US news | The Guardian

Since the fall of Roe in 2022, 76 clinics have shuttered and the initial surge of donations is now falling shortProviding abortions rarely paid the bills for Kwajelyn Jackson in 2024.As the executive director of Feminist Women's Health Center, an abortion clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, Jackson spent the year navigating Georgia's six-week abortion ban, dwindling financial support for abortion patients and soaring inflation. The clinic spent more money than it brought in from providing abortions, especially as Jackson strove to pay her staffers a decent wage and the clinic often subsidized the abortions of patients who could not afford to pay. Continue reading...

First minister seeks to persuade Trump of whisky's significant economic and cultural status during phone callScotland's first minister is leading efforts to persuade President-elect Donald Trump to exclude Scottish whisky from his plans to ratchet up tariffs on imports to the US.John Swinney, who leads Scotland's devolved government, lobbied Trump about whisky's significant economic and cultural status during a warm and friendly" 20-minute long telephone call the pair had on Monday. Continue reading...

I've learned to ignore distractions and focus on one thing, even if it is ensuring the little fella doesn't wee, or worse, on the carpetLast week, our family got a puppy. Not for Christmas - I'm too respectful of the Dogs Trust for that - but, in some ways, because of it. I work from home, and the December slowdown is the perfect time to do what puppies demand of you, which is to spend half your waking moments paying attention to their every twitch and snuffle, in case you miss some developmental milestone that condemns you to six more weeks of accidents on the floor.In case you have never potty-trained a small dog, here is how it (roughly) works. After they snooze, eat or play, you watch them, hawklike, for any indication that they might be about to unburden themselves. Indicator eventually noted, you hustle them outside to a specially prepared area, where you eye them, not too obviously, in the hope that they will let nature take its course. While they are in the act, you repeat whatever mini-mantra you are hoping to associate with the deed - in our case, a cheery let's go!" - then once they are done, you give them a cuddle and shower them with praise. Then you repeat that, five or 12 times a day, until they get the hang of it. Continue reading...

Purchased in 2005 by Albert Okura, Amboy now honors the Japanese American man who spent his life preserving symbols of AmericanaThis small town, like so many along Route 66, should be dead. Doomed by the rise of modern highways and the harsh Mojave Desert environment, Amboy should look like its abandoned neighboring towns. Yet, on a crisp November day, Amboy thrummed with friends and travelers swapping stories about the area's history, the family that saved it, and the road that led them there.It's the mother road," said Digger Simpson, 61, gesturing towards the legendary Route 66 that once was the nation's main artery for travel from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. It's Americana - it's mom-and-pop restaurants and gas stations," he added, reflecting on the nostalgia that drew him from Twentynine Palms to Amboy to celebrate Albert Okura, the man credited with injecting life back into the town. Continue reading...

To argue that it was sickle cell trait - a condition that disproportionately affects Black people - killed Jordan Neely is dangerous and wrongMake no mistake, Daniel Penny was acquitted this week of choking Jordan Neely to death on the New York City subway after his lawyers invoked some of the most institutionally insidious appeals to anti-Black racism around.Penny's defense lawyers and his legions of fans will say otherwise, of course. They'll point out that Penny, a 26-year-old former marine, was merely protecting himself and his fellow passengers from Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused Black man suffering from schizophrenia. And they'll argue that if race did matter in this trial, it was only Penny's race that mattered. Penny's attorneys (and the New York Post) vehemently objected when the prosecution described Penny, who is white, as the white man", as if pointing out the obvious was some underhanded masterpiece of racial guilt-tripping. Continue reading...

Corporations scramble to provide protection against threat of copycat killings following Brian Thompson's murderThe New York police department (NYPD) has warned US healthcare executives of a heightened risk to their lives after identifying an online hitlist" posted in the wake of last week's assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.Corporations have scrambled to give their senior figures added protection against the threat of copycat killings following Thompson's murder, which has been celebrated in some quarters of social media. Continue reading...

The women celebrating the destruction of jails and dungeons will now be wondering why their own oppression cannot also be dismantledThirteen years after they joined the revolutionary wave sweeping across the Middle East and north Africa, Syrians can say they have consigned the name of Bashar al-Assad to the history books alongside Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen. But as the past 13 years have shown in all those countries, liberation requires more than removing one man from the presidential palace. We women, especially, know that.Today I am thinking of Razan Zaitouneh, a Syrian revolutionary who along with three of her comrades, collectively known as the Douma Four, disappeared in rebel-held territory on 9 December 2013 - 11 years less a day before Assad was toppled. Zaitouneh's revolution targeted everyone: the Assad regime, rebel groups and Islamist militants alike.Mona Eltahawy is the author of the Feminist Giant newsletter. She wrote several articles from Syria for the Guardian in 1999-2000, including a report on the funeral of Hafez al-Assad Continue reading...

