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Although Labour has successfully kept the spotlight on Tory incompetence, difficult battles are yet to comeFor Keir Starmer, the Tory party is the gift that keeps on giving. If Labour has one overriding wish as the start of general election year approaches, it is that Rishi Sunak's party should continue to remind voters why they have given up on the Conservatives after electing them in such numbers in 2019. On Tuesday, in the Commons, the Tory party delivered handsomely on that Labour wish.As well as days of buildup, every newsflash throughout Tuesday was about Tory division and Tory difficulty. There hasn't been a spotlit display of Conservative dysfunction like this for, well, several weeks. It may not have been a gamechanging horror show on the scale of Partygate in 2021 or the Truss emergency budget in 2022. But it was a reminder that the Bertha Mason version of his party that Sunak tries to keep locked in the parliamentary attic is alive and well and ready to burn down the house if it gets the chance.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The US House of Representatives has voted to formally open an impeachment inquiry into Biden - without any evidence he has committed wrongdoingThe US House of Representatives has voted to formally open an impeachment inquiry into president Joe Biden, moving forward a process that has been promised by Republican leaders since they regained control of the lower chamber in midterm elections in 2022.Although no evidence has been produced, Republicans have accused Biden and his family of personally profiting from his position while vice-president under Barack Obama. Continue reading...

High court to consider whether obstruction statute is too broad to be used in connection with January 6 attackA decision by the US supreme court to take a case linked to the January 6 attack on the Capitol could have consequences altering the trajectory of the criminal case against Donald Trump over his effort to overturn the 2020 election as well as for hundreds of other people prosecuted for the riot.The nation's highest court has agreed to consider whether federal prosecutors can charge January 6 riot defendants with a statute that makes it a crime to obstruct an official proceeding of Congress - a charge also filed against Trump in his 2020 election-interference case. Continue reading...

House Republicans rally behind investigation authorized by party-line vote as Democrats stand united in oppositionThe House on Wednesday authorized the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, with every Republican rallying behind the politically charged process despite lingering concerns among some in the party that the investigation has yet to produce evidence of misconduct by the US president.The 221-212 party-line vote put the entire House Republican conference on record in support of an impeachment process that can lead to the ultimate penalty for a president: punishment for what the constitution describes as high crimes and misdemeanors", which can lead to removal from office if convicted in a Senate trial. Continue reading...

Republicans have failed to produce evidence showing president financially benefitted from family business dealingsThe House voted Wednesday to formally authorize the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, even as Republicans have failed to produce evidence showing that the president financially benefitted from his family's business dealings.The House voted on partisan lines, 221-212 to launch the inquiry. The vote came hours after the president's son, Hunter Biden, defied a subpoena to appear for a closed-door deposition with House members. Instead choosing to hold a press conference on Capitol Hill, Hunter Biden reiterated his willingness to testify publicly, an offer that House Republicans have rejected.This story was amended on 13 December 2023 to accurately reflect the House votes for the inquiry to 221-212. Continue reading...

Ruby Freeman's testimony is at center of trial to determine how much in damages Giuliani will have to pay to her and her daughterRuby Freeman sobbed on the witness stand. The former election worker said she is afraid to tell anyone her name, has been driven from her home and was terrorized with threatening phone calls and letters after Rudy Giuliani, a key Trump ally and the former New York mayor, spread lies about her in 2020.Freeman began her testimony in federal court on Wednesday by introducing herself to the jury as Lady Ruby", saying the name was special, unique and classy". But, she says, she's stopped using the name because she fears what would happen if someone were to recognize her. When she goes out, she wears sunglasses and a mask. Continue reading...

A 28-year-old Detroit man was charged with three crimes, and authorities allege he was a stranger who had broken into homeA stranger accused of breaking into the home of a Detroit synagogue leader was charged with her murder Wednesday, nearly two months after her body was found outdoors with multiple stab wounds, authorities said.There was not a shred of evidence" that Samantha Woll was killed as a result of antisemitism or any hate crime, prosecutor Kym Worthy said. Continue reading...

