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There is a certain pathos to special prosecutor's insistence that his unfulfilled investigation was not in vainA forlorn note from Jack Smith to Merrick Garland, the attorney general, provides a poignant epitaph into the unfulfilled and ultimately fruitless two-year criminal investigation into Donald Trump.While we were not able to bring the cases we charged to trial, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters," the special prosecutor wrote in a letter attached to the 137-page report, which concludes that the president-elect would have been criminally convicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election if he had not been re-elected four years later. Continue reading...

Former first lady's office provides no explanation for plan to miss Trump ceremony in unusual break from traditionThe former first lady Michelle Obama will skip Donald Trump's upcoming presidential inauguration, marking her second absence from a major gathering of US political figures this month.While her husband and former president Barack Obama will join fellow formers Bill Clinton and George W Bush at the 20 January ceremony, Michelle Obama will not be in attendance. Her office provided no explanation for her planned absence from the event at the US Capitol. Continue reading...

Donald Trump's nominee for the post of defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, was pressed on his views about women in the military by the Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand during a Senate armed services committee hearing. Hegseth appeared to walk back his previous comments objecting to women serving in combat roles

Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos are falling over themselves to suck up to the incoming president. And he's just as keen to let themOver the past month, we've learned that Donald Trump's inauguration fund has received million-dollar donations from, among others, Google, Meta overlord Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple boss Tim Cook. Hard to know whether it's encouraging or quite the opposite to find them being so public about it. Traditionally when industrialists have made knee-bending gestures to incoming self-confessed authoritarians, they've preferred to do it in a back room somewhere, rather than on a publicly available list that also risks implying they like Carrie Underwood's music.So let's deal first with the entertainers. Underwood will perform at Trump's inauguration, having previously insisted it was absolutely impossible to put her in some kind of ideological box. I feel like more people try to pin me places politically," she mused a few years ago. I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins. It's crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it's black and white. And it's not like that." Update: it now is like that.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Family of John Michael Murdoch demanding $900,000 for incident that occurred while he was allegedly awakeThe family of a man in Oregon is demanding $900,000 from the hospital where his face caught on fire mid-surgery while he was allegedly awake.The allegations are contained in a malpractice lawsuit filed by the wife of John Michael Murdoch against Oregon Health and Science University, as reported by the Oregonian. The lawsuit maintains Murdoch's ordeal unfolded as he was undergoing surgery in 2022 while being treated for squamous cell carcinoma - a cancer of the tongue. Medical staff failed to let alcohol swabbed on his face dry properly, and his face ignited, according to the lawsuit. Continue reading...

Wyoming's state house is the first to be controlled by a Freedom caucus, known for its hardline conservative stancesOn 7 January, Republican Wyoming state representative Jeremy Haroldson stood on checkerboard tiles at the heart of the state capitol rotunda and outlined the ascendant Freedom caucus's vision for a new Wyoming.This nation was founded on godly principles," said Haroldson, who is also a pastor. And those are the principles that we will continue to govern upon."Cy Neff is a freelance reporter. He spent 2024 covering Wyoming politics for USA Today Continue reading...

In report David Weiss sharply criticizes Joe Biden for maligning justice department when pardoning his sonThe criminal charges against Hunter Biden were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics", the prosecutor who led the inquiries said in a report that sharply criticized Joe Biden for having maligned the US justice department when the president pardoned his son.Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations," said Monday's report from special counsel David Weiss, whose team filed gun and tax charges against the younger Biden that resulted in felony convictions that were subsequently wiped away by a presidential pardon from his father. Continue reading...

The self-styled misogynist has announced his intention to enter UK politics - and unfortunately, when it comes to influence, we can't just laugh him offThe desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever becoming one," the comedian Billy Connolly once said. Never has this been truer. There was a time when unapologetic narcissists and sociopaths thrived on reality TV. Now they all seem to be pivoting to podcasts and politics.The latest would-be politico is Andrew Tate, the British American self-styled misogynist and influencer who was humiliated by Greta Thunberg. He is suddenly very interested in becoming prime minister of Britain - which I suppose makes sense when you look at the legal mess he's in. Tate and his brother, Tristan, are being investigated by Romanian authorities for alleged crimes including forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. As the convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser Donald Trump has demonstrated, you can get away with absolutely anything as long as you're powerful enough. There is no better get-out-of-jail-free card than being the guy in charge of the jails. Continue reading...

