Many accused or convicted of participation in the attack on the US Capitol in 2021 believe deliverance is nearJake Lang, a January 6 defendant accused of beating police officers outside the Capitol during the insurrection, sent out a mass text message at the end of 2024 looking ahead to what he feels will be a promising year for him and hundreds of others involved in the attack.Hey its Jake Lang!! The January 6 Political Prisoner!! I'll be sending you IMPORTANT updates on this number," the text read. I'll be home VERY SOON!!! God bless!!" Continue reading...
Companies say Biden's blocking of the proposed purchase over national security concerns violates constitutionUS Steel and Nippon Steel have filed a lawsuit against Joe Biden's order that blocked the $14.9bn buyout of the American steelmaker by the Japanese company, they said on Monday.The lawsuit asked the court to set aside the review process of the committee on foreign investment in the US and Biden's order, citing violation of the constitutional guarantee of due process and statutory procedural requirements, as well as unlawful political influence". Continue reading...
Observers raise alarm about how pardons for convicted Capitol attackers might weaken US criminal justice systemAs Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, politicians, legal observers and even sitting federal judges are expressing alarm about his stated intention to pardon or offer commutations to supporters who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 and were then convicted of crimes.Clemency for those who sought to block certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory would undermine the US judiciary and criminal justice system and send a message to Americans that attacking US democratic institutions is appropriate and justifiable", said a spokesperson for the Society for the Rule of Law. Continue reading...
The Brutalist, Emilia Perez and Shgun won big at the 82nd Golden Globes, the unofficial kick-off to this year's awards season. The low-budget immigration saga and the Netflix crime musical picked up big wins for film, while the historical epic dominated the TV awards
While this is by no means health advice, these are a few things I've found helpful in case you're also feeling sober curious'Tis the season to drink far too much and then vow that, next year, you'll never drink again. Or at least, it used to be that season. These days, young people simply aren't that interested in boozing. Gen Z drinks about 20% less alcohol per capita than millennials like me did at their age, according to a report from Berenberg Research.While my generation grew up with it being completely normal - even encouraged - to drink irresponsibly, gen Z seems to be disarmingly sensible. They've managed to make sobriety trendy and have rebranded responsible drinking as being sober curious". Now a new trend has apparently taken off: intermittent sobriety" - which, as far as I can tell, basically just means taking time off now and again from drinking.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
House speaker says party seeks single piece of legislation covering tax cuts, immigration and military spendingDonald Trump is working with top Republicans in Congress to devise a single big, beautiful bill" that will contain all of his major policy ambitions - including a clampdown on immigration, tax cuts, and increased military spending in an attempt to supercharge his radical agenda as he embarks on a second presidency.The plan to pile all of Trump's main policy goals into one mega-bill, against the wishes of some top congressional Republicans, raises the prospect of months of potentially bruising political in-fighting needed to secure its passage. Though the Republicans hold both chambers of Congress, their margin in the House is the slimmest in almost a century. Continue reading...
Details about Utah-based Robert Kinch, who backed race war', suggest rightwing militia has retained links with policeThe man in control of the Utah-based rightwing militia Oath Keepers USA, a recent spinoff of the national organization first established by Stewart Rhodes in 2009, is a former Las Vegas metropolitan police department (LVMPD) homicide detective who left the force in acrimony after advocating race war".The revelations about Robert Bobby" Kinch, now of Duck Creek, Utah, come from public records, online materials and the work of a longtime infiltrator of the patriot movement in the Pacific north-west, who provided vital evidence to the Guardian captured inside Kinch's home. Continue reading...
