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The cover-up has to stop – and with it, the huge sums in aid for a country with oppressive policies towards Palestinians

Yolanda Coar was 40 when she died of Covid-19 in August this year in Augusta, Georgia. She was also a nurse manager, and one of nearly 3,000 frontline workers who have died in the US fighting this virus, according to an exclusive investigation by the Guardian and Kaiser Health News.The Guardian has profiled hundreds of healthcare workers in a year-long project. Read their stories here Continue reading...

Those who predict economic Armageddon ignore the reality. The status quo wasn’t working – now there’s an opportunity for change

Police in Minneapolis shot and killed a man in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop on the city’s south side on Wednesday night, authorities have said.The police chief has said officers bodycameras where active and the footage would be released to the public on Thursday.A crowd of people rallied at the scene of the fatal shooting which happened about 6.15pm during a traffic stop with a man suspected of a felony

From the racial wealth gap to the ‘forever chemicals’ poisoning our bodies, there is no shortage of stories that need to be told

Little was jailed in 2014 for killing three women and later admitted killing a total of 93 peopleAmerica’s deadliest serial killer, Samuel Little, who confessed to strangling 93 people, has died in California aged 80 with the identity of almost half of his victims still unknown.Little said he targeted disadvantaged and mostly black women, including sex workers, in the belief that this would draw less attention from a disjointed law enforcement system that had little apparent interest in such victims – a calculation that proved grimly correct. His death means families of many of the victims may never have closure. Continue reading...

The festivities are rightly cancelled this year. But the gloating of NYE-haters does grateThe tone of life under lockdown was set for me early on when I heard an internet-famous songwriter sing: “Find the silver linings, as hard as it seems/An extrovert’s nightmare’s an introvert’s dream”. From that point onwards, I have been locked in a one-man culture war against homebodies, irrationally furious that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying having more time to spend curled up under the duvet with a peppermint tea and a page-turner, or whatever it is that introverts like to do.This has come to a head in December, where everywhere I look I see people announcing their glib indifference to the fact that one of the best nights of the year, New Year’s Eve, has been cancelled. Apparently it’s rubbish anyway. The kind of people who value “PJs”, “going to bed early” and “snacks – literally all the snacks” have made no effort to disguise their glee. But these people are wrong: New Year’s Eve isn’t overrated at all; if anything, it’s unfairly maligned. Continue reading...

Kahele was happy as a working pilot, he tells the Guardian, when a family loss turned his life towards politicsKai Kahele had one ambition growing up in Hawaii, and that was to fly airplanes. He achieved that goal by the age of 19, and was happy working as a military and commercial pilot when a family tragedy propelled him into the world of politics.Kahele, an indigenous Hawaiian, was appointed to the state senate in 2016 after the sudden death of his father senator Gil Kahele, 73, a progressive stalwart in the Democrat party for over 40 years. Two day before he died, Kahele’s father had asked him to consider following in his footsteps. Continue reading...

Mitch McConnell said attempts to increase relief checks to $2,000 had ‘no realistic path’ forward, as Democrats prepare to bring out the big guns in Georgia. Plus, police were warned the Nashville bomber was making explosives

Years of anti-immigrant policies from the Trump administration have been magnified by insecurities resulting from the pandemicCalifornia’s most vulnerable immigrants have faced unprecedented challenges this year, with some weighing whether it’s worth staying in the United States altogether.Ten months of a pandemic that has disproportionately sickened immigrants and devastated some of the industries that rely on immigrant labor, combined with years of anti-immigrant policies by the Trump administration have exacerbated insecurities for undocumented people and immigrants working low-wage jobs across California. Continue reading...

Nine months since Project Roomkey launched, some say the program’s success has varied regionally and only fraction of those in need received help amid a pandemicBefore the coronavirus even reached the US, California was already in the midst of a public health crisis.By March 2020, the Golden State’s homeless population made up more than a quarter of unhoused people in America. Nearly three-quarters of the more than 150,000 homeless people in the state were living unsheltered, oftentimes hard on the streets in encampments that seemed to pop up in cities from north to south. Continue reading...