Protesters from a Jewish organization, If Not Now, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza disrupted traffic along the 110 highway south in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning. The activists blocked all six lanes of the busy freeway before California police cleared the demonstration. At least 75 people were detained, NBC Los Angeles reportedDozens of activists block Los Angeles highway calling for Gaza ceasefire - video

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Judge Tanya Chutkan agrees to pause proceedings while ex-president pursues claims he is immune from prosecutionDonald Trump's 2020 election interference case in Washington will be put on hold while the former president further pursues his claims that he is immune from prosecution, the judge overseeing the case ruled Wednesday.US district judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to pause any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on defendant". But the judge said that if the case returns to her court, she will consider at that time whether to retain or continue the dates of any still-future deadlines and proceedings, including the trial scheduled for March 4, 2024". Continue reading...

Bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is determined to let kids drink full-fat milk in school, although critics say Congress is wasting its timeLet them drink milk!"A bipartisan bill to allow US schools to serve whole milk, in addition to low-fat options, is garnering support, as some call the attempts to bring back the dairy staple a waste of time. Continue reading...

Staff notified via livestream Wednesday by Josh Silverman, who acknowledged unfortunate' timing during holiday seasonEtsy is laying off 225 employees in a bid to cut costs as it grapples with very challenging" economic headwinds.The online retail company will reduce its headcount by about 11% after deciding that a leaner, more agile" workforce would help shore up growth. Continue reading...

California highway patrol detains 75 people who blocked six lanes of traffic, as drivers attempt to drag protesters out of the wayPolice in Los Angeles arrested a group of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza after they shut down a busy stretch of freeway in the city's downtown.Dozens of people assembled on the 110 on Wednesday morning, bringing traffic to a standstill during the morning commute for more than an hour. There were tense physical confrontations as commuters attempted to remove people from the road. Continue reading...

Looming over this year's climate talks was the spectre of Donald Trump regaining the US presidencyThe climate emergency needs better than this. It has taken almost 30 years of climate talks for the world to call on nations to transition away from fossil fuels" in a just, orderly and equitable manner". Cop28's final text was stating the obvious but it needed saying, and not a moment too soon. Ahead of the Dubai summit, the UN said that under current policies, global temperatures were on track to rise 2.9C above pre-industrial levels - nearly double the goal cited in the climate summit final declaration.The measures agreed - to triple renewable capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency - could limit warming to the 1.5C threshold. But this relies on an equitable climate financing deal for developing countries. On this key issue, the Cop28 outcome had little to say. A report for the UN has stated that developing countries - excluding China - would need $2.4tn a year. This is a lot of money, but then what is the price of saving the planet? The US is the richest nation on Earth. It should take the lead as the globe's largest oil and gas producer. Instead it will expand fossil fuel extraction - reckless and inexcusable behaviour given Washington's historical responsibility. Continue reading...

Senate Democrats argue justice poses potential conflict of interest because his wife has previously supported Trump's election liesSenate Democrats are pressuring the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from deciding whether Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while president.Democrats have argued that Thomas poses a potential conflict of interest because his wife, Ginni Thomas, has previously supported Trump's false claims that the election was stolen, the Hill reported. Continue reading...

A common refrain I've heard from Black women over the years is: I wish more people talked about this. And so we are

The agreement on fossil fuel phase-out is full of loopholes, but those of us fighting for climate justice won't give upAs Cop28 ended after 14 gruelling days, many people were clutching at straws and looking for meaning in the mere mention in the text of a transition from fossil fuels. There will be headlines talking about what huge progress it is simply to say this - even without any requirement for real action.This would have been very welcome 20 or even 10 years ago, but it wasn't the gamechanger needed to prevent climate catastrophe, to end the era of deadly fossil fuels, or to save the north star of 1.5C. To claim that it is a triumph, or anything even close to that, is simply a lie.Asad Rehman is executive director of War on WantDo 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...

Case will determine future of mifepristone in first major abortion issue to reach country's highest court since it overturned RoeThe US supreme court on Wednesday agreed to hear oral arguments in a case that could determine the future of a pill used in most abortions in the US, in the first major abortion rights case to land at the country's highest court since the justices overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the national right to the procedure in 2022.A decision in the case will probably arrive in summer 2024, just months before the presidential election. The outcome of the case could affect not just access to the pill, which has been repeatedly deemed safe and effective, but the Federal Drug Administration's authority to regulate all manner of medications. Continue reading...