Sure, most of us can fit in a few thousand steps a day, or a couch to 5k. But what about the strength training, the mobility routine, the cooking from scratch, the meditation, the breathwork, the eight hours' sleep ...I'm not anti-resolution. I actually stuck to one last year: not a single microwave rice sachet has passed my lips since 1 January 2024 and yes, I do want a medal, thanks. But I also want to ask anyone implementing something new year new you"-adjacent in the wellness space: do you really have time?The wellness timesuck starts innocently enough, setting a manageable daily step count, maybe, downloading a couch to 5k app or targeting the NHS's recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise. But once you get started, you'll discover everything else you should be doing, especially if you're a suggestible social media user. Start strength training," your algorithms nudge, raving about bone density and heart health, so soon you're adding deadlifts and split squats to your weekly routine. Then it's mobility - don't you realise it's key to avoiding pain and later-life problems, dummy? Do daily stretches or suffer the creaky consequences.Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
President-elect has threatened to levy tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, which can burden businessesWith Donald Trump threatening to impose steep tariffs upon his return to office this month, US firms are bracing for impact. But an analysis of Trump's last presidency identified one way to boost their chances of avoiding the levies: donating to the Republican party.While the initial stage of the president-elect's tariff agenda is designed to hit America's largest trading partners - Canada, Mexico and China - it is US firms that pick up the bill, paying duties imposed on the goods they buy from these markets. Such additional costs can prove devastating. Continue reading...
The 14-3 Vikings and 12-5 Commanders will open the playoffs on the road because the NFL insists on giving a home game to even the most middling of division winnersThe injustice of the NFL's playoff seeding system rears its ugly head once againNow that we know how the 2024 NFL playoffs are seeded from top to bottom, it's time once again to complain about the league's ugly secret: Its system for awarding playoff position, and thus which teams will have postseason games at home or on the road, is seriously flawed. Continue reading...
The book will no longer be studied at GCSE in Wales because many find the racial slurs upsetting. That's culture war fodder, but it shouldn't beIn years to come, we might call it the Steinbeck problem. Of Mice and Men is one of the most banned books in the United States and will no longer be studied at GCSE in Wales from September - a reaction to the racism and use of racial slurs within the text.Is this something to mourn, or cause for wild celebration? It is complicated. Indeed, it represents a near perfect literary and moral conundrum for the education system of a multicultural, multiracial society. Especially one plagued with culture wars fought in bad faith.Nels Abbey is an author, broadcaster and the founder of Uppity: the Intellectual Playground Continue reading...
President says Social Security Fairness Act will benefit Americans who have worked hard all their lives'Joe Biden has signed into law a measure that boosts social security payments for current and former public employees - such as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public-service workers - in what the White House has described as the first expansion of such benefits in 20 years.The bill I'm signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their lives ... should be able to retire with economic security and dignity," Biden said. That's the entire purpose of the social security system crafted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt nearly 90 years ago." Continue reading...
Officials say evidence supports theory suspect, 42, carried out deadly attack alone but reveal leads are being pursuedFederal authorities investigating the avowed Islamic State (IS) sympathizer who carried out the New Year's Day Bourbon Street terror attack in New Orleans said they are still investigating his potential associates elsewhere in the US and abroad.In a news briefing, officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said they were pursuing leads in Houston, Atlanta and Tampa, Florida. They also revealed that Shamsud-Din Jabbar visited New Orleans twice in the months before the attack, and, on one of those trips, rode a bicycle up Bourbon Street wearing smart Meta glasses and also rode around the French Quarter neighborhood - ostensibly, officials said, to prepare for the attack that he carried out, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. Continue reading...
Trump loyalists make baseless link between attack and US border and say cabinet nominees must be urgently ratifiedRepublicans in the US Senate are attempting to exploit the New Year's Day attack that killed 14 victims in New Orleans, injuring dozens more, to push through Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet nominations and rocket-charge the incoming president's anti-immigration agenda - despite the fact that the attacker was a US citizen born and raised in east Texas.Several Senate Republicans appeared on Sunday's political shows to call for an urgent approval of the most contentious of Trump's cabinet selections, who are facing a tough confirmation process. They include Kash Patel, chosen by Trump for FBI director; Pete Hegseth for defense secretary; and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. Continue reading...
Team and the NFL will donate to victims of attack on New Year's Day that left 14 people dead and 35 others injuredThe New Orleans Saints and the National Football League in which they compete have pledged to donate $1m to the victims of the Bourbon Street terror attack on New Year's Day that left 14 people dead and 35 others injured.In a press release issued on Saturday, the Saints and their owner, Gayle Benson, who pledged $500,000, said: Our community has experienced an unimaginable tragedy and our collective hearts are broken as we mourn for the victims and survivors of the New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans. Continue reading...