We'd like to hear from people about their own US healthcare experiences. Were you happy with your coverage? Or did you feel you were treated badly?Last week's shocking shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a street in New York, though widely condemned, also sparked an outpouring of online vitriol towards the US's profit-driven healthcare industry.Luigi Mangione, 26, has now been charged with Thompson's murder. Bullet cases left at the scene of the killing displayed the words delay" and deny", suggesting the killing may be linked to the largely privatized US healthcare industry's routine denial of payments to many Americans. Continue reading...

The music tracking site runs a reduced service these days, but still offers an alternative to AI-generated slideshows and made-up genres that's useful - and genuinely revealingLike many music fans with a conscience, I use Spotify begrudgingly. I need to listen to a vast amount of music for work; I want to listen to a vast amount of music for fun, and I would have to forgo groceries if I attempted to buy it all. Still, I resent its financial distribution model to artists: my 11.99 a month isn't divided between the musicians I actually listen to, but proportionally related to their popularity across the platform, meaning Ed Sheeran is getting significantly more of my money than Mabe Fratti. Spotify hosts music almost certainly made by fake artists or AI; playlists are prioritised over albums; there was the whole Joe Rogan thing that made Joni Mitchell and Neil Young quit the platform for a year.Perhaps counterintuitively, I have less ire for Spotify Wrapped, the packaging of a user's year in listening that Spotify revamps annually with silly little made-up genre names (pink Pilates princess strut pop?) and flattering stats about being in the top 0.5% of any given act's listeners. It unarguably puts a tidy bow on Spotify's poor artist remuneration - as well as big-tech creep - and is nothing more than a giant marketing push that its users carry out for free. But the main gripe against it this year is the company's frank use of AI - as if previous years' instalments were as lovingly curated as a handmade mix CD. In a comment piece for the New Yorker titled The hollow allure of Spotify Wrapped", critic Brady Brickner-Wood writes: If we can't trust the apps to tell us a meaningful story about our art consumption, how will anyone, including ourselves, ever discover the idiosyncratic composition of our inner lives?" Continue reading...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks came after leading rebel group named an interim prime minister, who urged calm. Plus, Luigi Mangione to plead not guilty and fight extradition

Legal records show Lawrence Hecker and Gilbert Gauthe targeted the same altar boy in 1970s before being convicted of other crimesTwo of the most inveterate abusers in the history of the US Roman Catholic church's clergy molestation scandal once converged on the same victim - before each was brought to justice years later for other crimes.An altar server and former Boy Scouts member who grew up in New Orleans endured a wide range of abusive acts by Lawrence Hecker and his fellow priest Gilbert Gauthe in the early 1970s, according to legal documents summarizing the victim's experience which were obtained by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Democrat aims to shift corporations away from maximizing shareholder value to support for workers and stakeholdersThe senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill in Congress on Wednesday aimed at shifting corporations away from maximizing shareholder value" and towards giving more support to workers and other stakeholders.The Accountable Capitalism Act proposes a series of reforms to increase corporate responsibility, strengthen the voices of workers and others in corporate decisions and shift companies away from their focus on shareholders. Continue reading...

With partisan gridlock and special interests more powerful than ever, it's difficult to know how to move forwardRage, frustration and bitterness - all were on display in social media comments following the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.Despite being brazenly murdered in midtown Manhattan just before the company's annual investor conference, leaving behind a widow and two sons, many Americans struggled to find sympathy for a man they viewed as complicit in denying or deferring what they saw as needed care - rage that one prominent policy expert can understand. Continue reading...

The playbook used to propel an ultranationalist to the top of the polls in last month's election must not be repeatedMany days have passed since Romania's tumultuous election, in which a far-right independent candidate topped the polls, but in crucial regards things are not much clearer. Was this truly the will of the people, or the doing of a network of Russian agents of influence? It leaves our country mired in its biggest political crisis in 35 years, with the constitutional court having annulled the first round of presidential elections after allegations that Russia, through means unclear but broadly familiar, promoted Clin Georgescu. He didn't even make it into the top five positions of most opinion polls before the vote, but won the first round of presidential elections on 23 November with 23% of the vote. The burning issue is the need to know how and why.To his proponents, Georgescu spoke to Romanians' frustration with the traditional political parties and system. Devotees will say Georgescu was the providential leader the country had been waiting for. Continue reading...