Nobody does it better than King James, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to a record-tying 17th NBA championship while elevating his activism to new heightsLast month an old interview of LeBron James resurfaced that quickly went viral on NBA Twitter. The grainy footage was from a program called HBO’s On the Record with Bob Costas that was recorded shortly before James made the jump from St Vincent-St Mary High to the professional ranks. By then he was already a national sensation – Sports Illustrated had featured him on its cover more than a year earlier under the headline THE CHOSEN ONE – having spent his final season of high school basketball on a barnstorming tour that filled gyms and arenas around the country and sating the intense curiosity of a pre-YouTube world.The clip is only 33 seconds in length, but it’s more than enough time to offer a sense of the extreme pressure this 18-year-old amateur faced on the doorstep of his destiny. Continue reading...

The Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, says the bill that would direct $2,000 coronavirus relief payments to Americans has 'no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate'. After Donald Trump and Democrats pushed for larger relief cheques, McConnell said he would not be 'bullied' by Democrats into quickly approving the measure. House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, criticised McConnell for adding a delay to the payments.'These Republicans in the Senate seem to have an endless tolerance for other people's sadness,' she said

On the heels of a sports year that was chock full of surprises, Guardian US contributors make their bold predictions for the months to comeHere are our bold predictions for 2021 in sports. Please note the bold (or should that be bold?) in bold predictions: these are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Continue reading...

The lives of these 20 people were upended, resulting in life-changing or career-ending experiences and instant fame or notoriety during four tumultuous years of Trump’s presidencyMillions of lives across America and the world were touched by Donald Trump’s unlikely candidacy and presidency.But some were upended completely, resulting in life-changing or career-ending experiences and instant fame or notoriety as four incredibly tumultuous and norm-shattering years played out. Continue reading...

Spontaneous protests at scene less than a mile from where George Floyd died in MayPolice in Minneapolis shot and killed a man in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop on the city’s south side on Wednesday night, authorities have said.John Elder, a police spokesman, said the incident happened about 6.15pm while officers were carrying out a traffic stop with a man suspected of a felony. Continue reading...

Baldwin accuses critics of ‘misrepresenting’ her, and addresses her background and that cucumber ‘brain fart’ incidentHilaria Baldwin has accused critics of “misrepresenting” her amid allegations she spent years faking being Spanish.Speaking out in a New York Times interview on Wednesday, Baldwin addressed the controversy surrounding her heritage after it emerged she was born in Boston, not Spain, and was originally named Hillary. Continue reading...

Attempts by Donald Trump and Democrats for bigger coronavirus relief checks fade in the SenateDonald Trump’s demand for $2,000 relief checks to Americans struggling financially with the pandemic was all but dead after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that a proposal from Democrats had “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate”.Declaring that he would not be “bullied” by Democrats into quickly approving the measure, McConnell effectively denied a final request for legislative action by the president in the waning days of his administration. Continue reading...

Retail giant says tweet was ‘mistakenly posted’ after Hawley said he would not vote to certify Joe Biden’s electoral college winWalmart on Wednesday apologized to Josh Hawley, the Republican senator who said he would not vote to certify electoral college results, after a post on its Twitter account called him a “#soreloser”.“The tweet published earlier was mistakenly posted by a member of our social media team. We deleted the post and have no intention of commenting on the subject of certifying the electoral college,” the retail giant said in a tweet. “We apologize to Senator Hawley for this error and any confusion about our position.” Continue reading...

Democrats and Republicans are deploying their big guns for the state’s runoff elections that will decide who controls the Senate

Television cameras tend to bring out the performer in the president, no matter how inappropriate the contextAs we look back at the Trump presidency, it often feels like America has endured four years of reality TV – with its leader as a main contestant.Related: Infinity culture war: what now for Trump's Hollywood supporters? Continue reading...

After years of frustration and inconsistency in the biggest moments, the veteran skater put it all together in a career season and delivered the skate of her life at US nationalsMariah Bell entered her seventh season on the senior level of figure skating last year with a reputation for inconsistency in the biggest moments. As she closed in on her 24th birthday, the Colorado native for all her sparkle and fight was a Betamax in a Blu-ray world: technically overmatched by the encroaching generation of youngsters whose programs are packed with point-gobbling quadruple jumps and triple axels.Related: The most notable US athletes of 2020: No 3 – Patrick Mahomes, the ultimate weapon Continue reading...

Arms deals with Middle East dictatorships are being rushed through by Trump, critics say, despite opposition over human rights recordsThe US state department has approved the sale of $290m in bombs to Saudi Arabia as part of a flurry of arms deals with Middle Eastern dictatorships in the last weeks of the Trump administration.Critics of the sales say they are being rushed through despite broad congressional and public opposition to such military support because of the human rights records of the regimes involved and in the case of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the huge civilian death toll from the war in Yemen. Continue reading...

