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Daniel Dubois broke The Code but so did some of the hardest men ever, including Roberto Duran and Mike TysonWhen Daniel Dubois quit in the 10th round against Joe Joyce, the young heavyweight with the kind face and a good heart was hurled into a pit of shame alongside some of the hardest men in the history of boxing, Roberto Duran and Mike Tyson among them.The public court of social media – the modern equivalent of Robespierre’s revolutionary tribunal – pronounced that Dubois had committed the fight game’s unforgivable sin. The panel, surprisingly to some, included members of his own tribe: Dillian Whyte, David Haye, Johnny Nelson, Carl Frampton and others familiar with the reality of the ring. He had broken The Code. Continue reading...

Robust sales of up to $11.4bn come even as millions of Americans remain out of work because of the pandemicCyber Monday is set to become the biggest online shopping day ever for the United States, garnering up to $11.4bn as the coronavirus pandemic prompts consumers to stay home and turn to the internet for their holiday shopping needs. Continue reading...

Aren’t we all a bit fake these days, playing our small parts in the grand drama of life?A meme page incredulously asks if the Travis Scott x McDonald’s collab is real. True, the idea of McDonald’s selling a Travis Scott-branded McNugget body pillow seems absurd. But ultimately it’s not so much a glitch in the algorithm as a glitch in the simulation. There are so many scams and deepfakes floating in the feed. When you make a risque joke about period panties, Thinx replies. One subtweet and you’ve elicited the attention of a bored social media manager. They’re desperate to loop you into a post-relevant conversation about a forgotten brand from 2015.These little micro-viral moments remind you that no one is in The Loop any more. There are simply too many loops going on at once. You get this feeling most intensely when you’re somewhere like Dimes Square in New York or Soma in San Francisco –hot little brand crucibles. “You don’t listen to X podcast?” “You don’t get ads from this brand?” The people that populate these little scenes are incredulous because you, a visitor, have, if only for a moment, popped their little reality distortion field. Continue reading...

Joe DiGenova condemned for ‘mob attorney’ remark made on podcast shown on conservative Newsmax TV

The singer grew up in incredible poverty. She understands that money is something you do, rather than something you haveIn the past month, Dolly Parton has saved us both from the pandemic and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, if you’ve been paying attention. Dolly Parton has been saving us her entire career.Back in April – while the Trump administration was still downplaying the risks of the coronavirus, and churches and religious organizations were lobbying for the right to hold super-spreader events and infect their congregations, and terrible people were stockpiling masks and hand sanitizer in the hopes of profiting from mass death – the singer made a $1m donation to Vanderbilt University medical center. The donation, just one of a few such donations she’s made to Vanderbilt over the years, was used to fund research for the Moderna vaccine, currently testing at 94.5% effective. (Why it is still being called the Moderna vaccine and not The Dolly I do not understand.) Continue reading...

The pandemic has made Jeff Bezos inconceivably rich – yet his workers are laboring long hours at the frontline of pandemic

With Hungary and Poland vetoing the EU budget and Covid recovery fund, the case for issuing perpetual bonds has never been strongerI have written a lot in the past about the desirability of the EU issuing perpetual bonds. But today I am proposing that individual member states should do so.Right now, it would be impossible for the EU to issue perpetual bonds, because the member states are too divided. Poland and Hungary have vetoed the next EU budget and the Covid-19 recovery fund, and the so-called Frugal Five (Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden) are more interested in saving money than in contributing to the common good. Investors will buy perpetual bonds only from an entity that they believe will continue to exist for the foreseeable future. That was true of Britain in the 18th century (when it issued consols) and of the US in the 19th century (when it consolidated individual states’ debt). Sadly, it is not true of the EU today. Continue reading...

Scott Atlas, who downplayed the pandemic and opposed public health measures, has resigned. Meanwhile, Wisconsin and Arizona confirm for Biden, dealing a blow to Trump’s election hopesGood morning.Donald Trump’s senior advisor on the pandemic has resigned after a controversial four months in office. Scott Atlas repeatedly shunned science-led public health measures including mask-wearing, stay-home orders and social distancing, and frequently clashed with members of the coronavirus taskforce. Continue reading...

