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Amid threats to its reason for being', the EU must stop squabbling and take a standFiddling while Rome burns fairly describes the antics of party leaders in the European parliament last week. The EU is under siege from present-day descendants of the Goths, Mongols and Vandals. But what were top MEPs doing? Haggling over who gets which well-padded seat in the European Commission - as if it really matters in a chaotic, predatory world where Europe is a tethered, bleating goat surrounded by wolves.Vladimir Putin's Russian horde is advancing from the north, devouring Ukrainian territory and setting the stage for more illegal annexations. To the east, Xi Jinping's China, leveraging a whopping 292bn (244bn) annual trade surplus, is playing European divide-and-rule while running aggressive covert intelligence and hacking ops. To the west, after an electoral clean sweep, America's Vandal-in-chief is itching for a fight. Continue reading...

After a man surrendered his rodents, the shelter is grappling with a rapidly multiplying mouse problemA New Hampshire animal shelter is grappling with how to handle nearly 1,000 mice that have been turned over in recent days, many of which are pregnant.Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called the situation crippling" and said the organization is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents. Continue reading...

Other nominees - Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Peter Hegseth for secretary of defense - were also condemnedDemocratic lawmakers are slamming Donald Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, saying their former House colleague is a vocal supporter of Russia who poses a threat to US national intelligence.Jason Crow, a House Democrat from Colorado and a member of the House intelligence committee, told NBC News that he has deep questions about where her loyalties lie". Continue reading...

Fritz wins in three sets to book place in tomorrow's ATP final in TurinFirst set: Fritz 2-2 Zverev*Big serve down the T and smash to follow up from Zverev. Well placed serve out wide next up and Fritz's return finds the top of the net. A rally! Both players covering plenty of ground, Zverev tries a drop volley but Fritz gets there and makes the pass, even Zverev and his albatross wingspan can't reach it. Both players hitting plenty of first serves, not much time to draw breath, or type for that matter. Continue reading...

Allan Lichtman's forecast model was meant to be foolproof. He explains to David Smith what was different this timeSurely not even Nostradamus could get it right all of the time.Allan Lichtman had correctly forecast the result of nine of the past 10 US presidential elections (and even the one he didn't, in 2000, he insists was stolen from Al Gore). His predictive model of 13 keys" to the White House was emulated around the world and seemed all but indestructible. Continue reading...

With the left desperately in need of a hero, perhaps it's time to reclaim John McClane's character battling global greedDonald Trump's appointments to his top team continue, as Rishi Sunak would have said, at pace". There's a vaccine sceptic in at health, a misogynist as attorney general, a possible Russia sympathiser as director of national intelligence and first choice for defence is a Fox News anchorman. Oh, and the new US ambassador to Israel believes there's no such thing as the West Bank.Yet what they may lack in intellectual rigour, moral rectitude and empathy, they more than compensate for in fake tans, chiselled jaws and mistresses. Where once Gordon Brown worked to build a goat" (government of all talents), Trump is opting for a government of old goats. We could discuss the social, economic and cultural failings over two centuries of US history that have brought it to this place. But I've only got 400 words, so let's talk Die Hard instead. (Die Hard 1, 2 and 3 obviously. Everyone lost interest by the last two.) Continue reading...

Mike Tyson was beaten by Jake Paul in their fight at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the former YouTuber winning the unanimous verdict by two scores of 79-73 and one of 80-72. Tyson, who has struggled with his mental and physical health since his heyday in the 1980s, looked a shadow of his former self as he fought for eight rounds wearing a knee brace. 'I didn't prove nothing to anybody, only to myself,' Tyson said after the fight. When asked about his injury, Tyson said: 'I can't use that for an excuse, if I did I wouldn't be in here.'

Democrats from California to Illinois prepare to Trump-proof' and fight to death' against his extreme proposalsAfter the November elections ushered in a new era of unified Republican governance in Washington, Democratic leaders across the country are once again preparing to lead the resistance to Donald Trump's second-term agenda.California's governor, Gavin Newsom, said he would convene a special legislative session next month to safeguard California values and fundamental rights". Continue reading...

