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The acclaimed photographer spent two decades photographing his hometown of Buffalo, New York - capturing its quiet resilience and strange beauty' Continue reading...

Donald Trump wasted no time in assembling his top team, with picks like Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard causing consternation among friends and foes alike

Travelling many miles across multiple states, I saw Republicans united in their disdain for facts - and a Democratic party far too relaxed about challenging themIn the early hours of Wednesday morning last week, I sped down an empty motorway as rain pounded the asphalt, heading towards a Republican election-night party in the outskirts of Detroit. It was one of those storms that distorts your vision, where the lines of the road blur in slicks of water and the street lights refract through cascading droplets on thewindscreen. The lonely roads and perilous weatherfelt like an apt backdrop. Donald Trump wasabout to be declared the next president of the United States.I went through the double doors and into the large, carpeted convention hall just seconds before Fox News called the race. The chatter began to dissipate as the crowd erupted, surging towards a stage at the back andwaving large, black flags that read Fix America Again". Elation and relief. Mayhem and incoherence. Lock them up! Send them back! Jesus! Jesus!" shoutedone woman. Continue reading...

GOP majority in House and Senate could give the president-elect ability to extend tax cuts and roll back Biden-era lawsWith the confirmation that Republicans have won a majority in the House of Representatives, Donald Trump and his party will now have a governing trifecta in Washington come January, giving the new president a powerful perch to enact his rightwing agenda.Even without majorities in both chambers of Congress, Trump's victory in the presidential race already gave him significant control over US foreign policy and the makeup of the federal government, both of which he is seeking to overhaul. Continue reading...

Party has won 218 seats in lower chamber after Democrats unsuccessfully campaigned on need to curtail dysfunction'Republicans have secured a majority in the US House of Representatives, extending their hold on the lower chamber and delivering a governing trifecta in Washington that could give Donald Trump sweeping power to enact his legislative agenda.The Associated Press determined on Wednesday evening that Republicans had won at least 218 seats in the 435-member House after a victory in Arizona, a call that came more than a week after polls closed across the US and as Trump made cabinet announcements that sent shockwaves through Washington. Continue reading...

Ex-defense department official said government employees had been injured and US conducted secret UFO retrievalsUS government employees have been injured by UFOs and the US government has conducted a secret UFO retrieval program, a former department of defense official told a congressional committee on Wednesday, though the hearing lacked any direct evidence to back up the startling claims.The hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), which has become the more accepted term for UFO, also heard that the government has a huge amount" of secret information on UAPs, including photos, video, photos, other information". But it also learned, following a query from Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, that there is no evidence of aliens having a secret underwater base" on this planet. Continue reading...

Congressman decried as person of moral turpitude' amid questions over whether Senate will confirm nominationDonald Trump's decision to nominate the far-right Republican congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general has sent shockwaves through Washington, including the president-elect's own party.Trump on Wednesday announced Gaetz as his pick to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer in the justice department, a role that directs the government's legal positions on critical issues, including abortion, civil rights, and first amendment cases. Continue reading...

Trump's victory in the US shone a light on the growing political polarisation between between young male and female voters happening all over the worldAs the Democratic party licks its wounds and prepares for Donald Trump's return to the White House, a growing chorus of commentators is urging the party to confront a historic shift in voting patterns, which has seen Latinos, the working class and Black men all shift rightwards in 2024.But perhaps the cohort that offers the gravest warnings for the party's future prospects is young men. In 2024, men aged between 18 and 29 turned out in force for Trump, with the Republican winning the demographic by 14 points, overturning a generational trend that has for decades seen young people favour left-leaning candidates. Continue reading...

Speaker on track to keep gavel after endorsement from Trump before a full House vote in the new yearHouse speaker Mike Johnson won the House Republican nomination on Wednesday to stay on the job, on track to keep the gavel after a morning endorsement from Donald Trump in advance of a full House vote in the new year.While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces dissent within his ranks, particularly from hard-right conservatives and the Freedom Caucus withholding their votes as leverage to extract promises ahead. Continue reading...