The toxic politics of conspiracies and lies did not start four years ago and will live on beyond Trump. But we can protect ourselves and reward the truth

The region had seen a decline in deadly shootings since 2007, but the pandemic has disrupted violence prevention effortsWhen Anthony Ramsey walked out of his mother Carrolle’s home late in the afternoon of 2 April the pair gave each other a quick goodbye.Ramsey, a 43-year-old father of four and football coach to several youth league players, had been living with Carrolle in Richmond, California, for about a year. By 9pm, he hadn’t returned, but she didn’t worry too much. Maybe he went to visit his children who live about 45 minutes away, she thought. Continue reading...

Biden’s victories in Arizona and Wisconsin are officially recognised, handing Trump six defeats out of six in his bid to stop states certifying their results. Continue reading...

Outgoing first lady unveils ‘America the beautiful’ theme in White House, breaking with previous years that featured blood red trees and bare branchesApart from the odd nod to a funerary urn, first lady Melania Trump broke with tradition this year with her White House Christmas decorations, opting for fairly normal green trees with red and gold ornaments instead of the blood-red foliage or Shining-esque ghost-white branches of previous years.This year’s theme, unveiled on Monday, was “America the beautiful”, inspired, she said, by Americans’ shared appreciation “for our traditions, values and history”. Continue reading...

Neuroradiologist who has no expertise in infectious diseases downplayed the threat of coronavirusScott Atlas has resigned as special adviser to Donald Trump, a White House official said on Monday, after a controversial four months during which he attacked science-based public health measures and clashed repeatedly with other members of the coronavirus taskforce.“I am writing to resign from my position as Special Advisor to the President of the United States,” Atlas said in a letter to Trump dated 1 December, according to Fox News, which first reported his resignation. Atlas later confirmed his resignation in a tweet. Continue reading...

Wisconsin certification comes after partial recount expanded Biden’s margin, as president continues to fight resultsJoe Biden’s victories in the US presidential election battlegrounds of Arizona and Wisconsin were officially recognised on Monday, handing Donald Trump six defeats out of six in his bid to stop states certifying their results.The finalised vote counts took Biden a step closer to the White House and dealt yet another blow to Trump’s longshot efforts to undermine the outcome. Continue reading...

Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, pushed back at groups 'exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters' and misleading Donald Trump himself.A vote recount was requested within two business days of certification in Georgia, where the margin was less than 0.5 percentage points in favour of Joe Biden.The Trump campaign has also demanded an audit of the voter signatures that accompanied mail-in ballots

Official nominations came after president-elect announces all-female communications team and are likely to draw Republican opposition

Parties face first major test of ability to cooperate since election, with funding to run out on 11 DecemberThe US Congress on Monday began a two-week sprint to rescue the federal government from a possible shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, the first major test since the election of whether Republicans and Democrats intend to cooperate.Government funding for nearly all federal agencies expires on Saturday 11 December. Continue reading...

Metal monolith drew hundreds of visitors and was illegal as it was placed without permission on public landPolice in Utah said they would not open a major investigation into the disappearance of a mysterious silver monolith that generated international attention after it was discovered in the Utah desert.The San Juan county sheriff said the office did not have the resources to devote much time and energy to investigating who took the object away, which was illegal to begin with because it was placed without permission amid red rocks on a remote section of public land. Continue reading...

But justices seem hesitant to immediately stop policy, which could affect distribution of congressional seatsThe US supreme court appeared skeptical of Donald Trump’s effort to exclude undocumented immigrants from critical census data, but it also appeared hesitant to immediately halt the policy.The court on Monday considered a high-stakes dispute focused on a July memo in which Trump ordered the Department of Commerce to exclude undocumented people from the census tally used to determine how many seats each state gets in Congress. The decennial census, conducted since America’s founding, has long used the total population as the basis for allocating seats. Continue reading...

Utah representative-elect Burgess Owens rails against the Democrats’ ‘radical agenda’A group of incoming Republican congresspeople intends to counter the “radical agenda” of the Democratic party, with the self-professed goal of becoming the Republican party’s alternative to “the Squad” – a group of progressive congresswomen of color including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.Calling themselves the Freedom Force, the Republicans say they will combat the “evil” of socialism and Marxism. Continue reading...