Judge authorized Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss to begin selling ex-NYC mayor's assets to meet $148m judgmentRudy Giuliani has relinquished dozens of watches and a Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall to two former Georgia election workers who won a $148m defamation judgment against him, his lawyer said.Joseph Cammarata said in a letter filed late on Friday in Manhattan federal court that the trove of watches and a ring were delivered by FedEx to a bank in Atlanta, Georgia, in the morning. Continue reading...

Katie Taylor remains the undisputed super lightweight champion of the world after she beat Amanda Serrano 95-94 on all three scorecards in a controversial bout. The evenly matched fighters went toe to toe for 10 rounds but Taylor was warned for excessive use of her head and in the eighth round she was deducted a point.After the fight in Dallas, Serrano said: 'She [Taylor] kept headbutting me but we knew that from the very beginning.' Taylor defended her tactics and called the fight, which was the main undercard contest to the Jake Paul v Mike Tyson bout, 'an absolute slugfest.'

Ever since the election, there have been endless headlines about US women emulating South Korea's fringe 4B movementSex sells. Sex strikes, meanwhile, make for an irresistible headline. Ever since Donald Trump overwhelmingly won the election, there have been endless headlines about how American women are emulating South Korea's fringe 4B movement (which encourages heterosexual women not to date, procreate, marry or have sex with men) and swearing off sex with men" in protest. Continue reading...

A succession of wannabe power brokers are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to seek the favour of the president-electThe shutters are down, the curtains are open, and Donald Trump's opulent, waterfront palace of intrigue is open for business once more. A succession of ambitious, ultra-loyal subjects has paraded through, vying for attention and seeking favors from the throne. Servants fall over themselves to indulge their master's every whim. And then there are the jesters ...Given this week's extraordinary developments at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, as he builds the cabinet with which he will govern in January, it is difficult to escape the notion that the operation is being run something akin to a royal court. Continue reading...

Harm-reduction policies have contributed to the first decline in the number of overdose deaths in five yearsThe Biden administration saw unprecedented levels of US opioid overdose fatalities, but those deaths are now declining faster than they have in decades - progress a second Trump administration could continue or threaten, experts say.The number of overdose deaths in the US declined for the first time in five years in 2023, and have continued to decline more rapidly this year, according to provisional data. Continue reading...

There are elements on both right and left who prefer to govern without majorities and view competitive elections as a threatOhio's extreme gerrymanders have enabled more than a decade of corruption, lawless behavior and unpopular legislation passed by lawmakers safely insulated from the ballot box.Voters tried to fix it by bringing a citizen-led independent redistricting commission to the ballot. Due to Republican subterfuge, they ended up voting against themselves. With breathtakingly Orwellian tactics, Ohio Republicans twisted the ballot language and presented it to voters as an initiative that would require gerrymandering rather than end it. Continue reading...

YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul won an eight-round unanimous decision over Mike Tyson at the AT&T Stadium in Texas on Friday night. The 58-year-old former world heavyweight champion managed to win just two rounds on all three judges' scorecards, losing by scores of 80-72 and two of 79-73. 'I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn't want to hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt,' Paul said afterwards, and claimed Tyson's best punches 'didn't actually hurt'.

The UFC's CEO has become a kind of impresario for a new class of right-wing influencers, podcasters, streamers and wellness bros, helping Trump dominate the testosterone voteWhen Dana White barreled up to the microphone, at Donald Trump's request, to say his piece on election night, it represented confirmation of the UFC CEO's status as one of the key members of the president-elect's inner circle. But White's brief speech also signaled his own growing importance as a kind of impresario for a new class of Trump-supporting influencers, podcasters, streamers and wellness bros. I want to thank the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin' with the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan," White enthused.With the exception of Rogan, who's about as close to a household name as the world of podcasting has today, none of these figures would probably be familiar to anyone who observed the election through traditional media or cable TV. Theo Von is a comedian and former reality TV contestant whose podcasts, like those of many of his peers, often extend to several hours; Bussin' with the Boys is hosted by a pair of NFL players; the Nelk Boys are former college pranksters with a brand of hard seltzer and a taste for casual cruelty; Adin Ross is a streamer who's been banned multiple times (most recently permanently) from the gaming platform Twitch for hateful conduct. These online creators" form a network: they all appear on each other's shows, which often feature far-right streamers like Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate alongside more mainstream figures of the Maga movement like Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro and Elon Musk. Continue reading...