Bills crafted to stop what is widely viewed a loophole as abortion pills have helped mitigate bans dotting the USAs the Texas legislature convenes in Austin on Tuesday for the first day of its 2025 session, a number of anti-abortion bills have already been filed, largely aimed at halting the flow of abortion pills into the state.The bills were crafted to stop what is widely viewed as a loophole in abortion bans across the country, as pills have helped mitigate the impact of the bans now dotting the US. Texas Right to Life, the state's largest anti-abortion advocacy group, has had a hand in drafting a number of the bills, and is encouraging men to sue people who have supported their partners' abortions. Continue reading...

The latest actions of Musk and Zuckerberg are a sign of things to come, but the EU already has the power to give people back controlElon Musk's latest attempts at direct political interference illustrate the grave danger that Europe is facing. He has suggested overthrowing the UK government, asking if America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government". Three days after that, he hosted Germany's far-right candidate for chancellor in forthcoming federal elections in a livestream discussion on the social media platform X, which he owns. It is likely that his rigging of X's algorithm helped push both into millions of people's feeds. It also emerged last week that Musk's SpaceX may start providing a major part of Italy's defence network.Europe's leaders should view this conduct as a sign of things to come. We foolishly allowed control of digital media and infrastructure to concentrate in the hands of a few US tech oligarchs. Now US big tech is Donald Trump's tool.Johnny Ryan is director of Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties Continue reading...

On his grand slam debut, Joao Fonseca, an 18-year-old Brazilian, beat Andrey Rublev, while there were also wins for Katie Boulter, Daniil Medevdev and Elena RybakinaMusetti, seeded 16, has taken the third-set breaker to lead Arnaldi by two sets to one; Shelton, seeded 21, leads Nakshima 7-6 7-5 6-5; and Popyrin and Moutet are locked into another brutal game, the clock ticking towards seven minutes when the Frenchman finally secures his hold for 2-1 in the first.Yet more Italian excellence: Cobolli - a favourite of Coach Calv, our resident expert, who thinks he's got the lot - leads Etcheverry 7-6. That breaker went to 10-8 and I'd not be surprised if we see a few more in a match that has potential to go on for epochs. Continue reading...

Workers call proposals almost laughable' with new CEO's pay package 10,000 times the median salary of baristaNegotiations between Starbucks and its union have broken down with workers calling the company's proposals almost laughable" and highlighting the multi-million pay package of the coffee chain's recently appointed CEO.Since late 2021, over 530 Starbucks stores have won union elections, representing more than 12,000 workers at the company. But talks aimed at negotiating a first union contract have stalled and the company has called the union's proposals not sustainable". Continue reading...

Killing people with paperwork instead of a gun doesn't make you any less of a murdererAt this very moment Luigi Mangione, who is accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare's CEO last month, is sitting in a federal jail cell in Brooklyn. He's got a barrage of court appearances scheduled and, once he has wound his way through the criminal justice system, he could be behind bars for the rest of his life.Which, of course, is as it should be. While there are a lot of reasons that many people find the 26-year-old alleged assassin sympathetic, you can't just gun a CEO down outside a hotel in Manhattan and face no consequences for it. And Mangione, who is, by all accounts, an extremely smart guy with an Ivy League education, should really have known better. He should have known that if he wanted to murder someone - and get away with it - there were far more socially acceptable ways of doing so.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

As fires licked the Los Angeles landscape, a network of volunteers plunged into action to rescue pets and livestockAs flames roared into communities on all sides of Los Angeles last week, and tens of thousands of residents rushed to evacuate, trailers across southern California were being hitched and trucks fueled. A network of volunteers was preparing to descend on the fire zones, ready to risk it all to save pets and livestock in need.In the rural enclaves tucked close to the canyons most prime to burn, scores of animals - horses, goats, pigs, chickens, and even emus among them - were in danger as the fast-moving fires swept closer. Some had been left behind during chaotic evacuations. Others required large trailers or a gentle hand to calmly coax them through the terror caused by howling winds, ashen air and the very strangers desperately trying to get them to safety. Continue reading...