In a viral post, the Hendrix family from Chicago lamented British bad manners. But I beg to differ - people in London are just big city polite'If you are an American hoping to ingratiate yourself with the local people while on a trip to London, I have some tips. First: smile at strangers on the train. You have to really try to hold eye contact with them; if they scuttle off at the next stop looking terrified, chase after them, asking how their day is going. Londoners love that. They also love it when you stand in the middle of the escalator, blocking their way; that is a great ice-breaker. If all else fails, loudly inform everyone that you are from the US. Everyone loves Americans!The above is a hypothetical extract from whatever guidebook the globetrotting Hendrix family - who are from Chicago - must have read before visiting the UK recently. We've travelled the world ... but we've never felt such coldness as we did in London," the aspiring influencers lamented in a viral Instagram post about British manners. In a week there, not a single smile greeted us - not on the streets, not on the trains ... For our kids, who are used to warm waves and friendly interactions, it was unsettling." (Bizarrely, the post went on to say how much nicer the French were in Paris.) They then posted another video, showing their children getting on to an escalator in London and asking whether Londoners are really mean". Continue reading...

The hiring of Leon Rose as president of basketball operations at Madison Square Garden has ushered in an unexpected period of stabilityEven by the standards of James Dolan's nightmarish reign over the New York Knicks, 2006 was a dark year. Some argue it marked the worst chapter in the storied - and often turbulent - history of the team. Just nine days before Christmas that season, Dolan's Knicks were embroiled in a brawl with the Denver Nuggets at Madison Square Garden. The sprawling melee would become the biggest on-court fight in the NBA since the Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons scrapped during the Malice at the Palace. That 2006 December night, basketball sank to its most primal state - disjointed men trading punches instead of passes, prioritizing violence over victory. The Garden, once Eden, had wilted into a bacchanalia of banality, with Dolan its Caligula.The degradation on display that night embodied the chaos of Dolan's reign. Statistically, under Dolan's rule there were worse seasons, like the 17-65 teams in 2014-2015 and 2018-2019. But the 2006 Knicks were an existential disaster on and off the court. After just a single season, Hall of Famer Larry Brown was fired as head coach. Their putrid 23-59 record was the worst in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks' payroll for the 2005-2006 season was $124m - an impressive $74.5m above the salary cap and $62.3m over the luxury tax. Continue reading...

The Black Knights are no longer the powerhouse they once were. But they are also free of the big money that takes away some of the purity of college sportsJeff Monken was asked before his first training camp 10 years ago at Army to list the biggest challenges facing his football program. His list had one item.Us," Monken said. Continue reading...

What does Rupert's failed attempt to hand his empire to son Lachlan tell us? They'd be happier giving their money awayRupert Murdoch has lost an epic legal battle against three of his children: he wanted to wrest control of his media empire back from them, settle it solely upon his son Lachlan in the event of his death, and thereby ... well, who knows his true motivation. Most likely to destroy, but who, and in what order, is now lost in a sealed court decision in Nevada.Everyone is calling it the Succession trial", partly because it's about succession, partly because it sounds like an episode of the TV programme Succession, and partly because it was also inspired by one: after the death of Logan Roy (who, for readers who live in a cave, is fictional), Elisabeth Murdoch's representative, Mark Devereux, penned the Succession memo", which aimed to prevent turmoil following the mogul's death. Instead, it just brought that turmoil forward, so that it could happen while he was still alive. Continue reading...

Court rejects far-right shock jock's claim of collusion' but finds that trustee should have got more money from parody site or Jones-affiliated bidderA US bankruptcy judge stopped parody news site the Onion from buying conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's Infowars website, ruling that a bankruptcy auction did not result in the best possible bids.However, the judge, Christopher Lopez, on Tuesday rejected Jones's claims that the auction was plagued by collusion". Continue reading...

The 26-year-old appears to have spondylolisthesis, a fracture or weakness in the vertebrae of the spineLuigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, appears to have suffered from a rare back condition called spondylolisthesis, according to posts linked to him on the social media site Reddit.While not confirmed, archived Reddit posts under the username Mister_Cactus" and elements of Mangione's other social media accounts, as well as an account by a friend, seem to confirm that he suffered from a back condition that caused him chronic pain. Continue reading...

