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Bill authorizes pay raises, strips coverage of trans medical treatments for children and aims to counter China's powerThe Senate passed a defense bill on Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895bn while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members.The annual defense authorization bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and has not failed to pass Congress in nearly six decades, but the Pentagon policy measure in recent years has become a battleground for cultural issues. Republicans this year sought to tack on to the legislation priorities for social conservatives, contributing to a months-long negotiation over the bill and a falloff in support from Democrats. Continue reading...

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Chen Jinping pleads guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of China's government and faces up to five years in prisonA New York man has pleaded guilty to running a undeclared police station for the Chinese government in lower Manhattan, more than a year after the US justice department unveiled efforts aimed at disrupting Beijing's efforts to locate and suppress Chinese American pro-democracy activists.Chen Jinping, 60, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to act as an agent of the government of the People's Republic of China, in connection with opening and operating an overseas police station for the PRC's ministry of public security, or MPS. Continue reading...

Woman, man and three children were killed in a Salt Lake City suburb, and teenager, 17, was found injured in garagePolice on Wednesday were investigating the when and why behind the deaths of five members of a Utah family - including three children - who were found in their home after a relative grew concerned about not hearing from them for several days.A wounded 17-year-old boy who had apparently been shot was also discovered in the home's garage on Tuesday. As of that evening, police in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City did not know whether the teen was a suspect or a victim in the case. Due to his injuries there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information", a spokesperson, Roseanne Vainuku, said. Continue reading...

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who said paper is echo chamber', also blocked paper's board from endorsing HarrisPatrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, reportedly asked the newspaper's editorial board to take a break" from writing about Donald Trump, in the latest report of the billionaire owner's growing influence over the newspaper's coverage.The newspaper and its owner were embroiled in controversy for weeks this fall after Soon-Shiong blocked the board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president. The decision led to a wave of resignations on the editorial board and the loss of thousands of subscriptions. Continue reading...

American tech billionaires are no more entitled to meddle in British democracy than other foreign oligarchsUnder most circumstances, a British politician seeking cash from a foreign oligarch would make the approach discreetly. Recipient and donor would worry about the relationship looking improper even if the deal could be done without breaching UK electoral law.Nigel Farage has no such qualms. The Reform leaderhas boasted of his recent meeting with ElonMusk, the world's richest person, at DonaldTrump's Mar-a-Lago home. Nick Candy, a former Conservative donor and now the Reform party's treasurer, was also present. Photographs and statements from the British visitors testify to their eagerness that the meeting - and the fact that money was discussed - attract maximum publicity. Continue reading...

For Pyongyang, dead soldiers are a price worth paying for the rewards of friendship with MoscowA few years ago, it would have sounded fantastical to suggest that massed North Korean soldiers would fight on a European battlefield - as a Ukrainian commander noted last month. Yet about 10,000 are now thought to be fighting for Moscow, and on Tuesday a US official reported that several hundred" had died in Russia'sKursk region.North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world, with more than 1.25 million personnel in a country of just 26 million. Despite its extraordinary nuclear and missile achievements, much of its vast stockpile of weaponry is thought to be out of date - though that hasn't stopped it shipping as much as $5.5bn worth of arms and ammunition to Russia. The military has not engaged in large-scale combat since the end of the Korean war in 1953. At home, soldiers spend significant time trying to acquire food or basic supplies, including fuel. Continue reading...

Potential deal sounds more like a credible plan for crisis-hit carmaker as its troubled alliance with Renault hits a dead endUntil recently, the plan at crisis-hit Nissan was to muddle through somehow. About 9,000 job losses were announced last month out of a global workforce of 130,000. Production capacity was cut by 20%. There was some muttering about seeking a new anchor investor because the troubled 25-year alliance with Renault of France was heading up a dead end. None of it appeared to be a sufficiently radical response to a self-described severe situation" and a plunge in Nissan's stock market value to a clapped-out $8bn (6.3bn).It seems its management now agrees. The new game is talks with Honda on a full-blown merger, which should probably be viewed as a takeover given that the would-be partner is worth four times as much. Either way, the potential deal sounds more like a credible plan: full consolidation creates the possibility of far deeper cost-cuts at what would be the world's third largest car company producing 8m vehicles a year if Mitsubishi (where Nissan is a large shareholder) is also thrown into the mix. Continue reading...

Allegations emerged during Walker's failed Senate campaign that he paid two ex-girlfriends to have abortionsDonald Trump has nominated the former American football star and failed Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker as the US ambassador to Bahamas.Herschel has spent decades serving as an ambassador to our nation's youth, our men and women in the military, and athletes at home and abroad," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. [He will] make Georgia [Walker's home state], and our entire Nation, proud, because we know you will always put AMERICA FIRST!" Continue reading...