People gathered in New Orleans, Louisiana to pay tribute to those killed in the New Year's Day truck attack. A makeshift memorial had been set up on Bourbon Street, where the attack took place, adorned with crosses and with photographs of the victims. At total of 14 people were killed, and dozens more injured, when a US army veteran drove a pickup truck into a crowd in the early hours of 1 January
State of emergencies issues in several states and cities as eastern two-thirds of country to experience dangerous coldA major winter storm was sweeping across the central US on Sunday, forecasters said, bringing with it a dreaded combination of snow, ice and plunging temperatures.The National Weather Service (NWS) issued winter storm warnings from Kansas and Missouri - where blizzard conditions are expected - to New Jersey. Continue reading...
Experts warn that incoming president could direct DoJ officials to scale back enforcement of Voting Rights ActDonald Trump could use a second term atop the justice department to gut enforcement of US federal voting laws and deploy an agency that is supposed to protect the right to vote to undermine it, experts have warned.Trump has made no secret of his intention to punish his political enemies and subvert the American voting system. His control of the justice department could allow him to amplify misleading claims of voter fraud by non-citizens and others, as well as investigate local election officials. Continue reading...
Americans describe treatment denials, hidden costs and deceptive practices when filing claims with insurersSince the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, polarised discussions about the US health insurance system have not abated, with thousands of Americans continuing to share their struggles in having their healthcare covered.Hundreds of people from across the US shared their frustrations with the Guardian, too, explaining how their lives had been shaped by their experiences of trying to access healthcare in the US. Continue reading...
Biden set to lead tributes at funeral service but cameras likely to be trained on TrumpAmericans are hoping for a rare moment of political unity this week when all five living presidents - including Donald Trump - are expected to come together to mourn Jimmy Carter, who died last Sunday aged 100.Joe Biden is set to lead the tributes at a funeral service on Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. He let slip last year that Carter had asked him to give a eulogy (Excuse me, I shouldn't say that," the president admitted). Continue reading...
There's a solid social-democratic narrative this government could use - if only its leaders would actually tryPicture this. Keir Starmer is sitting at a kitchen table, staring into the camera, wearing decidedly casual clothes. The mug sitting next to his left hand confirms that the people around him are trying something a bit folksy and faux-intimate. As ever, his usual air of awkwardness shows that he is a newcomer to these rituals; in the midst of constant negative news stories, he also looks weary. I hope you are having a good start to 2025," he says. I wanted to begin the new year by assuring you that for me and my government, the work goes on."Here we go, you think: the usual cliches. Five years ago this month, our country fell into one of its most significant run of events in living memory. On 31 January 2020, we finally left the European Union. Then, less than two months later, the threat from Covid-19 meant the start of all those lockdowns, and a long period of fear, worry and bereavement." This, it seems, might be a bit better than usual. In time, we all hoped that in recognition of what we had been through, the unfairnesses and inequalities that Covid had so vividly highlighted, would finally be acted on. There was a lot of talk about levelling up' and building back better', from politicians who had no intention of making those promises real - and even worse, reckless economic policies that simply made lives even more difficult. And soon enough, war in Europe and a huge cost of living crisis were adding to our predicament."John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
by Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans, Anna Betts an on (#6TB97)
Those who died on Bourbon Street had gathered to celebrate the new year and were locals, tourists, students and parentsUniversity students. Parents and other people pursuing careers. A former college football player whose little brother made a name for himself in the sport, too. A Briton whose stepmother had been a nanny of Princes Harry and William.All had gathered on the most famous street in one of the world's most festive cities to celebrate New Year's Day. All were murdered when a US army veteran flying a flag of the Islamic State (IS) terror group drove a pickup truck around a makeshift police blockade and into a crowd on New Orleans's Bourbon Street in the early morning of 1 January 2025, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more before authorities shot him to death during a gun battle. Continue reading...