Report says evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction' had Trump not been re-elected. Plus, dangerous winds return to LAGood morning.Donald Trump would have been convicted of crimes over his failed attempt to cling to power in 2020 if he hadn't won the presidential election in November: that's the finding of Jack Smith, the special counsel who investigated him.Why didn't the case go ahead? Smith acknowledged the justice department's policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president, a factor that ultimately led to the dropping of charges against Trump after his 2024 victory. The report also references a supreme court ruling expanding presidential immunity, which complicated the case, and Trump's repeated legal attacks, which took up time and resources to fight.How did Trump respond? In a social media post, Trump called the special counsel a lamebrain prosecutor".What do we know about the terms of the potential deal? Reuters reports that negotiations are advanced over releasing 33 of 98 hostages still in Gaza in the first stage of the deal, citing an Israeli official. In return, Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestinian source close to the talks, who said the first phase would last for 60 days.While negotiators meet, is the war still raging? Yes. Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight, including six women and four children, health officials said, and Gaza's civil defence agency reported that a wave of Israeli airstrikes killed more than 50 people in the Palestinian territory's main city on Monday. Continue reading...

Fascism in power in the 1930s brought the world to genocidal war. But memories have faded, as has the stigma attached to the far-right - and that's dangerousDemocracy is dying across the globe. This may sound alarmist and generate a follow-up question: what does that actually mean? Will there be no elections? Will the opposition be criminalised? If these are the metrics, then Vladimir Putin's Russia remains a democracy. Six political parties are represented in the State Duma, its federal parliament, and there are more than 20 registered political parties. Well, as you probably understand, Russia is no democracy: indeed, this is a nation veering past authoritarianism and into totalitarianism, with more Russians being persecuted for political activity than since the days of Joseph Stalin.Faith in democracy is unquestionably on the decline. A new study finds that a fifth of Britons under 45 believe that the best system for running a country effectively is a strong leader who doesn't have to bother with elections" compared with 8% of their older counterparts. That mirrors other findings across the world. A study by Cambridge researchers in 2020 examined attitudes in 160 countries and found that younger generations have become steadily more disillusioned with democracy". And according to the Pew Research Center, nearly two-thirds of citizens in 12 high-income nations were dissatisfied with democracy in 2024, up from just under half in 2017.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The president defended his record on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan but foreign policy successes have been fewOn paper, few US presidents could boast the foreign policy bona fides of Joe Biden, a veteran statesman with nearly a half-century of experience before he even stepped into office.But as his term comes to an end, critics have said that the president will leave a legacy of cautious and underpowered diplomacy, as even allies have conceded that the administration is still grasping for a cornerstone foreign policy success. Continue reading...

Agency and DHS report possible threat from extremists in response to attack that killed more than a dozen peopleThe Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday warned of a potential public safety threat from violent extremists in response to the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.The FBI and DHS are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks due to the persistent appeal of vehicle ramming as a tactic for aspiring violent extremist attackers. Previous attackers inspired by foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) who have conducted vehicle attacks in the United States and abroad have used rented, stolen, and personally owned vehicles, which are easy to acquire," the agencies said in a statement. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US politics, see full coverage hereIt's just past noon in Washington DC, meaning that one week from today, Joe Biden will no longer be president. The outgoing president is looking to make the most of his remaining time in office, and will at 2pm make a speech from the state department outlining his foreign policy accomplishments.When President Biden entered office, our alliances had been badly damaged. We had abandoned agreements that made America safer. We were falling behind in our competition with China. US troops were still engaged in America's longest war. Our adversaries were gaining strength. And the nation and the world were in the midst of a global pandemic," a senior administration official said, in previewing the speech.St John's Church Service