Lawrence Hecker declined to apologize to his victims at emotional hearing that closed book on grueling legal sagaA serial child molester and retired Roman Catholic priest on Wednesday declined an opportunity to apologize to his victims after pleading guilty to child rape earlier in December.Lawrence Hecker's silence came on Wednesday in New Orleans's state criminal courthouse as a judge handed him a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. Continue reading...

Attorneys say grave juror misconduct' in felony case involving payout to adult film star violated Trump's rightsDonald Trump's lawyers are claiming that there was grave juror misconduct" during his New York criminal hush-money trial earlier this year and that his conviction should be thrown out.In a letter addressed to Manhattan judge Juan M Merchan, dated 3 December but made public this week, Trump's attorneys claimed they had evidence of grave juror misconduct" that occurred during the trial, which they said illustrates the manifest unfairness of these proceedings" and serves as a reason that the verdicts in this case cannot and should not stand". Continue reading...

President says there is nothing nefarious' about objects moving in the skies above the US north-eastJoe Biden has weighed in on public anxieties surrounding the large number of drone or other aerial objects moving in the skies above New Jersey and the US north-east, saying there is nothing alarming about the increased reports.Nothing nefarious apparently, but they're checking it all out," the president told reporters. We're following this closely, but so far, no sense of danger." Continue reading...

The ads are everywhere but the evidence is poor for most creams, experts say - with one limited exceptionAntiviral reader Patrick wrote in to us because of the constant claims" he sees on social media that retinol (vitamin A) and related compounds help to keep skin youthful".To examine whether retinol really is the road to ultimate youthful skin", as one TikTok video claims, we turned to Dr Natalia Spierings, a consultant dermatologist and skin cancer surgeon in London with a reputation for her evidence-based, no-nonsense approach to skincare. Continue reading...

Incarcerated women seek relief after exposing harassment, retaliation and assault by staffIncarcerated women who spoke out about pervasive sexual abuse they endured at the hands of guards in a federal prison located in California are pleading with the Biden administration to grant them clemency.Their calls come after Joe Biden last week carried out the largest act of presidential clemency on a single day in modern US history, pardoning 39 people and commuting the sentences of almost 1,500 others. Continue reading...

The actor told a podcast that media reporting of the incident in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died had suppressed the truthAlec Baldwin has accused the media of wanting him to die" and said that he plans to expose what really happened" around the case over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 on the set of the film Rust.Baldwin was speaking to fellow actor David Duchovny on the latter's Fail Better podcast shortly after the completed film premiered at the Camerimage festival in Poland, and five months after involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dismissed due to the withholding of evidence by the prosecution. Continue reading...

Suit claims state department is deliberately bypassing the Leahy law. Plus, New York grand jury charges Luigi Mangione with first-degree murder

Oyssey startup allows users to access neighborhood political affiliations and other social dataAmerica's political divide is likely to get even wider thanks to a new real-estate platform that lets potential buyers see the political affiliations of their future neighbors, as well as other social data and local demographics.Oyssey, a tech startup launching this month in south Florida and New York City, allows buyers access neighborhood political affiliations based on election results and campaign contributions. Continue reading...

As late as the 1990s, the law sided with fathers over custody on the basis of a woman's sexuality. I detailed the scandal for Radio 4, and was shocked at the cruelty involvedI am more than just aware of the faint outlines of queer history - it is something I see in Technicolour. I immerse myself in lesbian books, films and art, and have written all sorts of articles about contemporary lesbianism. It is for this reason that I was shocked to learn only recently of the state having removed children from the custody of lesbian mums.In July, a radio producer contacted me to tell me about 74-year-old Judi Morris, whose son George had slid into heroin addiction and fallen in and out of the criminal justice system. The call started a journey that would end in a radio documentary, Missing Pieces: The Lesbian Mothers Scandal.Sophie Wilkinson is a freelance journalist who specialises in entertainment, celebrity, gender and sexuality Continue reading...

Congressional Integrity Project creates initiative to counter growing authoritarianism' and defend progressivesDonald Trump and his Republican allies are planning to target progressive groups they perceive as political enemies in a sign of deepening authoritarianism", a US watchdog has warned.The president-elect could potentially use the justice department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to target non-profits and researchers, launch politically motivated investigations and pass legislation to restrict their activities. Continue reading...