About 700 firefighters battle wind-whipped flames tearing across dry coastal hillsides and near Pepperdine UniversityMore than 1,500 firefighters are working to contain a fast-moving wildfire that has whipped through the iconic southern California community of Malibu.Fueled by strong winds gusting across the sloped terrain overlooking the Pacific, the so-called Franklin fire erupted on Monday night By Tuesday night, the fire had ballooned to more than 2,800 acres, tearing through the tinder-dry folds of Malibu Canyonas it raced rapidly downhill towards the Pacific Ocean. About 20,000 residents were under evacuation orders, including celebrities Dick Van Dyke and Cher, who live in the affluent coastal city. Continue reading...

Judge sides with FTC that merger would lead to higher prices and less bargaining leverage for union workersA US judge blocked the pending $25bn merger of US grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons on Tuesday, siding with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a win for the Biden administration.The FTC argued at a three-week trial in Portland, Oregon, that the merger would eliminate head-to-head competition between the top two traditional grocery chains, leading to higher prices for shoppers and reduced bargaining leverage for unionized workers. Continue reading...

Ferguson, already one of five commissioners of the body, will replace Lina Khan, who fought big tech over antitrustPresident-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Andrew Ferguson as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission.He will replace Lina Khan, who became a lightning rod for Wall Street and Silicon Valley by blocking billions of dollars' worth of corporate acquisitions and suing Amazon and Meta while alleging anticompetitive behavior. Continue reading...

Guilfoyle, whose nomination would require Senate confirmation, has not served in any foreign policy or diplomacy roleDonald Trump has named Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host who has been engaged to Trump's eldest son, to be the US ambassador to Greece.For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally," Trump wrote in a statement. Kimberly is perfectly suited to foster strong bilateral relations with Greece, advancing our interests on issues ranging from defense cooperation to trade and economic innovation." Continue reading...

The 830-acre Christian college invested in fire-proofing its buildings and landscaping, a strategy that has long served itAs thousands of residents fled a roaring wildfire ripping through Malibu's mountainsides on Monday, Pepperdine University students stayed put.Howling winds spit embers into the trees of the Christian college's picturesque campus and the skies cast an ominous orange-and-red haze as students gathered in two buildings in the center of campus. Continue reading...

Nikki Giovanni, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on 7 June 1943, was a critically acclaimed poet, educator and activist whose work was pivotal to the Black Arts movement and the Black Power movement. Giovanni attended her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University, graduating with honors in history and becoming a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Later, she returned to academia as a university professor at Virginia Tech. Her influential body of work includes her self-published book Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement (1968), the New York Times bestseller Bicycles: Love Poems (2009), the Emmy-award nominated The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (1968-1998) and, most recently, The Last Book, scheduled to publish in fall 2025. Giovanni passed away on 9 December 2024 of cancer

Luigi Mangione, 26, who is a suspect in the murder of Brian Thompson, shouted: 'This is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people' as he was led by police into a courthouse. He fought his extradition to New York to face murder charges in a hearing at Blair county courthouse in Pennsylvania and remained in custody after the hearing

Witnesses testify to judiciary committee as top Republican says undocumented people should get ready to leave'Donald Trump's vow to carry out the largest deportation campaign in American history would separate families and hurt the economy, witnesses testified during a Tuesday Senate hearing, as a top Republican on the committee warned that undocumented people living in the country should get ready to leave".The president-elect has outlined an aggressive second-term immigration agenda that includes plans to declare a national emergency and deploy the US military to round up and expel millions of people living in the country without documentation. Trump has also vowed to end humanitarian protections for millions of people who fled violence, conflict or other disasters in their home countries. Continue reading...

Based on evidence on site, authorities believe individuals were two of five people aboard Wind Walker in rough seasTwo bodies have been recovered amid debris from a fishing boat that reportedly capsized with five people aboard in rough seas in waters off south-east Alaska earlier this month.Authorities believe the two individuals had been on the boat based on evidence found at the site on Monday, including buoys and other gear associated with the Wind Walker, said Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson with the Alaska department of public safety, by email on Tuesday. Continue reading...