Death toll rises to at least 24 as first identifications emerge of Los Angeles residents killed in fires

Katherine Franke cited toxic and hostile environment for legitimate debate around the war in Israel and Palestine'A tenured law professor at Columbia University who advocated for pro-Palestinian students on campus says she was in effect forced out of the university, citing a toxic and hostile environment for legitimate debate around the war in Israel and Palestine".Katherine Franke announced on Friday that she had reached an agreement with Columbia University that relieved her of her obligations to teach or participate in faculty governance" after serving on the Columbia law faculty for 25 years. Continue reading...

The American Idol winner and Grammy-winning country singer will perform America the Beautiful at the ceremonyThe country singer Carrie Underwood is scheduled to perform at Donald Trump's second inauguration this month.A spokesperson confirmed to Axios that the star will be on the lineup. Underwood, who rose to fame after winning the fourth season of American Idol, will perform America the Beautiful. Continue reading...

The judge who handled Trump's classified documents case allows the first part of Jack Smith's report to be publicJack Smith's report into Donald Trump's prosecution on charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election could become public as soon as Tuesday after a federal judge denied a last-ditch attempt by the president-elect to stop it from being released.The second volume of the report into Trump's mishandling of classified documents will remain confidential unless the US district judge, Aileen Cannon, who oversaw that case in Florida, also allows that part to be released. Continue reading...

As national populist parties gain ground in the west, progressives must put social and climate priorities ahead of market interestsDifferent year, same direction of travel. The likely formation of the first far-right-led government in Austria's postwar history, after the breakdown this month of coalition talks between mainstream parties, is the latest confirmation of the illiberal drift in western democracies. Only a few years ago, Viktor Orban's Hungary remained a troublesome outlier in the European Union. These days, variations on Mr Orban's ethno-nationalist approach to 21st-century politics are flourishing across the continent. And in a week's time, Donald Trump will be back in the White House.In an era of stagnating living standards and rising inequality, the growing appeal of national populism should not come as a surprise. The targeting of immigration, liberal elites" and globalisation has channelled resentments felt in deindustrialised regions, where good jobs and a sense of identity were lost as capital and investment moved elsewhere. The migration of the less well-off towards parties of the far right is a symptom of times in which trust in mainstream politics has collapsed. Continue reading...

To date, US hedge fund has been able to lob insults at targets while escaping detailed scrutinyThe great advantage of hostile takeover battles for public companies is that you get a clean punch-up. The records of both parties - bidder and target - are put in the spotlight. Every claim is tested in open argument over many weeks. At the end of the process, shareholders make an informed choice. Voting turnout is usually high because only the most dozy investors fail to notice what's at stake.Unfortunately, the current scrap for control of seven UK investment trusts is not like that. That is most obviously the case because Saba, the US hedge fund led by Boaz Weinstein, is not making a takeover bid. Its proposal instead is to sack the boards of all seven trusts, install its own people, and, possibly, appoint itself as fund manager. So not a takeover - but very definitely an attempt by a minority shareholder (Saba has stakes in the seven trusts of between 19% and 29%) to seize control. Continue reading...

Victims of grooming gangs' have been badly let down, but children must be protected on social media as well as in the real worldTwo seemingly contradictory things are true. It was appalling for the UK's domestic policy agenda to be hijacked last week by Elon Musk's blaze of interest in child sexual exploitation gangs. And government action in response to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse was long overdue. As ministers look in more detail at plans announced in a panic, it is essential that the many anxieties surrounding group-based child sexual exploitation - euphemistically known as grooming gangs" because of the techniques used to ensnare vulnerable girls - do not distract from the seriousness of the issue.On Friday, Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, added his voice to those calling for a new inquiry into child sexual exploitation - a specific form of abuse carried out in exchange for money or other things that victims want or need; and often involving financial advantage for perpetrators, who traffic children under their control. A large majority of group-based child sex offences (83% in 2023) are committed by white men, although some areas have a problem with gangs of mainly Pakistani-heritage abusers. It is true that the inquiry's broad remit did not include a thorough investigation of child sexual exploitation specifically. There are many gaps in the data, as multiple reviews have noted.Susanna Rustin is a Guardian social affairs journalist Continue reading...

