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The president and supporters argue Hunter Biden would never have been charged were it not for his name - and any father might have done the same. But this exercise of power also looks like a validation of Donald TrumpA loving act of mercy by a father who has already known much sorrow? Or a hypocritical political manoeuvre reminiscent of his great foe? Maybe both can be true.Joe Biden's announcement on Sunday that he had pardoned his son Hunter, who is facing sentencing in two criminal cases, is likely to have been the product of a Shakespearean struggle between head and heart. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has issued a full and unconditional' pardon to his son Hunter Biden, in a reversal for the presidentJoe Biden has issued a pardon for his son Hunter. Here is his statement in full:Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. Continue reading...

In announcement, state's Democratic chair touts grassroots and new media organizing success in closely divided stateWisconsin Democratic leader Ben Wikler joined the race to lead the Democratic National Committee on Sunday, promising to take on Trump, Republican extremists, and move our country forward", as the party looks to rebuild from its losses in the November election.In a video posted on social networks, Wikler, 43, touted his state party's success in organizing to flip 14 state legislative seats and send Senator Tammy Baldwin back to Washington DC in November, and in previously campaigns to win control of the state supreme court and re-elect governor Tony Evers. Wikler, a former podcaster, Air America radio producer and headline writer for The Onion, also stressed his new media expertise. Continue reading...

Deep state' critic who has threatened to shut down agency's headquarters could face tough confirmation battleDonald Trump's plan to nominate as FBI director the deep state" conspiracy theorist Kash Patel, a virulent critic of the bureau who has threatened to fire its top echelons and shut down the agency's headquarters, is facing blowback in Congress as US senators begin to flex their muscles ahead of a contentious confirmation process.Politicians from both main parties took to the Sunday talk shows to express starkly divergent views on Patel, whom Trump announced on Saturday as his pick to lead the most powerful law enforcement agency in the US. The move is dependent on the incumbent FBI chief, Christopher Wray, who Trump himself placed in the job in 2017, either being fired or resigning. Continue reading...

Conservationists fear an expansion of drilling with North Dakota governor Trump's pick for secretary of the interior and White House energy czar'Of all Donald Trump's cabinet nominees so far, Doug Burgum has stood out for appearing to be one of the most conventional.The billionaire governor of North Dakota - like most picks to lead the Department of the Interior, the largest landowner in the US west - comes from a western state. He is not a conspiracy theorist, he hasn't been investigated for sex trafficking. Unlike the president-elect's pick to lead the Department of Energy, he is not a fracking CEO. Continue reading...

President-elect threatens retaliation if emerging economies create new currency to rival US dollarFears of a global trade war have risen after Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on countries in the Brics group if they create a new currency to rival the US dollar.Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Saturday, Trump declared that he would also act if they supported another currency to replace the dollar. Continue reading...

Feminist solidarity has weakened, but women around the world tell me their fight continuesWhat happens in America does not stay in America. The prospect of Trump's second administration is devastating for many American women, but its reverberations are also echoing for women across the globe, and bringing much more fear and uncertainty than last time around.Eight years ago, while Trump's success shocked women in Britain, it also brought rays of hope - in the shape of a resurgence of solidarity. On the day after the election in 2016, I remember going into my workplace, a charity for refugee women, feeling pretty bleak, and looking at other women's downcast faces. Then, at the end of the day, one of our colleagues had the most unexpected news. The charity's online donations had rocketed.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Demoralized but unbowed, the opposition ponders its next move as Trump prepares to re-enter the White HouseLA Kauffman remembers the day hundreds of thousands of women, men and children marched in the streets of Washington. If you've never been in a crowd that large, it's hard to convey how powerful the feeling is of standing together with so many people who share your goals and that feeling of community and connection," says the political organiser, activist and author.The Women's March, held the day after Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017, was the biggest single-day protest in US history until the demonstrations that erupted after the police murder of George Floyd three years later. Both were among the most spectacular examples of the resistance" to Trump's first term as president. Continue reading...

US workers say Democrats neglected desperately needed' action toward vulnerable groups amid recession fearsSaru Jayaraman tried. As far back as January, the president of low-pay campaign group One Fair Wage recalls telling Democratic leaders in Washington DC that voters were worried about the cost of living.It just went on deaf ears," she said. One of the biggest challenges we faced was they kept wanting to talk about the economy. And we kept saying, it's not about the economy, it's about our economy: it's about my economy, my ability to pay for eggs and gas." Continue reading...

The move comes as US faces increased threats from bird flu, mpox, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseasesWhen Donald Trump nominated David Weldon, a 71-year-old doctor from Florida who has long questioned the safety of vaccines, to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anti-vaccine activists celebrated.The move comes as the US faces increased threats from bird flu and mpox as well as resurgences of whooping cough, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Continue reading...

Investing more in revenue services pays dividends in returns to government coffers, new US research showsWhat do we want? More tax inspectors. When do we want them? Ideally a few years back, but now will do. Maybe not the most exciting protest song, but it does it for me.My first job in the Treasury was for a very sexy team called Revenue Service Delivery, clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance by hunting those stashing money in Swiss bank accounts or pretending to be self-employed. Continue reading...