Connor Brackin, 24, reportedly quit job after alleged killing of animals whose wellbeing he was sent to check onA sheriff's deputy from the US state of Tennessee is facing criminal charges and reportedly quit his job after he fatally shot seven dogs whose wellbeing he had been sent to check on.Connor Brackin, 24, was on duty for the McNairy county sheriff's office on 4 November when he was tasked with going to a home in Bethel Springs to check the condition of some dogs there, the Tennessee bureau of investigation (TBI) said in a recent statement. Continue reading...

Assumptions were made about clashes between Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Amsterdam locals - and the far right took advantageIn the aftermath of a sudden eruption of violence or unrest, there is often a brief, vital window when the narrative about what actually happened is up for grabs. Last Friday, the day that street violence between Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans and local people in Amsterdam made headlines around the world - with reports of antisemitic hit-and-run" attacks in the Dutch city - the decision of the Israeli state to send military planes to airlift fans home, and of the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, to describe the events as an antisemitic pogrom", were crucial in cementing a particular story. So too were the words of the Dutch king, who said that his nation had failed" the Jewish community as it had during the second world war - when three-quarters of the Dutch Jewish population were murdered by the Nazis.But then, as more evidence emerged, a more complex picture came into view. It was revealed that from the night before the match onwards, hardline supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv - a club with a reputation for racism and hooliganism among some of its fans - had torn down a Palestinian flag from the facade of a building and burned it, attacked one taxi with their belts, and vandalised others. Among the deplorable chants they saw fit to shout on the streets of Amsterdam, home to a large Muslim community, were: Let the IDF [Israeli army] win, we will fuck the Arabs", Fuck you Palestine" and Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there." Continue reading...

Samuel Woodward, 27, sentenced to life without parole over stabbing of Blaze Bernstein, who was gay and JewishA California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate was sentenced Friday to life without parole in prison.Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced in a southern California courtroom at the end of an all-day hearing for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago. Continue reading...

Local clerks say they received threatening emails last week, amid a series of hostile election-related incidentsThe FBI confirmed it is aware" of bomb threats that targeted election offices in several Oregon counties. Local clerks in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson reported receiving threatening emails last week, just days after election day.The FBI said that none of the threats were deemed credible. Continue reading...

Leavitt was Trump campaign's national press secretary and assistant press secretary in first administration. This blog is now closed.

Palm Springs approves settlement for displaced Black and Latino families after decades-long fight for compensationThe Palm Springs city council on Thursday unanimously approved a $5.9m reparations settlement with former residents of a largely Black neighborhood that was leveled in the 1960s for commercial development.The city council was also set to approve another $21m for housing and small business support aimed at the former residents and their descendants. Continue reading...

Leavitt served as the national press secretary on Trump's campaign and assistant press secretary during his first administration

FBI investigating anti-migrant and anti-gay texts that follow messages sent to Black people after Trump election winRacist text messages targeting Black people across the US just hours after Donald Trump won a second presidency have now expanded to the Hispanic communities - and homophobic versions have been aimed at LGBTQ+ people, the FBI said on Friday.Authorities say they are investigating the messages - which now include emails - and that they have not received reports of violent acts stemming from the hateful messages. Continue reading...

Arturo Nelson finds Melissa Lucio, convicted of killing two-year-old daughter, is actually innocent of capital murder'Efforts to free Melissa Lucio, a Texas woman whose execution was delayed in 2022 amid growing doubts she fatally beat her two-year-old daughter, were significantly bolstered after a judge concluded that she is actually innocent" of capital murder.Senior state district judge Arturo Nelson concluded that prosecutors presented false testimony, suppressed evidence and that new scientific evidence that was not available during Lucio's 2008 trial undermines and contradicts evidence presented by the state. He recommended that Lucio's conviction and death sentence be overturned. Continue reading...

Pamela Price, recalled in November election, files criminal charges over man left unchecked for days in Santa Rita jailA San Francisco Bay Area district attorney recalled in the 5 November election filed criminal charges this week against 11 former and current staff of a county jail for the 2021 in-custody death of a man who was left unchecked in his cell for days.The Alameda county district attorney, Pamela Price, announced on Thursday that felony dependent adult abuse charges were filed against seven county sheriff's deputies, two former deputies and two medical staffers at the Santa Rita jail. If convicted, the maximum for each defendant is four years in state prison. Continue reading...