Decision by congressman, selected by Trump to lead DoJ, means end to ethics inquiry over alleged sexual misconductDonald Trump said he will nominate Florida congressman Matt Gaetz to be the US attorney general on Wednesday, tapping a far-right loyalist to one of the most powerful positions in US government.Late on Wednesday evening, Gaetz resigned from Congress, ending the ethics inquiry by the House ethics committee over allegations including sexual misconduct. Continue reading...

In docuseries preview, audio shows cult leader, behind 1960s killings, saying he left some dead people' in MexicoIn newly released audio, Charles Manson, the cult leader behind a string of killings during the late 1960s in California, admitted his involvement in additional killings that occurred prior to his assembly of the notorious Manson Family.An audio recording in a teaser clip from Peacock's latest docuseries Making Manson features Manson saying: There's a whole part of my life that nobody knows about." Continue reading...

Not if the US is drawing it Continue reading...

President-elect's team has China hawks, an alleged Assad defender and a Fox News host - all have been vocally loyalAs Donald Trump rushes to fill out his cabinet and enact his America First agenda in the United States and abroad, a clear throughline for his foreign policy and national security team has been a vocal loyalty to the president-elect - at least in this election cycle.The rapidly expanding roster includes established - and some Maga supporters would say establishment - foreign policy hawks, and a neophyte defense secretary who until this week was still a conservative commentator on Fox News. Continue reading...

Illnesses linked to onions served on Quarter Pounders have been detected in 14 states, and infection killed one personMcDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers are to blame for sickening at least 104 people - and hospitalizing at least 34 - after an outbreak of E coli was tied to onions served on the burgers, federal health officials said on Wednesday.Cases have been detected in 14 states, according to an update from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person died in Colorado and four people have developed a potentially life-threatening kidney disease complication. Continue reading...

Hard-right congressman led successful charge to oust fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy as House speakerDonald Trump has announced his intention to nominate Matt Gaetz, a hard-right congressman from Florida known for inflaming tensions within the House Republican conference, as attorney general.Gaetz, a longtime Trump loyalist, gained attention last year after leading the successful charge to oust his fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. Gaetz and seven other House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to remove McCarthy last October, kicking off a weeks-long scramble to find a new speaker. Continue reading...

Panner went to get water for friend and got lost, police say, and helicopter crew spotted his campfire on cliff days laterAn amateur gold panner's dream of finding treasure during an expedition in California didn't go as planned after he went missing for two days and was successfully rescued over the weekend.The panner and his companion had started trailing through northern California's Plumas national forest on Thursday to search for gold. The companion became tired, so the missing hiker went to get water. That was the last time the two saw each other that day, according to the Butte county sheriff's office. Continue reading...

South Dakota senator who serves as the minority whip will replace Mitch McConnell in JanuaryJohn Thune, a Republican senator for South Dakota, will become the new Senate majority leader after winning an internal party ballot on Wednesday for the position left vacant by the imminent retirement of Mitch McConnell.His elevation - following the second round of a vote among Republican senators that was held under secret ballot conditions - propels him into a key role in advancing Donald Trump's agenda when the president-elect returns to the White House in January. Continue reading...

Trump has chosen loyalists and hardliners to lead departments that will shape US policy on immigration, defense and more

Ex-Hawaii congresswoman ran for president as Democratic candidate before quitting party to support Trump

Trump also suggests to House Republicans he might seek a third term in office, which is prohibited by US constitutionDonald Trump met with Joe Biden on Wednesday and promised a transfer of power that is as smooth as it can get", as the outgoing US president pledged his administration's every possible resource to pave the way for his successor.The two men, longtime political rivals who must now work together again to pass the reins of power, shook hands as they met in the Oval Office. Introducing Trump as both a former president and now president-elect, Biden congratulated him on his victory. Continue reading...

Trump was back in the Oval Office to discuss the transfer of power - a courtesy he never extended when he lost in 2020Nancy Pelosi once said Donald Trump would be fumigated out" of the Oval Office if he lost the 2020 presidential election. Joe Biden relished describing him as the former guy" and loser". They thought the American nightmare was over.Then, like in the movies, Democrats woke up in a cold sweat only to realise it wasn't a dream after all. Instead they are doomed to be supporting players in a sequel. Trump: The Revenge. This time, it's personal. Continue reading...