President-elect also promises faster environmental approvals without giving further details in latest sign of billionaire-friendly policiesArt Arthur, a resident fellow at the anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies, explained to senators why he believed it would be useful for local police to be involved in deportations.Deportations are typically carried out by federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), but Arthur noted there was a relatively small number of Ice agents. Continue reading...

Justice department says lawyers overreached in aiming to discover who was leaking classified information in 2017A Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation aimed at finding leakers during Donald Trump's first presidency resulted in invasive searches of congressional staffers' phone and email records, often without specific cause or the prior approval of the attorney general, a report published on Tuesday has found.In findings that may trigger concerns of how Trump's incoming administration will behave, the department's inspector general concluded that DoJ lawyers overreached their authority in their inquiries aimed at discovering who was leaking classified information in 2017, in the early phases of the president-elect's first stint in the White House. Continue reading...

Weiner, 60, whom some blame for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential defeat, registers as candidate for New York City councilAnthony Weiner, the former congressman who suffered one of the most spectacular falls from grace in US politics after he was embroiled in a sexting scandal that some blame for Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 presidential election, has formally initiated yet another attempt at a comeback.Weiner, 60, has officially registered as a candidate for a New York City council seat. The filing with the city's campaign finance board, which was first reported by the New York Post's Craig McCarthy, marks Weiner's latest attempt to claw his way back into public office despite his scandal-laced past. Continue reading...

The Global Engagement Center, which addresses foreign influence operations outside the US, snubbed for extensionThe Global Engagement Center (GEC), a state department unit critical to combating foreign disinformation, will not receive a multi-year extension in the latest National Defense Authorization Act, putting its future operations in jeopardy.The next chapter of the GEC - which only addresses foreign influence operations outside the United States - now relies on Congress to come up with an extension some other way by 24 December, or the United States faces a potential gap in their international disinformation response capabilities. Continue reading...

Ardent Trump supporter took on culture-war cases as San Francisco lawyer and filed lawsuits over election integrity'

Suspect yelled this is... an insult to the intelligence of the American people' outside of hearing meant to decide whether he'll be extraditedThe suspect in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson screamed this is completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people" outside a court hearing in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.The hearing is meant decide whether Luigi Mangione, 26, should be extradited to New York City to face murder charges in the 4 December shooting. Continue reading...

Liberal supreme court judge will take on ensemble role in musical, a fantasy she articulated in Harvard applicationKetanji Brown Jackson is set to fulfill a long-held dream this Saturday, stepping on to Broadway in a one-night performance of the musical & Juliet.The 54-year-old liberal supreme court justice will take on an ensemble role in the show, realising a goal she first articulated in her Harvard University application essay. Jackson will appear in the 8pm ET performance and participate in a post-show talkback with audience members. Continue reading...

Hiring comes after ex-congressman's attorney general nomination foundered amid sexual misconduct allegationsFormer Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has secured a prime-time slot at One America News Network (OANN), a broadcaster known for its staunch support of Donald Trump and controversial election coverage.Gaetz, who rose to prominence as a combative Trump ally and was instrumental in ousting the former House speaker Kevin McCarthy, will host a nightly political talkshow beginning in January 2025. Continue reading...

Samuel Bateman pleaded guilty to a years-long scheme to transport girls across state lines for his sex crimesA polygamous religious leader who claimed more than 20 spiritual wives" including 10 underage girls was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Monday for forcing girls as young as nine years old to submit to criminal sex acts with him and other adults.Samuel Bateman, whose small group was an offshoot of the sect once led by Warren Jeffs, has pleaded guilty to a years-long scheme to transport girls across state lines for his sex crimes, and later to kidnap some of them from protective custody.In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline at 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...

Sydney Nicole Gifford has accused rival Alyssa Sheil of copying her bland style, in a $150,000 lawsuit over lost income and mental anguish'. What's behind this race to the bottom?

Eric Adams will close 25 shelters in next two months including Floyd Bennett Field, which houses 2,000 peopleThe New York city mayor, Eric Adams, announced on Tuesday that an additional 25 shelters used to house asylum seekers will be closing in the coming two months.The move comes amid a rightward tack by Adams, especially on the issue of immigration, which has seen him hew close to the incoming Donald Trump administration, which has plans for a mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Continue reading...

Products featured the words deny', defend' and depose', which was reportedly on bullet casings at site of shootingAmazon has removed merchandise featuring the words deny", defend" and depose", which were reportedly written on bullet casings found at the site of the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.Since last Wednesday's fatal shooting, items such as T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, caps, pint glasses and more bearing the words deny, defend, depose" have been available for purchase on online retail stores including eBay, Amazon, Etsy and other sites. Continue reading...