Kraft Heinz cites weak demand for pre-packaged meals amid reports of lead and high sodium in supermarket kitsAfter offering the pre-packaged meals branded as Lunchables on school menus across the country just last year, Kraft Heinz, the company that makes the popular lunch and snack kits, is removing their products from a federally assisted meal program while citing weak demand.That development came after a Consumer Reports investigation found lead and high levels of sodium in the supermarket versions of Lunchables, though the ones made available at schools were tailored differently to meet federal nutrition regulations. The fact that the version of Lunchables available at schools used different ingredients to meet federal guidelines triggered warnings that they would not taste the same as the ones sold in stores, meaning they could be off-putting to children. Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleges law enforcement agencies knew of plot to kill civil rights leader but did not act to stop itThe family of Malcolm X, the militant civil rights leader who was assassinated almost 60 years ago, filed a $100m federal lawsuit on Friday that accuses the FBI, the CIA and the New York police department (NYPD) of allowing his murder.The lawsuit, brought by Malcolm X's daughter Ilyasah Shabazz and other family members, alleges the law enforcement agencies concealed evidence they knew of the plot to kill him but did not act to stop it. Continue reading...

Concerns anti-vaccine pick for US health secretary could pursue anti-science positions' on life-saving interventionsThe appointment of a US health secretary with anti-vaccine views could cause deaths and have profound consequences around the world, global health experts fear.Robert F Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump's pick for the position, has a history of spreading misinformation on vaccines and questioning the science of HIV and Aids. Continue reading...

Ex-vice-president rebukes Kennedy's stance on abortion while Matt Gaetz, another Trump pick, faces uphill battle'

Biden is as free from political constraints as he's ever been. Yet he has chosen to seal his legacy as Israel's tepid enablerWhen the histories of his administration are written, it will be clear that Joe Biden held on to his callous disregard for Palestinians until the end of his presidency. How else to explain why Biden would refuse a final chance to stop Israel's brutal war on Gaza and save Palestinian lives, when he has nothing to lose?On Tuesday, the Biden administration quietly ignored its own deadline for Israel to increase the minuscule amount of humanitarian aid it allows to enter Gaza. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, imposed the 30-day deadline in a letter sent to Israeli officials on 13 October, which warned that they must take concrete measures" to ensure that Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza have access to food, medicine and other necessities. The administration said it could suspend US military support to Israel if conditions did not improve. Despite the US ultimatum, the amount of aid reaching the besieged territory in October had dropped to its lowest level in 11 months.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian center for Near Eastern studies, and a journalism professor at New York University Continue reading...

From an anti-vaxxer running health to a suspected sex abuser as attorney general, the president-elect has picked a team designed to ensure his dominationHe wasn't kidding. Donald Trump really does want to rule as an extremist strongman, with contempt for the planet, for America's allies and for the rule of law. He's made that crystal clear this week, announcing one bombshell appointment after another, each one a declaration of intent. Few things tell you more about a president than their hires - personnel is policy, as they used to say in Ronald Reagan's White House - and Trump is telling us exactly who he is.The latest name added to the roster is a storied one: Robert F Kennedy Jr, now lined up for the role of health secretary. You may have known of Bobby Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy may be a hero of yours. But, boy, his son is no Bobby Kennedy. Once an admired environmental campaigner, now he is an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist who promotes treatments that don't work - such as hydroxychloroquine for Covid - and rails against those that do, spreading the long-debunked claim that childhood vaccines are linked to autism and opposing fluoridation of water to prevent tooth decay. Apparently unchastened by the pandemic, Kennedy believes US public health officials have been too focused on infectious diseases. Or as he memorably put it: We're going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years." If deadly pathogens could lick their lips, they would.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Bypassing the standard procedure comes as president-elect's choices of RFK Jr and Matt Gaetz send shock waves

West Side Story actor soon to take on iconic Disney role backs down after re-election response led to backlashThe West Side Story and Snow White actor Rachel Zegler has apologised after criticising Donald Trump and his supporters.The 23-year-old, currently starring in Broadway's re-imagined Romeo + Juliet, had posted a lengthy response to the re-election of Trump and the four years of hatred" he would bring about in America. Continue reading...