Whether in America or Britain, working-class people only matter when immigration is an issueOn the one side stand Silicon Valley moguls and leaders of corporate America; on the other, longstanding Donald Trump loyalists and supporters of the Maga (Make America great again") movement. One side claims to be building America's bright new future by recruiting the best talent from across the globe, the other to be defending US workers from the depredations of global capitalism. One side portrays itself as challenging racism and bigotry, the other is outraged by bigoted views of American culture.The H-1B visa - which allows US companies to hire foreign workers with highly specialised knowledge" - might seem an unlikely spark for a mini civil war among Trump supporters. Yet the bitter feud that has gripped the Trumpsphere over the past week has exposed many of the fissures of US conservatism. There is little to admire on either side and much to deplore. Both sides are right in certain respects, but usually for desperately wrong reasons. Continue reading...
My progress has been painfully slow, but at last I think I'm winningA few years ago I found myself in the toilet without my phone and experienced a surge of actual panic. How was I supposed to fill those three minutes? Don't answer that. I've been waging war on my phone addiction ever since, with slow progress. That is, until few months ago, when I pressed the nuclear button. I'd heard the most successful people use dumbphones, or have no phone, and it persuaded me to embrace the unthinkable. Guys, I turned the internet off. And I need to tell you about the world I discovered.First, specifics. I didn't want to spend money or end up talking to a football for company. So I just turned off mobile data. I kept wifi enabled, could call and message. But I deleted all apps that former YouTube designer John Zeratsky calls infinity pools": any source of constantly replenishing content. All social media. Email. Google too, the scrollable sum of everything. You can't look stuff up?" my friends gasped. My phone was incredulous. Are you sure?" it asked, for the first time ever. And pressing that button did feel like dying. You should never wake a sleepwalker, right? Continue reading...
Specialist travel companies are using euphemisms to avoid the gender apartheidHaving denied Afghan women jobs, education and free movement, ordered them to be totally covered, banned them from parks, removed their critical healthcare and silenced them with a ban on audible speech, the Taliban have plainly reached the point where the joy of torturing half the population has to be balanced, like any sensible exercise in mass persecution, with the needs and enjoyment of the male and free.What, for example, to do about windows? Doubly enraging to the ruling obsessives, in that they offer female slaves the pleasure of daylight as well as allowing non-residents occasional evidence of their existence, these openings do, on the other hand, benefit the women's male owners and theirsons. Continue reading...
Motorcade with flag-draped casket heads to boyhood home in Plains before moving to Atlanta, then WashingtonJimmy Carter's long public goodbye began on Saturday in south Georgia, where the 39th US president's life began more than 100 years ago.A motorcade with Carter's flag-draped casket is heading to his hometown of Plains and past his boyhood home on the way to Atlanta. The procession began at the Phoebe Sumter medical center in Americus, where former Secret Service agents who had protected the late president served as pallbearers. A mournful train whistle filled the clear air as the pallbearers turned to face the hearse for a final goodbye, their hands on their hearts. Continue reading...
Under Donald Trump, the US may become an unreliable ally. The case is getting stronger for Seoul to build its own deterrentSo-called frozen conflicts can suddenly turn hot without warning. Look at Ukraine, Syria or Armenia-Azerbaijan. Might Korea be next? For almost three-quarters of a century, an armistice - not a peace treaty - has prevented old foes North Korea and South Korea tearing each other apart. Their respective backers, China and the US, underwrote a chilly cold war status quo.Now, momentously, the ice is cracking. But it's not a political thaw. Mutual hostility is undiminished. It's not because Kim Jong-un's impoverished hermit kingdom is imploding, as often predicted. Rather, it's because North Korea, buoyed by new friends in high places, is on a roll while South Korea is suffering a very public meltdown. In short, things are hotting up. Continue reading...
With the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House' to return, gun-safety groups eye state level actionsDonald Trump's imminent return to Washington has put gun-safety groups on high alert, as the president-elect once described himself as the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House".Emma Brown, executive director of the gun-safety group Giffords, initially reacted to the news of Trump's victory in the presidential race not with dismay, but with defiance. Continue reading...
Shamsud-Din Jabbar once worked at a major accountancy, but a chaotic family life undermined his stabilityShamsud-Din Jabbar's descent into religious extremism unfolded over years - but his deadly disdain for many of his fellow Americans' way of life had recently intensified as he faced increasing financial and familial pressures, his associates have said in the wake of the truck attack that killed 14 Near Year's Day revelers on New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street.Jabbar - a 42-year-old former army signal corps sergeant who was shot dead by police - was described as smart and affable by his former military colleagues, who shared shock at his transformation into someone authorities now consider to be a terrorist. Continue reading...
