages may have influenced the lawmaker's questioning.The documents provided to Congress this week include transcripts suggesting Epstein was in direct contact with the lawmaker as the hearing unfolded, the Washington Post reports. Continue reading...

Venezuelan-born Jose Barco detained upon early release from prison following attempted murder convictionAn army veteran and Purple Heart recipient who served two tours in Iraq was deported on Friday morning from an immigration detention facility in Florence, Arizona.Arizona state representative Raquel Teran told Fox 10 Phoenix that Jose Barco, a Venezuelan-born veteran whose family fled Cuba as refugees, was deported at 4am from Arizona. Continue reading...

US attorney general names Jay Clayton as lead investigator, hours after direction from US president - key US politics stories from 14 November 2025Pam Bondi announced on Friday afternoon that she had assigned Jay Clayton, the interim US attorney for the southern district of New York, to lead the investigation into Donald Trump's political adversaries and their ties to Jeffrey Epstein, hours after the president directed her to do so.Jay Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I've asked him to take the lead," the US attorney general said of the lawyer, who also served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during Trump's first administration. As with all matters, the department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people." Continue reading...

Mayor Barbara Lee calls John Beam a man who dedicated himself to building up the young people of this city'A US football coach who starred in the Netflix documentary Last Chance U, about struggling college teams, has died after being shot on campus, authorities in California said.John Beam, director of athletics at Oakland's Laney College, was hurt in a Thursday lunchtime incident at the school's field house, its downtown sports training complex. He later died, the Oakland police department said on Friday. Continue reading...

Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties prepare for deluge and possible landslides this weekendA powerful storm doused California with heavy rain on Friday, prompting evacuation warnings as the state braced for the potential of floods, mudslides, thunderstorms and even the chance of a tornado over the weekend.More than 4in of rain fell over coastal Santa Barbara county as the storm moved south toward Los Angeles, according to the National Weather Service. Continue reading...

Stephen Bryant, 44, convicted over 2004 murder, was shot dead despite growing backlash against barbaric' methodSouth Carolina executed a man by firing squad on Friday, marking the third time the state has used gunfire to kill a person on death row despite growing backlash against the method.Stephen Bryant, 44, had been sentenced to death for the October 2004 killing of Willard TJ" Tietjen and pleaded guilty to two other murders. Bryant's lawyers had argued in final appeals that the sentencing judge had been unable to consider his brain damage from his mother's alcohol and drug use during pregnancy, but South Carolina's supreme court declined to halt the execution on Monday. Continue reading...

Thirty of the 48 places at the tournament have now been filled, including co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the USAAll nine of the automatic places have been filled by the nine group winners, with the four best runners-up - DR Congo, Gabon, Cameroon and Nigeria - competing in November's playoffs in Morocco. Nigeria beat Gabon 4-1 in the first semi-final, while Cameroon fell to a last-gasp 1-0 defeat by DR Congo in the second tie. Nigeria now face DR Congo in Sunday's final, with the winner going through to represent Africa in the intercontinental playoffs in March.

Reaction follows Wall Street's worst day in a month and unprecedented slump in investment in China

Move diverges from July memo negating need for further inquiries, and comes amid intense Trump campaign to block filesPam Bondi announced on Friday afternoon that she had assigned Jay Clayton, the interim US attorney for the southern district of New York, to lead the investigation into Donald Trump's political adversaries and their ties to Jeffrey Epstein, hours after the president directed her to do so.Jay Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I've asked him to take the lead," the US attorney general said of the lawyer, who also served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during Trump's first administration. As with all matters, the department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people." Continue reading...

We want to hear from people in the US about how Donald Trump's economic policies may be affecting their plans for holiday shoppingWe'd like to find out more about your holiday spending plans this year. The New York Times reported on Friday that the Trump administration is pivoting to an affordability message and considering lowering some tariffs rates.The administration has floated policies that would lower prices for coffee and fruit, spoken about a 50-year mortgage proposal, and Trump has mused on social media about giving Americans $2,000 funded by tariff revenue. Continue reading...

In attacking a vital broadcaster, the US president is once again holding others to standards he flouts. But the Maga faithful might not let his links to the disgraced financier goTo confront Donald Trump is to engage in asymmetric warfare. It is to enter a battlefield that is not level, where he enjoys an immediate and in-built advantage over those who would oppose him or merely hold him to account. That fact has cost Democrats dearly over the past decade - exacting a toll again this very week - but it has now upended an institution central to Britain's national life: namely, the BBC.The key asymmetry can be spelled out simply. Trump pays little or no regard to the conventional bounds of truth or honesty. His documented tally of false or misleading statements runs into the tens of thousands: the Washington Post registered 30,573 such statements during Trump's first term in the White House, an average of 21 a day. In a single interview with CBS's 60 Minutes earlier this month, Trump spoke falsely 18 times, according to CNN.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistGuardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US?

The child sex offender and the former US treasury secretary shared personal views about politics and relationships

Marine Mammal Center in Morro Bay and local harbor patrol teamed up for mission to reunite pup with its motherIt was a foggy October afternoon on the central California coast when the Marine Mammal Center got a call on their public hotline: there were distressed cries coming from the frigid waters in Morro Bay.The center's experts were able to determine that the calls - which sounded almost like a human baby screeching - were coming from a roughly two-week-old sea otter pup that had been separated from its mother. Continue reading...

Wall Street endured its worst day in a month on Thursday as fears that tech companies are now overvalued loom largeWall Street came under pressure on Thursday, enduring its worst day in a month as a sell-off of technology stocks intensified.After an extraordinary rally around hopes for artificial intelligence that propelled global stock markets to record highs, fears that tech firms are now overvalued loom large. Continue reading...

Text messages released by US House show convicted sex offender coaching Maga influencer on political messaging. Plus, readers' favourite photo booth moments 100 years after its inventionGood morning.The convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apparently served as a behind-the-scenes adviser to the former Trump official and Maga influencer Steve Bannon during an August 2018 media campaign to defend Trump and his agenda, and to promote Bannon's media ventures.What else has been released in the flood of recent Epstein emails? Among many, many other things, one email shows an exchange between him and an associate in which they discuss girls" and travel. The justice department continues to downplay the possibility that other men were involved in Epstein's abuse of teen girls.What's happening with rest of the Epstein files? Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote to release the files, after attempts to press two members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.What exactly is climate finance? Who pays it? And who gets it? Sixteen years ago, at the climate summit in Copenhagen, rich and polluting countries pledged to provide $100bn (76bn) each year by 2020 so that poorer countries could cut their emissions and adapt to a hotter world. Last year, they set a new target of $300bn (227bn) a year by 2035. Continue reading...

Documents include emails depicting coordinated effort to influence online search results and journalistsJeffrey Epstein and his associates worked to suppress negative press and rebuild his image in the years after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, newly released documents reveal.The documents, among 20,000 pages released on Wednesday by Republican members of the House oversight committee, include emails and memos that depict a coordinated effort to influence online search results and journalists, and restore Epstein's reputation. Continue reading...

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. Today, Graham Ruthven endeavors to answer three of themPep Guardiola has done a lot with his 1,000 matches as a manager. At Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, he has lifted 40 trophies (including three Community Shields, because why wouldn't you count them?), yet not even this fact quantifies the way Guardiola has defined an entire era (or two) of the sport. Continue reading...