Seventy-seven prize winners sign letter arguing Trump's DHHS pick will put US public health in jeopardy'Seventy-seven Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging the US Senate to reject Robert F Kennedy Jr as Donald Trump's nominee for health and human services secretary, arguing that he is unfit and would put American public health in jeopardy".It is believed to be the first time in living memory that Nobel prize winners have united against a presidential cabinet pick, and comes against a backdrop of Kennedy's public support for discredited theories, including a claim that childhood vaccines cause autism. Continue reading...

Alleged shooter, 26, appears to have suffered chronic back problems and withdrew from social contact in NovemberThe family of Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the 4 December murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, reported him missing in November after he withdrew from social contact following surgery on his back.Mangione, 26, was reported missing on 18 November, police told the New York Post, after family members became worried that they had lost touch with him. A message from relatives had earlier been circulated to his circle of friends asking for help finding him after Mangione had undergone back surgery a few months previously. Continue reading...

There is something even more wonderfully ponderous than Test cricket - the world chess championship - and this year's showdown is exceptionalLike many Australians, when a Test match finishes early, I spend the next day pottering around the house completely devoid of purpose. My soul understands that I should be spending this time watching cricket. That there is no cricket to watch opens a void in my life. What am I to fill it with? Chores, charity or family? No, that is not acceptable. I need another way to waste my time.Fortunately for me, there is an even more wonderfully ponderous and very occasionally thrilling event going on at this very moment, and it's the perfect antidote for anyone who finds Test cricket to be a little too high octane. I'm speaking of the world chess championship, which is currently being held in Singapore.James Colley is a comedy writer from Sydney. His debut novel The Next Big Thing is out now Continue reading...

The Russian leader may be a warm and attentive host: he may also be cross that Assad is now his problem. But then life's full of uncertainty, isn't it?It's fair to say the TV show Schitt's Creek would have been a lot less funny had it concerned the family of a deposed dictator rather than the family of an embezzled video store mogul. Even so, it's a strange but undeniable fact that when toddlers are stumbling out of dungeons, and the unspeakable horrors of the former Syrian regime are still being revealed, a significant part of the human impulse is to thirst for details of the dreadful Assad family's new lives in Moscow, then remark tartly: Well, they've gone down in the world." And of course, the Assads may yet plunge further - for all the overly impressed reports of apartments in glittering Moscow skyscrapers, I must say I'd have picked something on the ground floor myself.For now, Syrian refugee Bashar al-Assad might be telling himself that if Vladimir Putin has offered him asylum, he can't possibly be angry with him for putting Russia's unrivalled network of military bases in Syria at serious risk. In which case, it's possible Bashar is about to go on a journey of discovery as long as the Trans-Siberian railway. Then again, it could be much, much shorter. But perhaps Assad's comfortable with limbo. He has, after all, spent the past two decades apparently unable to decide whether he is or isn't growing a moustache. Follically speaking, I guess he now finally has time to pick a lane. Or, as I say, doesn't have time. For while the man who used chemical weapons against his own people may be physically located in Moscow, in security terms, and for the rest of his entire life, he cannot be at all clear where he stands.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

People on death row, those with marijuana convictions and the Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier are among those the president could benefitIn late November, a group of lawmakers sent a letter to Joe Biden, calling on him to use his executive clemency power to address longstanding injustices in our legal system".The letter, which is just one example of how lawmakers and advocates across the country have pushed for the president to grant clemency and issue pardons during his lame duck period, came days before the US president pardoned his son Hunter for any federal crimes he committed or may have committed" between 1 January 2014 and 1 December 2024. Continue reading...

Please support what Elon Musk calls our laboriously vile propaganda machine' as we try to reach our year-end fundraising goal. We welcome all contributions hereThe year is 2050. The US government is run by President Elon Musk and his 690 children. Donald Trump, immortalized as an AI hologram, continues to send ALL CAPS tweets ALL THE TIME. The US has a special new relationship with the UK: the British Isles have been turned into a SpaceX rocket factory.In this brave new world, might is right. International human rights law doesn't exist anymore. Journalists don't exist either. Kash Patel, who Trump picked as his FBI director in 2024, promised to come after people in the media" and he followed through. Now state news is piped directly into people's brains via Musk's proprietary microchips. Continue reading...