The US president-elect's policy on the conflict may prove decisive, but appeasing both sides will be a challengeA new year in Ukraine began in much the same way as the old one finished: with deadly Russian drone attacks across the country. In Kyiv, one person was killed and at least six others were injured in the first few hours of 2025.It is Ukraine's third new year since Russia's invasion. If 2023 began with hopes high that Ukrainian battlefield gains would push Russia back and lead to an outright victory, by the start of 2024 the Ukrainian army and population were already settled in for the long haul and had few illusions about a quick victory. Continue reading...
Joe Biden awards highest civilian honour to 19 people for exemplary contributions to prosperity, values or security of the US'The U2 frontman Bono, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour, and the British conservationist Dame Jane Goodall are to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honour.Joe Biden will drape medals on Saturday around the necks of 19 people from the world of politics, sports, entertainment and other fields for exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavours". Continue reading...
Pulitzer prize winner Ann Telnaes had drawn a cartoon of the paper's owner kneeling before Donald TrumpThe Washington Post's Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet's owner, Jeff Bezos - along with other media and technology barons - kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency.I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations - and some differences - about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at," Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. Until now." Continue reading...
by Sam Levin in Los Angeles, California on (#6TAYY)
A wave of local publications are considering requests to wipe or edit old articles to give their subjects a fresh startCivil rights advocates across the US have long fought to free people from their criminal records, with campaigns to expunge old cases and keep people's past arrests private when they apply for jobs and housing.The efforts are critical, as more than 70 million Americans have prior convictions or arrests - roughly one in three adults. But the policies haven't addressed one of the most damaging ways past run-ins with police can derail people's lives: old media coverage. Continue reading...
Edward Pettifer, stepson of princes' former nanny, was one of 14 killed in New Year's Day truck attackThe Prince of Wales has said he is shocked and saddened by the death of his former nanny's stepson in the New Years Day truck attack in New Orleans.Edward Pettifer, 31, was one of 14 people killed when a pickup truck was driven through a crowd in the early hours of New Year's Day. Continue reading...
The It Ends With US wrangling is becoming increasingly nasty - we live in a world where the powerful can bury' their enemiesFirst, a mea culpa. Last year I wrote a critical piece about the promotional campaign for the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's controversial novel It Ends With Us. The fact that Blake Lively appeared to be using a movie about domestic violence to promote her husband's gin brand as well as her own haircare line, I noted, was pretty grim. Continue reading...
A man can do anything but if a woman does an inch of wrong, people want to watch her burnBefore filing a legal complaint and lawsuit against co-star and director Justin Baldoni - and an explosive court filing revealed he wanted to bury" her - what would people have said about Blake Lively?Last summer, surrounding the press tour for the film It Ends With Us, Lively became the internet's favourite villain for nearly a month. Her crimes included giving dismissive interviews, being badly dressed, too chipper, too rude and, most of all, annoying.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
Just eight weeks ago, the country had heaved a sigh of relied after the presidential election went peaceablyOn New Year's Eve, a federal prosecutor revealed to a court in Virginia an astonishing discovery. She disclosed in a legal document that last month FBI agents acting on an informant's tip-off searched a property in Isle of Wight, a county named after the island in the English Channel often described as rustic and quaint.What they found on the 20-acre farm was anything but pleasant. The agents stumbled upon what the prosecutor said was probably the largest seizure by number of finished explosive devices in FBI history". Continue reading...
President-elect said he would give states the power to control education, but it would be extremely difficultDonald Trump issued a bold campaign promise to his voters: he would eliminate the US Department of Education and give states all power to control education.He didn't lay out how he could get rid of the cabinet-level agency, but he alone cannot eliminate a department, making it an extremely difficult task to accomplish. Congress is requested to approve the creation or demise of an agency. Continue reading...
Animals, mostly birds, die of smoke inhalation in incident at shopping centre in TexasMore than 500 animals have died after a fire broke out in a shopping centre in Dallas.The 579 animals, mostly birds, were in a pet shop at Plaza Latina in the north-west of the Texas city. Continue reading...
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