Drone footage shows the scale of devastation in southern California when compared with Google Earth images from before the wildfires. Footage from Altadena, Malibu and Pacific Palisades shows buildings razed to the ground along whole streets in Los Angeles county

Mikel Arteta's team have had a painful start to 2025 and are now facing challenges in three competitions

The online lender has thrived as it helped extend $400m in loans with its biggest individual investor, Don HankeyAs the dust started to settle after the deadly 6 January Capitol attack in 2021, Donald Trump found himself losing corporate allies.Shocked by the rampage that followed efforts to overturn the US presidential election, companies at home and abroad were suspending political donations and reviewing their ties with the outgoing leader. Even Deutsche Bank - which had propped up the Trump Organization for two decades - decided it would no longer do business with the disgraced politician. Continue reading...

Questions raised of whether Palisades fire is connected to earlier fire put out new year's day, with possible human origins

His easing of regulations could leave many unprotected from financial manipulation, misconduct and bursting bubblesAs the United States prepares for Donald Trump's inauguration on 20 January, all eyes are on the cryptocurrency markets. After Bitcoin's price reached $100,000 (81,917) for the first time in history in December 2024, the cryptocurrency community is eagerly anticipating Trump's fulfilment of his campaign promise to make the US the crypto capital of the planet". Some analysts predict that Bitcoin's price could range between $78,000 and $250,000 in 2025.Blockchain technology has numerous applications beyond crypto payments - for example, in supply chain and logistics. But it is the price surges of Bitcoin, Ethereum and meme coins" that capture the majority of public attention. Speculative demand and the potential for abnormal returns, which are rarely found in other financial markets, remain key drivers of their prices.Larisa Yarovaya is an associate professor of finance and director of the Centre for Digital Finance at Southampton Business School

We'd like to hear about the disaster's financial impact on people who have lost their home, business, or community - their mortgages, lost possessions, rents, insurances and investmentsCalifornia homeowners and business owners who lost everything in the devastating Los Angeles-area fires now have to tackle their insurance companies to recover the value of their homeowners' policies - if they are lucky enough to have insurance at all.With estimates of the economic damage from the fires now reaching $52bn-$57bn, we'd like to hear what financial consequences people face due to the fires. Continue reading...

Wildfires fuelled by intense Santa Ana winds are still burning across Los Angeles county despite some progress at containing them. At least 24 people have died and more than 100,000 are under evacuation orders, while at least 12,000 structures have been incinerated

Incoming vice-president makes comments on Fox News, but later says pardons still remain a possibility for some peopleDonald Trump supporters who carried out violence during the US Capitol attack in early January 2021 should not be pardoned by him after he begins his second presidency, JD Vance said Sunday.The incoming vice-president's remarks on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream slightly deviated from a prior promise by Trump to consider pardoning even those who acknowledged assaulting police officers, saying a very corrupt system" left them with no choice". Continue reading...

The Australian was beaten by the Scot as the 10-time champion dropped a set on his way through to the second roundAnother multi-deuce service game for Coco Gauff, but this time it goes Sofia Kenin's way. We're back on serve on RLA in a match already averaging seven minutes per game. Gauff has served five aces and four double faults in an erratic opening. Kenin is just keeping the ball in play and showing that resilience from the baseline that became her trademark five years ago.20-year-old American Alex Michelsen has taken the first set off 12th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, breaking the Greek's serve in the 12th game. It would be no surprise if the 2023 finalist became the first major casualty of the tournament. Continue reading...