About 1,115 prisoners of the the total 1,236 prisoners at the Goose Creek correctional center had tested positiveNearly every inmate in Alaska’s largest prison has contracted Covid-19 as prisons nationwide reached their highest level of positive cases this month.A spokesperson for the state’s department of corrections, Sarah Gallagher, told the Anchorage Daily News that an estimated 1,115 prisoners of the total 1,236 prisoners at the Goose Creek correctional center had tested positive. Continue reading...

After Keir Starmer gave MPs a quick refresher course on Johnson’s lies, the session finished with a whimper

The two runoffs on 5 January will decide whether the Republicans continue to control the Senate, with profound implications for Joe Biden’s presidencyOn 5 January the US state of Georgia will vote, again, on who to send to the Senate.The control of the Senate is up for grabs, and thus the prospects for the Biden administration – at least for the next two years. Continue reading...

The imaginary doomsday scenario was never credible to the EU but was a powerful force to shape UK domestic politicsThe threat of a no-deal Brexit has always been a hoax – and it has been one of the most successful deceptions in British political history. It was never a real option but has systematically lowered domestic expectations for a deal and allowed the government to avoid any serious scrutiny. Boris Johnson played the role of no-deal madman with aplomb, as if he had been born for it. Which of course he believes he was.The idea that no deal was a plausible option never made any sense. When Theresa May first threatened that “no deal is better than a bad deal”, in her January 2017 Lancaster House speech, it was a bluff. It was an attempt to act as if Britain – by far the weaker party in the negotiations – had some leverage. It didn’t. Continue reading...

The public’s goodwill was sacrificed on the altar of Barnard Castle – and will be incredibly difficult to recoverIn the spring of this year, Boris Johnson was World King. A Morning Consult poll in April found that he was the most popular leader in the western world. In January, at a focus group I ran in Darlington, first-time Conservative voters described him as “strong”, “decisive” and “his own man”. He was a leader who would get things done and was one of the first politicians they could remember who seemed to care about the long-ignored place in which they lived. And, for that first portion of the year, there was a flash of something not seen since Tony Blair’s election win in 1997: a remarkable sense of public trust, with voters willing to believe that Johnson’s Conservatives might actually deliver what they had promised.Now Johnson sits near the bottom of the world leader rankings. “Weak”, “confused”, “out of his depth” are the words that come out of focus groups today. Voters, especially those in the so-called “red wall”, describe the prime minister as a “puppet”, controlled by his advisers. Though they tend to think he is trying his best, they question his competence. He does not attract the same hate that one sees on Twitter, but he is seen as a figure to be pitied as he drags himself to the podium of yet another press conference. Getting a Brexit deal may seem to have given him a Christmas boost, but – given the low salience of the issue to many voters – it is unlikely to permanently change the public’s view of him. He is no longer world king, but seen to be a lost man. Continue reading...

Rights experts say pardon of four contractors over Iraq killings undermine humanitarian lawDonald Trump’s pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated US obligations under international law, United Nations human rights experts have said.Nicholas Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder and Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter over an incident in which US contractors opened fire in busy traffic in a Baghdad square and killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians. Continue reading...

After another burnout from overworking, a new clarity shone through my misery: I didn’t want to live like this any more

The 47-year-old promoter on his preparations for a comeback after 12 years out of the ring and why his young lightweight hope Ryan García will be an even bigger star than himselfIt has always been tough to tell if Oscar De La Hoya is smiling because he feels blessed to be alive or because he has something to sell. With teeth as white as his it is as easy to fix a grin as not and in pandemic-gripped boxing, there has not been much to smile about.In a Zoom conversation from his home in California, the Golden Boy smiles pretty much from start to finish. He has two items to sell, as it happens: his unbeaten young lightweight, Ryan García, who fights Luke Campbell for the interim WBC lightweight title in Dallas on Saturday, and himself. Continue reading...

Zoom birthdays, Zoom meetings, Zoom schooling … Zoomworld is miserable. When it’s safe again, let’s enjoy nature and each other

The building in Seattle is slated for sale, a move that could deprive indigenous people in the Pacific north-west of access to critical documentsIn 1969, a clerical error resulted in the Samish Indian Nation in Washington state suddenly being dropped from the federal government’s list of recognized tribes. It took almost three decades of wading through piles of historical documents and painstaking litigation before its members were able to regain that recognition, along with the federal benefits and protections that come with it.Their success hinged on unearthing a wealth of documents – court cases, family histories, tribal correspondence with the federal government – much of which was found at the National Archives facility in Seattle, according to Tom Wooten, the Samish Indian Nation tribal chairman. Continue reading...