Woman, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, was about eight weeks pregnant when she filed lawsuit against stateA pregnant woman in Kentucky who is suing the Republican state over its restrictive abortion laws has learned that her embryo is no longer viable, her lawyers shared on Tuesday.The woman, who is referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, was about eight weeks pregnant when she filed the lawsuit against Kentucky in a state court in Louisville. Continue reading...

House Democratic leader claims loud and growing' movement of Republican extremists want Russian leader to win warThe Democratic US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has dismissed certain Republican colleagues as the pro-Putin caucus" amid a congressional fight over whether to send more aid to Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russian invaders.During an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Jeffries singled out the far-right House firebrands Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan as the face of a loud and ... growing" movement aiming to undermine a $61bn military aid package that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lobbied for during a trip to Washington DC on Tuesday. Continue reading...

President's son refuses to appear privately for deposition before GOP investigators and insists he will only testify in publicHunter Biden on Wednesday defied a congressional subpoena to appear privately for a deposition before Republican investigators who have been digging into his business dealings, insisting outside the US Capitol that he will only testify in public.In a rare public statement, the US president's son slammed a Republican subpoena requesting closed-door testimony, saying it could be manipulated. Continue reading...

Fans of the multiply indicted former president have the chance to own a piece of the blue suit he wore to his arrest in GeorgiaDespite his claims, Donald Trump's business career has had many more failures than successes.His record of catastrophic investments has never held Trump back, however, and now the one-term, twice-impeached, 91-time felony-charged former president has embarked on a new hustle: selling little cut-out pieces of a suit he wore during one of his arrests. Continue reading...

NBA bad boy Draymond Green was ejected after hitting Jusuf Nurki in the face during the Warriors' game against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. It has been less than a month since Green was suspended for five games by the league for putting Minnesota's Rudy Gobert in a headlock during an altercation in November. Green and Nurki were battling in the third quarter when the Warriors' player appeared to slightly lose his balance before inexplicably wheeling around and smacking Nurki in the face. Nurki immediately crumpled to the ground but eventually got up and continued the game. The referees reviewed the play before calling Green for a flagrant 2 foul, which causes an automatic ejection. Continue reading...

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, introduced a UFO transparency bill, which some Republicans want to kill. Even sceptics should oppose their effortsIt doesn't matter the topic, there always seems to be a group of lawmakers who will stop at nothing to thwart government transparency - even when it's a subject that could not be more bipartisan or in an obvious need for sunlight.This time, a small cadre of powerful Republicans have reportedly killed a provision in this year's defense authorization that would finally bring some transparency to the US government's knowledge around UFOs (now also known by the updated parlance of unidentified aerial phenomena", or UAPs).Trevor Timm is executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation Continue reading...

Women comprise a strikingly small portion of the clean tech workforce, but the White House has made steps to change thatAnna Bautista has heard the stories working in construction: penises and breasts drawn on porta-potty walls, sexist graffiti scrawled on job sites, photo calendars on break room walls featuring scantily clad women. She's seen women assigned menial tasks such as cleaning, getting lunch or organizing materials rather than learning new skills of the trade.This treatment is not limited to old-line construction sites. Bautista, the vice-president of construction for Grid Alternatives, the US's largest non-profit solar installer, says these problems are also common in the rapidly growing green economy - to the point that she goes to great lengths to present herself as very masculine when on a job site. She's even worn a wedding ring to a job site - despite not being married - so there would be no questions about what she was doing there. I was not there to date," she said. Continue reading...

Andre Braugher, who starred as Captain Raymond Holt in the hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and as Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street, has died aged 61. The actor died on Monday after a brief illness, his publicist confirmed. Instantly recognisable for his deep voice, Braugher came to fame on the NBC drama Homicide: Life on the Street, which ran from 1992 to 1998. He won an Emmy for his portrayal of the tenacious, arrogant Detective Frank Pembleton in 1998

Black people who have experienced infertility talk about the difficult decision to end their pursuit of parenthoodA ghost haunted the labor and delivery unit the night my daughter was born.I remember hearing her guttural wails and begging her to stop screaming. But as the night wore on and the nurses came to check my wrecked vitals, the haze of childbirth and the oxytocin-induced euphoria that made me think I was holding my baby faded. Continue reading...