The cringeworthy campaign for Harris made it clear - voters aren't simply going to do what mega-rich celebrities tell them toI wish celebrities would learn the art of the French exit. But they can't, which is why Eva Longoria has announced she no longer lives in America. I get to escape and go somewhere," she explained. Most Americans aren't so lucky - they're going to be stuck in this dystopian country." What's brought this on, apart from the obvious? Whether it's the homelessness or the taxes ... it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now." Great to learn that Eva dislikes both homelessness and taxes. America's loss of this major political thinker is some other country's gain - and this highly called-for intervention reminds us why celebrities should speak their brains even more often. If only into a pillow, or an abyss.As always in these moments of the silly voters making a silly mistake, many stars have pledged to follow her. We'll see. Either way, celebrities seem totally unaware that these high-handed statements of first-class migration are not the admonishment to the lesser orders that they are meant to be, and may even encourage them.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistA Year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar. On Tuesday 3 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back at a political year like no other, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live Continue reading...

Facing threats to their rights and their safety, people rush to protect themselves amid discrimination and scapegoatingThis weekend, Atticus Sparks plans to attend a six-hour concealed weapons permit class. He's not a gun person, but as an 18-year-old trans man, he's concerned he might someday need to own one, just in case". Since Donald Trump's election, Sparks has faced online threats of violence and sexual assault from the president-elect's supporters.Hopefully I won't ever need a gun," Sparks, who lives in South Carolina, said. But everyone here is so pro-gun. I work across from a gun store, and I always see people carrying around loaded rifles." Continue reading...

Choice of vaccine critic knocks some of world's biggest drugmakers including Moderna, AstraZeneca and GSK

Subtle high-fives were exchanged and remarks about the impending success of the next four years were whispered aroundWhen we walked into school on the morning of 6 November, we exchanged quick glances with the other girls in our social circle - looks filled with uncertainty and dread about the future. Because we are applying to colleges all around the country and about to leave our homes in the Hudson Valley, political issues suddenly have begun to feel a lot more personal.Access to abortion and contraception, protection of the environment, and the growing hate and violence toward marginalized groups all have the potential to greatly impact our lives. We had only brief conversations about why Trump's victory felt so defeating, but our shared disappointment stuck with us as we walked to our first period classes. Continue reading...

The Washington Post's Will Lewis said the paper was returning to its roots' by not endorsing a presidential candidate. There was more to it than thatPostmortems continue for who lost Kamala Harris the US election, and these will be consequential for the left in the UK. However many times the US flags that the special relationship" is really not a thing for them any more, their politics bears down on ours, whether it's rightwing narratives travelling from the Heritage Foundation to the thinktanks at Tufton Street, via [checks notes], oh yes, money, or the centre left here praying they can sail past the Democrats' shipwrecks.If consensus is reached that the problem was go woke; go broke" - that Harris was too inclusive, too pro-trans, too pro-diversity, generally speaking, not horrible enough - that would be multiple kinds of erroneous, the greatest of which is moral. It lacks backbone to diagnose the problem as too strong on the values of humanity and universalism", and solve it by abandoning those values. Amusingly, the message Labour has taken, so far, isn't even that the Dems were too woke - rather, that they were just too hopeful, a reading which is a little like avoiding the shipwreck by drowning yourself.Zoe Williams is a Guardian journalist Continue reading...

Trump's alleged victims, as well as other victims of sexual abuse, voice disappointment that that he was elected againWhen Donald Trump was elected to a second term last week, women who say he sexually assaulted them, and other victims of sexual abuse, voiced disappointment that a man repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct could once again become president, with one of them describing this win as a gut punch".More than two dozen women have made such claims against Trump, including E Jean Carroll, who was awarded nearly $90m total in two civil trials after jurors found that Trump sexually abused and defamed her. She said on X: I tried to tell you." Continue reading...

Wagering platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket want to expand rapidly, offering bets on awards, epidemics, the economy and more, after astronomical' election growthBetting markets had a great election. With billions of dollars wagered on who would take the White House, their projections proved closer to the actual result than many opinion polls. Now the operators behind them want the US to wager on almost everything else.Forget Trump or Harris. Is Billie Eilish going to win album of the year at the Grammys? How many federal government employees are about to lose their jobs? Will mpox be declared a pandemic this year? Continue reading...

Experts warn making the anti-vaccine activist health secretary is going to cost lives'. Plus, Paul Mescal interviews Ridley Scott