Index of leading UK company shares rose by more than £180bn in November

US rating agency’s takeover of London-based market data firm will be year’s biggest corporate acquisition

President has lost 133,902 followers since 17 November as president-elect has gained 1,156,610Donald Trump has been losing Twitter followers since he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden – while the Democratic president-elect has been adding them.Related: Trump will no longer receive special Twitter treatment if he loses election Continue reading...

This is the moment when he’ll have to accept that no-deal is a disaster – and break all those fairy-dust promisesIgnore the blustering brinkmanship: there will be a deal between Britain and the EU. This week, next week or in the final second before the clock strikes 12, this Brexit-crazed government will sign on the line.It needs no crystal ball to foresee a deal. Though this government is disgraceful and dishonest, it is not certifiably insane. It will not kill off the car industry, manufacturing, farming, finance and fishing. It will not cut off security and police relations with Europe. Nor will it want a hard border in Ireland, breaking the Good Friday agreement. And nor will it freeze friendship with the new US president, nor leave relations with our nearest neighbours and traders irreparably rancorous. Continue reading...

A passing container ship spotted Stuart Bee, who was reported missing and had held on to his upturned 32ft vesselA missing Florida sailor has been found clinging to his upturned boat, having survived a night at sea before being rescued 86 miles off the Florida coast by a passing container ship.Stuart Bee, 62, left Cape Marina at Port Canaveral on Friday afternoon, aboard his 32ft vessel Sea Ray. He did not return and was reported missing on Saturday. A large air and sea mission was immediately launched. Continue reading...

Permission sparks backlash from parents whose children have been barred from in-person learning due to Covid-19 since MarchMarvel’s untitled third Spider-Man movie has been granted special permission to shoot at two high schools in Atlanta, sparking backlash from parents whose children have been barred from in-person learning at the schools for more than eight months.“Too bad kids don’t generate the millions a movie does, or they’d be back in front of their teacher in a classroom rather than a computer screen,” one parent wrote on Twitter, as reported by the Washington Post. Continue reading...

Chris Krebs, who was fired from Department of Homeland Security two weeks after the election, calls Trump’s actions dangerousDonald Trump and his allies are “undermining democracy” with evidence-free claims of fraud and conspiracy, the former head of US election security said on Sunday, discussing the effort he led before he was fired by the president.“What I saw was an apparent attempt to undermine confidence in the election, to confuse people, to scare people,” Chris Krebs told CBS 60 Minutes. Continue reading...

GSA recognises Biden’s win, allowing presidential transition to go ahead, as Trump says he will leave White House if electoral college votes for Biden Continue reading...

Those pining for a return to the status quo have forgotten that US foreign policy disasters helped pave the way for Trump in the first placeThe big question for the US president-elect, Joe Biden, who has taken “build back better” as his motto, is whether this will mean genuine renovation or mere restoration. Americans desperately need a pivot after the madness of Donald Trump. And when Biden takes the reins of power from his predecessor, there is no doubt that a big reset will come. But the risk of complacent restoration is nowhere greater than in US foreign policy – especially since it is a domain in which the office of president has so much authority, even in the midst of legislative gridlock.Related: Trump poised to leave legacy of chaos with last-minute foreign policy moves | Analysis Continue reading...

The president-elect has announced an all-female senior communications team, while Trump continues to rail against the election result. Plus, November’s coronavirus cases are double last month’s recordGood morning. Joe Biden has announced an all-female senior communications team at the White House, as he presses on with preparations for his administration despite Donald Trump’s continued attempts to derail the transition.The communications director of Biden’s election campaign, Kate Bedingfield, will move up to the same position in the White House, while Jen Psaki, a longstanding Democratic spokeswoman, will become press secretary. Biden is also expected to announce the appointment of the liberal thinktank executive Neera Tanden as head of the Office of Management and Budget – all three women are veterans of the Obama administration. Continue reading...

Trump’s trashing of norms has been harmful but decentralization, turnout, transparency, the courts and the media played a key roleIt is not clear yet whether US democracy “survived” the 2020 presidential election unscathed. Continue reading...