Massachusetts-based company is working on new treatments for gastrointestinal cancers

From Washington to Connecticut, pharmacists and healthcare workers pioneer efforts to limit abortion barriersDemocratic states across the country are embarking on a pioneering effort to increase access to abortion by teaching people who are not doctors to offer and perform the procedure.In Washington state, a first-of-its-kind pilot program called the Pharmacist Abortion Access Project announced this week that it trained 10 pharmacists to prescribe abortion pills; so far, they have prescribed abortions to 43 people. Continue reading...

The former speaker, a close ally, says the president-elect should learn from his new PBS film on great migrantsNewt Gingrich has been a force on the right of the Republican party for close to 50 years. Elected to Congress in Georgia in 1979, he became House speaker in 1995, then spent four years pursuing all-out war against Democrats, including the impeachment of Bill Clinton.Undeterred, he ran for the presidential nomination in 2012 and remains influential: a prolific author, forcefully pro-Trump and an adviser during the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Continue reading...

At least 24 people confirmed as killed in the fires so far. Plus, Bjork on her Cornucopia tour

He wants to seize the Panama Canal, Canada and Greenland. And now wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of AmericaDonald Trump's silly season has already caused irreparable damage to United States national security. Despite not yet holding office for a minute, Trump has made it plain that in his second term the U.S. will be an unreliable partner swayed by his personal whim, that he has no respect for historic alliances and that he has contempt for the rule-based international order that the U.S. has led since the end of World War II to prevent the reemergence of catastrophic great power collisions.Beginning with his Merry Christmas to all" tweet that he wanted to seize the Panama Canal, Canada and Greenland, Trump has not relented in his absurd claims, extended to renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. His disdain for the sovereignty of independent nations-two of them NATO allies and Panama a fellow member of the Organization of American States-has undermined the credibility of opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's ambition to grab Taiwan. The soft power of the U.S., ultimately based on its democratic example and respect for international order, has been tossed away by Trump's fantasy Manifest Destiny that is simply the latest wrinkle in his isolationism. Hardly the Rough Rider, if Trump were acting as Putin's or Xi's agent he could not have kowtowed more for their benefit.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth

The quarterbacks are the NFL's puppet masters, manipulating defenses in a way that is borderline unprecedentedThree AFC playoff games. Three blowouts. It's a good job the league dropped the Super" part from their Wildcard Weekend sales pitch.But within those blowouts was something magical, the appetizer to what should be the tastiest main course of the season: Lamar Jackson and the Ravens against Josh Allen's Bills in a win-or-go-home, be-crowned-or-memed, MVP-off in the divisional round this coming weekend. Continue reading...

An unusual name can have a detrimental impact on your life and finances - but in my experience, it also has advantagesGrowing up, there was a wearying and familiar pattern for me on the first day of school, or whenever a substitute teacher took the register.Blake."Xaymaca Awoyungbo is a freelance football writer and film director Continue reading...

Rightwing leaders such as Meloni and Orban set themselves up as Trump whisperers - but they only want to preserve their own interestsA far-right wind is blowing across the Atlantic. While the rise of the populist right in Europe predated Donald Trump's re-election, far-right parties, leaders and governments across Europe are being bolstered by his imminent return to power, and by Elon Musk's rising political star. There is some hope that Trump's presidency could have a unifying effect on Europe - and on issues such as defence policy, I believe it might.Trump's apparent disregard for international law, sovereign borders and the US's Nato allies with his ludicrous threat, even before his second term begins, to annex Greenland by force, drew a swift and unified reaction from France, Germany and Spain, whose leaders made it clear that they are, as you would expect, appalled and standing with Denmark. Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Trump's remarks had triggered incomprehension" among European leaders.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Appointment of progressive Robert McElroy comes as rightwing Catholics wield significant influence in US capitalWhen the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sought to shut down a Catholic charity that was was providing shelter and aid to undocumented migrants at the border, the San Diego cardinal, Robert McElroy, took a robust public stand against the attempt.The state of Texas is using governmental pressure to curtail the work of the Church in one of its most fundamental obligations: to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, and to provide drink to the thirsty," McElroy said in a statement at the time. No government can morally tell us to abandon or limit this mission." Continue reading...