Like the climate crisis, artificial intelligence is global. The threats it poses can be resolved if we all work together

Summit president hails historic package to accelerate climate action', but critics decry litany of loopholes' in final text. Plus, why the silent treatment is so painful

Smith has asked the supreme court to rule - urgently - on whether Trump has legal immunity, as the ex-president claimsTiming isn't everything. But it certainly matters, and seldom more so than in special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Donald Trump.The former US president intends to use timing - delay, delay, delay - to avoid punishment for trying to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and for fomenting a violent coup.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Researchers and civil liberties advocates call for the safeguarding of protected speech amid an uproar over campus activismWell before the Israel-Gaza war broke out, a new McCarthyism was already widespread on American college campuses. During the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 50s, about 100 professors were fired for supposed communist sympathies; according to Greg Lukianoff, co-author of The Canceling of the American Mind, the number fired for their political beliefs - primarily for conservative or anti-woke" positions on race and gender - over the past 10 years is almost double that.Shadi Hamid is a columnist and editorial board member at the Washington Post and a research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary. His most recent book is The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an IdeaBrett Max Kaufman is a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union's Center for Democracy Continue reading...

The coach has launched the Ultimate Tennis Showdown. It's the latest attempt to lure younger fans into a sport with an older fanbaseNo tennis player had ever done this before. It happened last September at a tournament in Frankfurt. On one side of the net was Gael Monfils, a veteran with uncanny agility. On the other was Andrey Rublev, ranked in the world's Top 10.Rublev was ahead, and it was Monfils's turn to serve. He stood at the baseline, bouncing the ball with his racket. Could he find his way back into the match? Continue reading...

The franchise has won just two playoff games in the past 11 seasons. But a talented young roster look like they could make a deep run this time aroundOne of the NBA's great recent runs of futility could finally be nearing an end.The Orlando Magic don't carry the league's longest active playoff drought - that dishonor belongs the Charlotte Hornets - but there's a real case to be made that no NBA fanbase has dealt with as much frustration over the past decade or so as folks in mid-Florida. They've won just two playoff games in the past 11 seasons, dropping five straight postseason series dating back to their Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy heyday. Continue reading...

As nation-state ownership within football becomes normalized, growing numbers of fans are willing to make excuses for autocratsIt was the clearest definition of sportswashing' you could hope for. Buried within Foreign Office exchanges unearthed in a recent investigation by The Athletic into the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United, one line stuck out: The takeover of Newcastle presents an opportunity to promote a different image of Saudi Arabia in the UK."The increased presence of nation-state ownership in sport - from the Saudi golf takeover to the acquisition of clubs such as Newcastle and Manchester City by investment funds linked closely to governments in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi - is, inevitably, money-oriented. Gulf states are attempting to diversify their economies and decrease their reliance on fossil fuels, with Saudi Arabia aiming to boost sport's percentage of the kingdom's GDP to 10% by 2030. Continue reading...

Walgreens Boots Alliance reportedly exploring options including flotation on London Stock ExchangeThe US parent company of Boots has revived plans to offload the UK's biggest pharmacy chain.Walgreens Boots Alliance, which abandoned a 5bn sale of Boots and its related No7 Beauty brand last year, is reportedly exploring options including an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Continue reading...

Nothing should be taboo for comedy or satire. But a Sky TV project raises the question: who is telling the joke and writing the script?Is a comedy about slavery" desirable, or even possible? And if not, what about satire: is that an applicable lens through which to consider one of the greatest crimes in human history? Sky, the writer Rufus Jones and the actors Hugh Bonneville and Sarah Parish - all of whom are involved in a putative series about the repercussions of an inheritance derived from slavery - are about to find out. The omens are not good: it's attracted widespread criticism before even being made.First, let me be clear: slavery and the myth of white guilt are not too taboo for comedy and, even more so, satire. Absolutely nothing should be. Satire in particular, which differs to comedy in so far as the underlying objective is to expose folly, vice, hypocrisy and human shallowness, is an important tool for generating empathy for the downtrodden, and understanding some of humanity's more shameful and painful tendencies.Nels Abbey is a writer, broadcaster and former bankerDo 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...