National guard veteran and Fox News presenter has been a critic of military and has minimal managerial experienceThe Pentagon has been stunned by Donald Trump's pick for defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, a national guard veteran and Fox News presenter who has called for a purge of generals for pursuing woke" diversity policies.Hegseth has questioned whether the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Charles Brown, was given the top job because he is black and accused him of pursuing the radical positions of leftwing politicians". Continue reading...

Body-camera footage shows officer violently arresting 71-year-old after traffic stop, leaving him with serious injuriesThe Oklahoma City police department is facing criticism following the release of body-camera footage that shows a police officer forcefully throwing an elderly man to the ground last month.The city's police department released body-camera footage last week from 27 October that shows a police officer violently arresting 71-year-old Lich Vu after pulling him over during a traffic stop. The officer has been identified as Joseph Gibson, according to USA Today. Continue reading...

Fears Trump could use bill to target enemies' by deeming groups terrorist-supporting' to withhold tax-exempt statusA bill that would have allowed the government to strip tax-exempt status from any non-profit it deemed to be supporting terrorism" was narrowly blocked in the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening.The bill was widely feared as a tool that Donald Trump could use to punish dissent, and critics argued the measure could have disproportionately targeted groups that criticize Israel and support Palestinian causes - and that it was designed to do just that. Continue reading...

Joe Biden met the president-elect, Donald Trump, in the White House on Wednesday, signifying the beginning of the transition process for the handover of power to the Republicans

Following butchering and starvation, Israel has ignored US demands over aid for Gaza. There have been no consequencesThis is a story about an apparently invincible fortress: the west's official narrative about Israel's war on Gaza. No matter how depraved the atrocity, or overwhelming the evidence, or confessed-to the crime, the fortress will not crumble. In fact, even when Israel flagrantly insults its main sponsor, the US, as it did this week, nothing changes.The case in point here starts with a letter that the US sent to Israel last month, which set out in detail how life-saving aid was being systematically blocked from entering Gaza and threatened undefined action if specific demands to reverse the siege were not taken within 30 days. As the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen suggested, the letter was a political ruse to woo voters in the run-up to the election (given most Democratic voters correctly believe that Israel is committing genocide).Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

I have a chronic case of resting not-happy face. But everything I try just makes it worseThere are several problems with my face, not least of which is that I look so bloody miserable all the time. Honestly, I'm usually smiling inside. A nice woman stopped me in the street on Sunday to tell me that she never looked very happy either. We were kindred spirits, she said, because she, like me, had a resting not-happy face.She turned out to be a vicar, and said that when she did manage a smile, her congregations were very relieved and pleased. Nice. While I don't have a congregation of my own, I knew what she meant. But still I think it's time to change my face. Not with the help of a surgeon, you understand - I just need to give my countenance a bit of a lift.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Move would significantly lower upfront expenses for renters in city with one of the world's highest costs of livingThe New York City council is expected to approve a bill on Wednesday that would prevent tenants from having to pay fees to brokers hired by landlords.The move would significantly lower upfront expenses for renters in a city with one of the highest costs of living in the world. The median asking rent in New York City was $3,500 in 2023. Continue reading...

He's hosted Tim Walz and Charli xcx on his viral webseries, but not so long ago the downtown renaissance man was just a guy with a planIn 2019, Kareem Rahma sat down and decided to become famous. He made a plan that mapped out exactly how he was going to do it. There was just one problem: he was already 33.I roll my eyes - That's a long time in New York years!" Rahma protests. He wanted to become a comedian, an actor, a big name among the cool kids, he wanted to be an It boy. To try that in your mid-30s in a city obsessed with youth? It would have been easier if he'd decided to become a gymnast. Continue reading...

Stephen Doughty, the Foreign Office minister, said the UK would allay' any US concerns over a deal agreed this year for the Chagos Islands to be returned to Mauritius. Doughty responded to a question from Nigel Farage, when he explained that an agreement with Mauritius was 'inevitable' after the UN's top court ruled that the UK did not have sovereignty over the Indian Ocean archipelago.Doughty told MPs: 'We're looking very forward to working with [the incoming Trump administration], and I'm sure that they will be being briefed on the full detail of this deal. And I am confident that the details of this arrangement will allay any concerns'