The US has reported its first case of the highly contagious new strain of Covid spreading in the UK. Plus, the state department agrees to sell $290m in bombs to Saudi ArabiaGood morning.The US has reported its first case of the new strain of coronavirus spreading in the UK. A man in Colorado was identified as having the mutant form of the virus, known as B.1.1.7, which is thought to be more contagious than other strains. The circulation of the strain in the UK has triggered even stricter lockdown measures, and prompted other countries to restrict travel from the UK. Continue reading...

Covid-19 has taken an outsized toll on Black and Hispanic Americans – and those disparities extend to medical workers

Impossibly fast and ferocious blazes burned a staggering 4.1m acres, making for an ‘astonishing and horrifying’ yearOn a deadly 24-hour march through the Sierra Nevada in September, the flames of what would become the North Complex fire raced through more than 200,000 acres of dense timber, destroyed a historic schoolhouse and overtook a beloved camp for children with cancer.Also in its path was the remote settlement of Berry Creek, where Daniel Salazar, 27, found himself once again facing an unprecedented, out of control blaze. Less than two years earlier, Salazar had escaped the Camp fire, which killed his grandparents and 83 others in and around the town of Paradise. Continue reading...

The Kansas City star, who helmed an epic comeback in the Super Bowl to end the Chiefs’ 50-year title hoodoo, continues to recalibrate our expectations of what’s possible. And he’s only 25To describe Patrick Mahomes as the best player at the most important position in America’s most popular sport, which he is, somehow feels like an undersell. From the moment he took over as the first-choice quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs three years ago, Mahomes has turned the National Football League on its ear and laid waste to tired misconceptions about black passers with one record-breaking, dogma-defying performance after another. The whole piece continues to unfold with the dizzying illogic of a dream we’ve yet to wake up from.Related: The most notable US athletes of 2020: No 4 – Breanna Stewart, the unstoppable ally Continue reading...

Louisiana Republican had no underlying conditions that put him at added risk, doctors say

When my mum was dying a few years ago, optimism was all I had. As Covid spreads, I need to feel everything is going to be OK again

The Democrats won the White House but performed poorly elsewhere, and AOC is leading the critique of how the party needs to changeThe sense of relief Democrats felt with Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election was not the same as a feeling of victory.The party’s loss of congressional seats and failure to take control of state legislatures, not to mention the US Senate, indicated an alarming slippage for a party that had thought it was growing as Trump was supposedly torching the Republican brand. Continue reading...

Twelve-year-old boy was killed when a white police officer shot him in a playground in 2014The US justice department has closed its civil rights investigation into the fatal 2014 shooting by Cleveland police of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black youth, and said that no federal criminal charges would be brought in the case.The announcement came five years after an Ohio grand jury cleared two Cleveland officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, of state charges of wrongdoing in the death of Rice, who was shot in a playground while holding a toy gun capable of shooting pellets. Continue reading...

Investigation finds officer violated procedures for preparation of search warrant that led detectives to Taylor’s apartmentLouisville police have taken steps that could result in the firing of an officer who sought the no-knock search warrant that led detectives to the apartment where Breonna Taylor was fatally shot.Detective Joshua Jaynes has received a pre-termination letter, media outlets reported Tuesday. It came after a professional standards unit investigation found he had violated department procedures for preparation of a search warrant and truthfulness, his attorney said. Continue reading...

US President-elect Joe Biden has criticised the Trump administration's promise of a swift coronavirus vaccine rollout, saying it has 'fallen far behind' expectations. Biden, speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, said some 2 million people have been vaccinated, well short of the 20 million Trump had promised by the end of the year. Biden said the vaccine rollout is the 'greatest operational challenges we've ever faced as a nation' and outlined his plan for ramping up vaccinations, including the use of the Defense Production Act Continue reading...

The two runoffs on 5 January will decide whether the Republicans continue to control the Senate, with profound implications for Joe Biden’s presidencyOn 5 January the US state of Georgia will vote, again, on who to send to the Senate.The control of the Senate is up for grabs, and thus the prospects for the Biden administration – at least for the next two years. Continue reading...