The Denver Broncos were forced to play a back-up wide receiver at quarterback after Covid-19 hit the team. More chaos could be on the wayThere was no shortage of bemusement in advance of Sunday’s Denver Broncos-New Orleans Saints game. On Saturday all four Broncos quarterbacks were ruled out, Jeff Driskel because he tested positive for Covid-19, the others because they took their masks off around him and were therefore deemed “close contacts”. The Broncos naturally panicked. First they asked the NFL to postpone the game. Denied. Then they asked the league if offensive quality control coach Ron Calabrese, a former college quarterback, was an option given his familiarity with the team’s playbook. Denied again. Out of options, the Broncos finally settled on wide-receiver Kendall Hinton, an undrafted rookie practice squad member who had played some quarterback at college.We had no idea what to expect. Perhaps the Broncos would introduce some new brand of offense that would take the league by storm. Or … maybe not. Continue reading...

Senior White House adviser and his team to travel this week for talks with Saudi crown prince and emir of QatarWhite House senior adviser Jared Kushner is headed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week for talks in a region simmering with tension after the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist.A senior administration official said on Sunday that Kushner is to meet the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in the Saudi city of Neom, and the emir of Qatar in that country in the coming days. Kushner will be joined by Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook and Adam Boehler, chief executive of the US International Development Finance Corporation. Continue reading...

There is reason to hope the president-elect will pivot from long-standing US policy of backing continent’s strongman leadersHow different is the Biden-Harris administration’s Africa policy going to be from Donald Trump’s, or even Barack Obama’s? Many African people, as well as the continent’s strongman leaders, are now gingerly asking – is Biden going to be Obama 2.0, or Trump-lite?For the sake of black lives mattering everywhere in these turbulent times, I hope Biden will chart a bold new course, diametrically away from not only Trump but also Obama’s Africa policy. Continue reading...

After Donald Trump, the US should work with others on the climate crisis and economic stimulusLike the Joni Mitchell song puts it, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” For example, classroom education was often deemed boring by students and obsolete by tech visionaries. Then, Covid-19 made it difficult or impossible to meet in person. Now we yearn for in-class experiences.Perhaps the same is true of international economic cooperation. Multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the UN agencies have long been unpopular among much of the public for supposedly encroaching on national sovereignty. But then Donald Trump came along and made international cooperation wellnigh impossible. While other G20 leaders discussed pandemic preparedness at their recently concluded summit, for example, Trump evidently tweeted more false accusations of electoral fraud and then played golf. Continue reading...

The president-elect announces senior communications team, led by campaign communications director Kate BedingfieldPresident-elect Joe Biden will have an all-female senior communications team at his White House, led by campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield.Bedingfield will serve as Biden’s White House communications director, and Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will be his press secretary. Continue reading...

President-elect will probably have to wear a boot after accident while playing with German shepherd MajorAmerican president-elect Joe Biden has fractured his right foot after slipping while playing with his dog Major.The injury was discovered in a scan on Sunday and will likely require him to wear a boot for several weeks, his doctor said. Continue reading...

President phoned into Fox News to blame the courts for his campaign’s so far unsuccessful legal challengesA day after Pennsylvania’s highest court had thrown out a lower court’s order preventing the state from certifying results from the 3 November US elections, Donald Trump blasted the judges’ decision.Saturday’s case – which had attempted to throw out 2.5m mail in votes in the crucial state – was the latest of dozens of failed lawsuits by Trump’s lawyers, with judges castigating his lawyers for failing to present evidence of fraud. Continue reading...

The exhibition between the 50-somethings was not the total farce many predicted but should not be confused with the real thing, despite talk of Tyson in a ring with today’s heavyweightsBoxing lived up to its reputation as the theatre of the unexpected with Saturday night’s much-anticipated exhibition fight between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. Shockingly, it wasn’t terrible.The two quinquagenarian fistic legends fought to an unofficial split draw in their eight-round outing, which headlined a fast-moving, sleekly produced telecast from a first-time broadcaster filled with unexpectedly entertaining fights and seamlessly integrated musical performances. Continue reading...

Metal structure that prompted multiple theories about how it came to be was removed by ‘an unknown party’, officials sayThe tall, shiny, metal structure, now famously known as a “monolith” was discovered in Utah last week, and had prompted multiple theories about how it had come to be there ranging from TV show set leftover, to art work, to aliens.Related: Theories abound over mystery metal monolith found in Utah Continue reading...