As we enter the era of Trump 2.0, reaction-fatigue to his bizarre decisions is already setting in - and it's only been eight daysSo here we are, back to the era of waking up to headlines that trigger audible ughs" and a desire to act out being violently sick. On Wednesday morning, this was the news that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy had been appointed by the president-elect, Donald Trump, to run something called the Department of Government Efficiency, a newly created body tasked with cutting back federal bureaucracy and given the larky acronym Doge. (Musk has been a longtime promoter of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, so there's a great conflict-of-interest gag straight out the gate.)On X, Musk duly posted an image of himself in gangster pose, with digitally volumised hair alongside the lettering D.O.G.E, the message of which was clear: cutting $2tn from the federal budget, a figure touted by Musk before the election, was going to be not only satisfying, but fun!Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The archbishop's resignation for failing to respond to abuse complaints speaks of deeper issues in the Church of England

Musk will work with Vivek Ramaswamy to advise the White House on cutting spending. Plus, Mormons react to new thriller Heretic

Trump is surrounding himself with hawks so you can be assured that his will be a very hawkish administrationIf Kamala wins, only death and destruction await because she is the candidate of endless wars," declaimed Donald Trump at a rally in Michigan, on the Friday before the election. I am the candidate of peace." In a typically ridiculous rhetorical flourish, Trump added: I am peace."Nevertheless, despite the ridiculousness, the president-elect in recent weeks succeeded in connecting with plenty of of anti-war voters tired of the United States' forever wars". He went to Dearborn, the capital" of Arab America, attacked Kamala Harris for campaigning with the pro-war Cheneys, and came away with an endorsement from a local imam who called him the peace" candidate. Continue reading...

Suit claims Legacy Good Samaritan hospital ignored signs that could have prevented Bobby Smallwood's deathThe family of an Oregon hospital security guard who was shot to death while protecting a maternity ward from an attacker during the summer of 2023 is suing the medical facility for $35m in damages, saying it ignored warning signs that could have prevented the killing if addressed.In the days before the killing of 44-year-old Bobby Smallwood made international news headlines, staffers at Portland's Legacy Good Samaritan hospital made five separate complaints to administrators against the man later charged with his murder, PoniaX Calles, according to the lawsuit from the victim's family, which was filed on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Young pro-Trump men have rolled out a creepy, snide and all-too-revealing mantraYou can't say it was a fluke. If in 2016, Donald Trump's novelty, combined with his loss of the popular vote, allowed liberals to retain a bit of plausible deniability about what his presidential win meant about America, this time, there is no such comfort. Donald Trump is no longer a mystery or an amusing diversion: no one can claim that they do not understand full extent of his malignant corruption, or the seriousness of his movement's hostility to pluralist democracy. And he won the popular vote.Many postmortems of last week's election have tried to preserve the notion that Trump's voter's did not endorse him and his vision - that they know not what they do. This is dishonest, and a bit patronizing toward Trump's supporters. Trump's voters, for the most part, know exactly what he is, and what voting for him means. They are not ignorant or mistaken about him. They endorse him and what he is.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

As Jamie Oliver has found out to his cost, write what you know or you could end up with a flop and an international PR disasterEver wondered what frivolous whims you'd indulge if you were made queen for the day? Liz Hurley has. The actor recently told the Guardian she'd ban car air fresheners. She should have stopped there (it's a winning policy platform) but she added that she'd also ban prison sentences for white-collar criminals and make them do things like teach inner-city kids to ride horses instead.If I were queen for the day I'd focus less on white-collar criminals and more on literary ones: implementing an immediate ban on celebrities writing children's books. Should a famous person so much as think of penning a kids' book, it'd be straight to jail: locked in a cell full of the strongest-smelling air fresheners available. Continue reading...

Netherlands-based firm offloads unit to fast casual restaurant chain Wonder for $650m four years after buying it for $7.3bnThe food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway is selling Grubhub to the delivery-focused restaurant chain Wonder for $650m (510m), only four years after buying the US app in a multibillion-dollar tie-up after the first Covid lockdowns.The Netherlands-based Just Eat, which is Europe's largest meal delivery company, had been looking to offload its US unit since as early as 2022, as the pandemic-fuelled boost to online food shopping faded and it grappled with tough competition. Continue reading...