At the European Council, liberalism and populism will lock horns. Whichever side prevails could decide the course for years to comeI have been in more than 20 European countries this year and I have seen two Europes. Across large parts of the continent, you're still in a Europe where high-speed trains waft you across frontiers you hardly notice, as you travel seamlessly between highly integrated liberal democracies resolved to solve all their remaining conflicts by peaceful means. But take an old slow train just a few hours to the east and you are spending time in bomb shelters and talking to badly wounded soldiers with tales from the trenches reminiscent of the first world war. I keep the Air Alarm Ukraine app active on my phone, so its warnings of air raids on Ukrainian cities remind me every day of that other Europe.There's a related duality in our politics. Many European countries still have governments on the spectrum between centre-left and centre-right, often with complicated coalitions, yet all committed one way or another to making both liberal democracy and the European Union work. In Poland, we can this week celebrate the return of such a government under Donald Tusk, kicking out a populist nationalist party that had dangerously threatened the country's democracy. On the other hand, populist nationalist parties of the hard right have scored notable successes, from the emergence of Giorgia Meloni as Italian prime minister last year, through to worrying regional election gains for Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and the recent election victory of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. Hungarian leader Viktor Orban is more aggressive than ever as he works against both the interests and the values of the EU, while exploiting all the advantages of membership in it. (Brexiters at least had the honesty to leave the club they loathe.)Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist. His latest book, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe, is being published in more than 20 European languages Continue reading...

Sergey Ochigava, who had Russian and Israeli identification, faces felony charges of being an aircraft stowawayA Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket told US authorities he didn't remember how he got through security in Europe, according to a federal complaint filed by the FBI. He has been charged with a federal crime.Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on 4 November via Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen. He initially told authorities he had left his passport on the airplane which he flew on. A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer could not find Ochigava on the flight manifest or any other incoming international flights, according to the complaint filed 6 November in Los Angeles federal court. Continue reading...

Speaking after a White House meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, US president Joe Biden said the US will support Ukraine in its war with Russia 'as long as we can'. 'Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine. We must, we must, we must prove him wrong,' Biden said. The US president continued, highlighting praise for Republicans by a Russian TV host and said: 'If you're being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you're doing. History ... will judge harshly'

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The 4-3 decision could have major ramifications for the control of the US House as Democrats angle to gain control of itNew York's highest court on Tuesday ordered the state to draw new congressional districts ahead of the 2024 elections, giving Democrats a potential advantage in what is expected to be a battleground for control of the US House.The 4-3 decision from the New York court of appeals could have major ramifications as Democrats angle for more favorable district lines in the state next year. Republicans, who won control of the House after flipping seats in New York, sought to keep the map in place. Continue reading...

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are seeking up to $43m in damages after Giuliani falsely accused them of trying to steal 2020 electionShaye Moss thought she was getting promoted when her boss stopped by her cubicle on 4 December 2020. But when she stepped into his office, something was amiss - she realized she was the only one smiling.It would wind up being the day everything in her life turned upside down". Continue reading...

In indication of possible shift in tone from the White House, Biden called on Netanyahu to change his hardline government

Police in Gary were able to track down the man after he allegedly shot a fellow customer during a fight at a grocery storeA debit card left behind at the scene of a fatal shooting helped police in the US state of Indiana track down and arrest a man suspected of killing a fellow customer at a grocery store.The violence on Monday evening was caught on the surveillance camera of the store in Gary, Indiana - video which shows two men in their 40s getting into a fight near the checkout counter. Continue reading...

Agreement thought to be the largest in state's history involving an incarcerated person's deathThe family of a man who died after starving in an Indiana jail while being held in solitary confinement for three weeks has secured a $7.25m settlement, thought to be the state's largest ever in connection with the death of an incarcerated person.Joshua McLemore's estate reached the settlement with the government of the county where the jail is. Wrongful death lawsuits against the jail's physician and its medical services provider, Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc, are still pending. Continue reading...

Hannah Giles quits rightwing muckraker and says non-profit has become an unsalvageable mess'The chief executive of the rightwing muckraker Project Veritas resigned on Monday, saying the non-profit had become an unsalvageable mess" and alleging past illegality" and past financial improprieties" at the group founded by the political provocateur James O'Keefe.I am stepping down from all roles with Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action - effective immediately," Hannah Giles said. Continue reading...