Trump has sued the Des Moines Register - merely for publishing a poll that wrongly predicted Harris would win IowaThe Donald Trump vengeance tour is on the road and the media is in its crosshairs. It should have been the justice department or somebody else, but I have to do it," the president-elect intoned on Monday. It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press."Our press is very corrupt," he continued. Almost as corrupt as our elections."Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

There's an uninvited guest coming to dinner tonight. You might not see them, but they're listening from thousands of miles away ...Air fryers make delicious roast potatoes and, it turns out, pretty decent snooping devices. Last month, the consumer group Which? issued a warning that everyday smart devices, including three Chinese-made air fryers, were stuffed with trackers" and engaged in excessive" surveillance. While you were cooking your dinner, it seems some of these air fryers may have been capturing your family conversations via their smartphone apps and sending data to servers abroad.The Information Commissioner's Office has now weighed in on the Which? report and said it will be issuing new guidance in spring 2025 about how smart device manufacturers should comply with data protection laws. I'm sure that as soon as this guidance comes out all the tech companies that are now pillaging your data will immediately change their ways and treat your personal information with the utmost respect. Continue reading...

The Milwaukee Bucks' romp to the title in Year Two of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas was dwarfed by a persistent bugaboo: the NBA Cup doesn't really matter yetGiannis Antetokounmpo's NBA Cup final opponent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver's Nikola Joki have deservedly been garnering a lot of MVP buzz a quarter of the way through the regular season. But over three days in Las Vegas, Antetokounmpo added to what is already a pretty convincing case of his own to take home his third NBA MVP trophy. He's been putting up tremendous numbers all season, averaging a preposterous 32.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists while logging a 19-rebound triple-double in Tuesday's final, a 97-81 win over Oklahoma City. But his stat line isn't existing in a vacuum; he's looking as dominant, if not moreso, than he ever has. And he's been deadly from the mid-range this year (as Kevin Garnett gave him props for over the weekend), which is a significant complement to his near-unstoppable inside game. In Tuesday's showdown between MVP frontrunners, Giannis looked decidedly like the best player on the floor. Continue reading...

We are confronted by new fears, and new sources of mourning. Despite it all, my city of Homs is in a state of joyMy friend called me crying. Homs was liberated, she said. My nerves were about to explode. Liberated, not liberated, liberated, not liberated - the only certainty was that Syrian insurgents had entered the city and taken some of its surrounding countryside.I have lived in Homs all my life, writing under a pseudonym so that the world would know about the people of the city and their sorrow. I wanted to be our voice. After the siege of Homs from 2011 to 2014, the past decade has brought ever-present violence and frequent blockades of food, fuel and medicine.Mona Rafea is the pseudonym of a writer based in Homs. Translated by Ammar Azzouz Continue reading...

It's certainly strange that MLS apparently struggles to outdo pickleball in the broadcast TV ratings. But with a North American World Cup looming, there's no reason for panicThere are a number of good-news stories that MLS is eager to bring to a wider public as attendances rise and sponsorship revenues fatten. Broadcast ratings are not one of them.This month's MLS Cup final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls, two venerable clubs in the nation's biggest media markets, was watched by an average of 468,000 viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes - a drop of nearly half from the audience of 890,000 on those channels in 2023. The title-clinching game of October's MLB World Series, meanwhile - another LA-NY clash, as the Dodgers beat the Yankees - drew an average of 18.6m people on Fox. Continue reading...

The longtime anchor of the USWNT backline won two World Cups and an Olympic gold in addition to three NWSL titles. But her trophy case is only the tip of her influenceOn Tuesday an American soccer icon who left an indelible mark on the USWNT's back-to-back World Cup-winning era announced her retirement from the game. At 39, Becky Sauerbrunn leaves behind a 16-year professional legacy as an Olympic and (twice) World Cup champion, a NWSL lifer and undisputed leader for club and country, whether with a ball at her feet or a book in her hand.It's time," she wrote, in a beautifully composed social media post that felt reflective of the voracious reader and effective communicator we knew her to always be. Continue reading...

The regime is doing all it can to damage the credibility of Peter Magyar - but the young challenger's popularity keeps risingHungarian politics can sometimes seem like a soap opera that is stuck with the same characters and has run on too long. You have the occasional scandals - such as a prominent government MEP escaping a Brussels orgy down a drainpipe - but other than that, nothing ever seems to change. Here, you can start primary education, graduate high school and start university, and Viktor Orban will still be prime minister.But that script is about to get a major rewrite, as Orban's 14-year reign is now being challenged by Peter Magyar, the ex-husband of Orban's former justice minister Judit Varga. Magyar's recently formed Tisza party currently has a double-digit lead over Fidesz in the latest opinion polls. General elections are due in the spring of 2026, and Fidesz is panicking.Viktoria Serdult is a journalist and editor of Hungarian newspaper HVGDo 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...