The ultrarunner completed the equivalent of more than two marathons a day, and she says that her support team was crucial to her missionFor most hikers, attempting to walk the length of the Appalachian Trail is an exercise in failure. Of the roughly 3,000 individuals each year who try the thru-hike" - walking the trail's entire length in one trip - 75% will not complete the journey. This dropout rate is understandable. The trail's epic scale gives low-probability risks ample room to transform into unsolvable problems.The trail, which spans much of the eastern United States, stretches 2,190-miles (3,524 km) across the Appalachian Mountains and through 14 US states, much of it in wilderness. Among those who successfully thru-hike the route from Maine to Georgia (or vice versa), most will need five to seven months to complete the trip. But American ultrarunner Tara Dower is no ordinary hiker. In September, she set a new speed record on the Appalachian Trail, finishing her thru-hike in just under 41 days, beating the previous record by 13 hours. Covering such a distance in that span required Dower to run the equivalent of more than two marathons each day - over mountains. Speaking with the Guardian a few weeks after finishing her record-setting run, Dower could still feel every step. Continue reading...

Former Baddest Man on the Planet is all smiles in open workout as he gears up for inglorious fight with YouTuberThe madness rolled through an anonymous breakfast bar in Arlington, just outside Dallas, soon after six o'clock on Tuesday morning. Sleepy diners gazed at a bank of television screens which had lit up with images of two contrasting men on the early morning NBC news. In front of them a suave anchorman promised that Friday night's manufactured scrap in north Texas between the 58-year-old boxing icon Iron Mike Tyson and the Problem Child, Jake Paul," will transport us back to the glory days of boxing."As if we needed any more convincing the screen then filled with the scraggly bearded face of Paul, the 27-year-old YouTube sensation", who praised the owners of the Dallas Cowboys for sharing his vision of staging the biggest fight in the history of boxing" at their AT&T Stadium just 10 miles down the road from where we sat drinking our lukewarm coffee. Continue reading...

After Donald Trump's second win the European Union should capitalise on the likely transatlantic brain drainI am resisting the temptation to write a lamentation of anger and sorrow about Trump's second victory. What is more useful is to think about what Europe can do to protect its environment, its people and its economy in a world where the Trump administration may act, in many ways, to undermine and even destroy it.The EU's first bold move to lead by example in the new Trump era should be to seize 200bn euros' worth of frozen Russian central bank assets and transfer them to Ukraine as a form of pre-emptive reparations. The European Parliamentary Research Service and outside experts have proposed ways in which it could be done in full accordance with international law. But this alone won't obviate the need for the EU to borrow more to boost its common defence and green infrastructure spending, even though it will increase its debt.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

To navigate the dangerous new era, Keir Starmer must end the culture of denial around the biggest strategic mistake of modern timesThe 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down was not commemorated much in Britain last weekend. It is no Poppy Day. The unravelling of the iron curtain doesn't compete with Remembrance Sunday for cultural resonance. But it is more relevant to the world we live in today. More poignant, too, now that Americans have chosen a president who is no friend of what used to be called the west.Few world leaders will be gladder to see Donald Trump return to the White House than the former KGB officer who sits in the Kremlin, craving vengeance for his Soviet motherland's humiliating defeat in the cold war.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Trump recruits pro-settler figure Mike Huckabee, and will also put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of a new department of government efficiency

Beloved by Toni Morrison, Normal People by Sally Rooney, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, among books pulledFlorida's department of education has released a list of more than 700 books that were removed or discontinued" from schools across the state after changes to a state law last year that allows parents and residents to challenge the content of library books.This year's list, which has doubled in size from last year, includes titles such as Beloved by Toni Morrison, Normal People by Sally Rooney, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Continue reading...

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Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott defend suitability of former PM after Dan Scavino social media post, despite Rudd's past criticism of president-elect

World's richest man has been an enthusiastic cost-cutter - but he may find the public sector an entirely different beastDonald Trump, president-elect of the US, announced on Tuesday that he has selected Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, with plans to reduce bureaucracy in the federal government by roughly a third.Musk had pushed for a government efficiency department and has since relentlessly promoted it, emphasizing the acronym for the agency: Doge, a reference to a meme of an expressive Shiba Inu. Trump said the agency will be conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, and making recommendations for drastic reforms". Continue reading...