In the late 90s, Springer's talkshow dominated the ratings with some of the most controversial stories ever told. It certainly wasn't easy to make - but what do its producers think of it now?Is there anything The Jerry Springer Show wouldn't do? The shock talkshow, an arena for people in love triangles to come to blows, also featured incest, white supremacists and a man who married his horse. I did pitch a guy having an affair," says Tobias Yoshimura, one of the show's producers. He was a necrophiliac. That one got shot down pretty quickly." Perhaps not so much for matters of taste, as for the practicalities of television and any hopes of a good fight scene. The third guest - the shock reveal of the affair partner - says Yoshimura with a wry smile, would have to be a cadaver. So that was the step too far."The Jerry Springer Show, which ran from 1991 before finally fizzling out in 2018, started as a mundane daytime talkshow, fronted by Springer, a mild-mannered news anchor and former mayor of Cincinnati. Threatened with cancellation because of its terrible ratings, its new executive producer, Richard Dominick, took it in a sensationalist direction. It became a phenomenon and at its height in the late 90s, its ratings were bigger than Oprah Winfrey's. Morality campaigners held protests outside the studios; many others claimed it had corroded American society. Take it further and you could argue that it is (partly) responsible for everything from the worst of reality TV to the way people behave on social media and even the rise of Donald Trump. He took my show and brought it to the White House," Springer said in 2019. Continue reading...

Despite the infants being US citizens, Christina Salazar and all four of her children were put on a plane on 11 DecemberAfter his wife and children, including newborn twins, were suddenly deported to Mexico by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Texas man is fighting to get his family back.Federico Arellano Jr, a US citizen, saw his wife, Christina Salazar, and their four children be taken into custody on 11 December, just three months after Salazar had given birth to their twins in Houston. Continue reading...

Madison authorities investigate motive after pupil, 15, carried out deadly attack at Abundant Life Christian schoolThe 15-year-old girl who police say killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others before dying by suicide at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, reportedly left a manifesto that investigators are now reviewing.Police identified Natalie Rupnow - who also went by the name Samantha - as the shooter late on Monday. A law enforcement source told CNN that Rupnow had been dealing with problems and expressed some of those in writings, which they are now reviewing". Continue reading...

Payout settles claims of abuse and retaliation at women's prison in Dublin, California, now permanently closedThe US Bureau of Prisons (BoP) has agreed to pay $115m to more than 100 survivors of a major sexual abuse scandal, a historic settlement of litigation that exposed widespread misconduct of officers at a federal prison.The payout settles 103 claims of sexual abuse and retaliation for reporting misconduct by people who were incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin, a troubled women's institution located in California. Staff harassment and assault of those in custody at FCI Dublin, east of Oakland, was pervasive and widely documented, and the facility was known internally as the rape club". Continue reading...

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg announced that Luigi Mangione was charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree, including one count of murder in the second degree as an act of terrorism. Mangione, who is accused of killing Brian Thompson on 4 December in New York City, remains in custody in Pennsylvania

In the decade-long scheme, Rafael Alvarez provided false documents that reduced individuals' tax burdenA New York tax preparer known as the Magician" has pleaded guilty to filing tens of thousands of false tax returns costing the government $145m in tax loses.Rafael Alvarez perpetrated and oversaw one of the largest ever tax frauds by a return preparer, according to prosecutors in the southern district of New York. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US politics, see our full coverage here.Donald Trump posted a long and angry message on Truth Social, after a New York judge refused to dismiss his conviction on 34 business fraud charges. His lawyers had argued, to no avail, that the supreme court's ruling earlier this year granting presidents immunity for official acts should get the verdicts against him overturned. Trump's attorneys were nonetheless busy with other matters today, after reportedly filing a civil fraud suit against the Des Moines Register and Iowa's top pollster Ann Selzer over a poll they released on the eve of the presidential election showing Kamala Harris with a narrow lead among the red state's voters. Trump ended up winning Iowa handily, and has trained his ire on Selzer and the Register in the weeks since.Here's what else has been going on today:Electors are meeting in all 50 states today to certify Trump's victory in the presidential race last month. This is the same process he tried to disrupt four years ago, when Joe Biden was the winner.Trump's allies gathered for a gala in New York last night, where they mused about the president-elect seeking a third term in 2028. The constitution prevents him from doing this.The president-elect again referred to Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as governor", and attacked his outgoing deputy, Chrystia Freeland, with claims that she was preventing the two countries from agreeing to a trade deal. Continue reading...

Suspect also charged with two counts of second-degree murder and other forgery and weapon chargesThe alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Luigi Mangione, has been indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of murder.Mangione, 26, has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree. Continue reading...

Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said the manifesto, which has been shared on social media, had not yet been verified by police. He urged anyone with information relating to the shooter, Natalie Rupnow - who also went by the name Samantha, to come forward. Police said a teacher and a student were killed in the attack, while six others were wounded.

Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer accused of consumer fraud and election interference' in lawsuitDonald Trump has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register newspaper and its pollster, J Ann Selzer, accusing them of consumer fraud and election interference" over a poll from before the election that showed Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa.The lawsuit was filed in Polk county late on Monday, as reported by Reuters and NBC News, which have reviewed the documents. Continue reading...

US vice-president reminds Democrats that this struggle is not new' in Maryland after losing presidency to TrumpKamala Harris challenged young people to stay in the fight" during a speech in Maryland on Tuesday, her first major address since conceding the presidential election to Donald Trump last month.In her remarks, Harris expressed optimism in a future led by many of the young leaders in the room, praising their passion" and resolve" in spite of an electoral setback that threatens many of the causes they care deeply about. Continue reading...

Lester C Harvey, 58, rushed to two different hospitals after being struck by fallen animal in unusual accidentA Virginia man has died after a bear in a tree shot by one of his hunting partners fell on him, state wildlife officials said.The bizarre, accidental death occurred 9 December in Lunenburg county, which is between Richmond and Danville, Virginia's department of wildlife resources said in a statement. Continue reading...

Kyiv's targeted killings expose the reach of its intelligence services, challenging the Kremlin's war machine while sticking to the laws of warRussia's leadership is furious that one of their top commanders has been assassinated by Ukrainian spies. Yet their anger seems misplaced: the targeted killing of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov was not an unprovoked act, but a consequence of Russia's ongoing offensive and Ukraine's right to defend itself under international law.The explosion that shook a quiet Moscow neighbourhood - eliminating the head of the Russian military's chemical, biological and radiological weapons unit, known as RKhBZ - also revealed the unexpectedly formidable capabilities of Ukraine's secret service (SBU). The general and his assistant are the most senior figures assassinated since Russia's 2022 invasion. The pair were killed when a bomb, concealed in a parked scooter outside a Moscow residential building, was remotely detonated. Continue reading...

State attorney general Dana Nessel's investigation found allegations dating back to 1950 against clergy in LansingMichigan's top state prosecutor on Monday issued a report outlining allegations against nearly 60 people at the Roman Catholic diocese of Lansing accused of sexually abusing children and vulnerable adults over the last seven decades.The state attorney general Dana Nessel's office published the report as part of a years-long investigation into clergy sexual abuse within Michigan's Catholic dioceses. Continue reading...

Snap elections will be a referendum on Scholz's failed coalition. But our leaderless drift is disastrous for EuropeIt was certainly not one of those rather bland debates the Bundestag, the German parliament, is deservedly known for. On Monday, Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, and his challengers were hurling insults at each other in the hallowed halls of the Reichstag.It was the last day of Scholz's coalition government and he lost the vote of confidence that he had called for, which means the country is heading for early federal elections on 23 February.Jorg Lau is an international correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit Continue reading...

He has wiggled his way into power thanks to his wealth. But once he is making decisions that affect people's daily lives, Musk may find the shine wears offCongratulations to Elon Musk, a genius of truly galactic proportions, who recently made what might have been the world's savviest investment. The tech billionaire spent more than $277m backing Donald Trump, along with a number of other Republican candidates in the election - and that quarter-billion-dollar investment has paid off nicely. Musk's net worth has increased by 77% since Trump's victory, and has now surpassed $400bn (315bn), according to a recent estimate from Bloomberg, making him the first person ever to officially reach such a milestone. Still, in just a couple of years, Musk's current fortune might look like chump change: the man is reportedly on track to become the world's first trillionaire by 2027.How did he get (even more) rich so quick? Well, if you want to be diplomatic about it, as CNN was, you can say something like an alliance with president-elect Donald Trump has pushed his ventures to the forefront". But the more direct answer is that everyone knows the incoming Trump administration's guiding principle is quid pro quo. Since it seems highly likely that taxpayer money will be funnelled towards Musk's various companies, the value of those companies has been blowing up. Kind of like his SpaceX rockets - one of which exploded so ferociously earlier this year that it tore a hole in the ionosphere. Is that a bad thing? Iono. Continue reading...

Rights leaders worry that Harmeet Dhillon could harm work into police misconduct, discrimination and hate crimes