The view in Number 10 is that work on the government's missions has been too sluggish and now needs to be driven harder and fasterWhatever you say about it, don't call it a relaunch. Sir Keir Starmer will fanfare a new Plan for Change" this Thursday and it is being bigged up by Downing Street as a momentous event, no less than the most ambitious delivery plan in a generation". His aides are wary of the dreaded r-word because many observers are going to interpret this, fairly or not, as a desperate attempt to turn the page onrecenttroubles.It is a truth now pretty much universally acknowledged within the government that it has got off to a much stickier start than it expected. In too many areas, it has hit the ground not running, but stumbling. More definition of Labour's goals was provided by the budget, but at the price of rousing a lot of extremely vocal opposition, especially from those being asked to pay more tax. The latest squall to buffet Number 10 has been the enforced resignation of Lou Haigh. She could never be described as a soulmate of the prime minister, which helps explain the clinically unsentimental way in which the transport secretary was taken out of service. Losing a relatively junior member of the cabinet will have next to no impact on Labour's eventual fate. Her fall nevertheless adds to the impression that the Starmer government is being serially surprised by embarrassing revelations and knocked about by events. Continue reading...

Although the French court case represents a watershed for women, reform of justice systems is vitalGlobally, home is the most dangerous place for women, a United Nations paper reported last week. It was referring to femicide, the killing of women by a partner or former partner, but as we've learned over the past three months during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, 72, and the 50 ordinary" men who visited Gisele Pelicot, 72, when she was drugged and comatose, to have sex with her inert body, home offers no haven for the living either.Pelicot waived her right to anonymity, allowing her ex-husband's cache of videos of the nocturnal rapes to be shown in court. The shame is theirs," she pointed out, always composed, refusing to be humiliated.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

President-elect Donald Trump wants the author of the book Government Gangsters' to bring the FBI to heel'Donald Trump has tapped Kashyap Kash" Patel to be FBI director, nominating a loyalist and deep state" critic to lead the federal law enforcement agency that the president-elect has long slammed as corrupt.Patel, 44, has worked as a federal prosecutor and a public defender but rose to prominence in Trump circles after expressing outrage over the agency's investigation into whether Trump's campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. He has called for the FBI leadership to be fired as part of a drive to bring federal law enforcement to heel." Continue reading...

Edan Alexander, who was taken prisoner on 7 Oct, asked Donald Trump to secure his freedom in a Hamas video condemned by the White HouseThe White House has condemned a Hamas-issued propaganda video of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander urging president-elect Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a deal to free remaining hostages in Gaza, calling it a cruel reminder of Hamas's terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own".In the video, titled Soon ... Time is running out" and posted on Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, Alexander calls on Trump to use his influence and the full power of the United States to negotiate for our freedom". Continue reading...

On the touchline or off it, the former Chelsea manager is still the biggest draw in the women's gameFootball needs great characters and, for 12 years, English women's football was all the more interesting for the presence of one of the most charismatic coaches in the sport in the form of Emma Hayes; never afraid to speak her mind, never dull and scarcely ever beaten. Perhaps the Women's Super League and the wider English game did not realise quite how much it was missing Hayes until she brought her Olympic champions to London and reminded everyone what a difference a sprinkle of personality can make inhelping to grow a sport.The match itself was rather unexciting, but the USA coach somehow made the occasion anything but. The tone was set at the start of the week when Hayes hosted a press conference in a pub in Camden. Where else? She joked about the venue smelling of fart and feet", before pouring some pints from behind the bar. It would be unfair to label the 12 current WSL managers as dull by comparison but it is undeniably true that none of them can yet grab a room's attention quite like Hayes can, guarantee as many column inches or stir up quite so much attention for a friendly fixture. Continue reading...

Prime minister becomes first G7 leader to visit president-elect amid concerns over tariff threatDonald Trump said he had a productive" meeting with Justin Trudeau after the Canadian prime minister paid a surprise trip to his Mar-a-Lago estate amid fears about Trump's promised tariffs.Trudeau became the first G7 leader to meet with Trump before his second term amid widespread fears in Canada and many other parts of the world that Trump's trade policy will cause widespread economic chaos. Continue reading...

Businessman pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering in 2005Donald Trump has nominated Charles Kushner, a businessman who is the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Ivanka, to serve as US ambassador to France, the president-elect said on Saturday.Kushner, whose job requires Senate confirmation, is the latest of Trump's picks to have close ties with the incoming president. Kushner's son, Jared Kushner, is married to Ivanka Trump, and was a close advisor to Trump during his first presidency. Continue reading...

It wasn't a classic, but an improved defensive performance from the Lionesses denied Emma Hayes's Olympic champions at Wembley2 min: Otherwise, it's a uneventful start as both teams take turns to get a feel of the ball.12 secs: Naz makes good down the right but her cross is too high for Russo in the middle. Naeher claims. What a start that could have been! Continue reading...

Cooper's whereabouts after he jumped from a plane with $200,000 stumped investigators. Has the case been solved?It is one of the biggest mysteries in US criminal history: just what happened to DB Cooper, the man who hijacked an airplane before leaping out in mid-air with $200,000 in cash?Now, more than 50 years later, the infamous crime may have been solved, after a pair of siblings came forward to claim they had found the parachute used in the hijacking, in their mother's shed, and that Cooper was their father. Continue reading...

Digital crusade by anti-woke warriors against a vapid film for teen girls should be sending a wake-up call to HollywoodThe war on woke" has a new target and her name is the Wicked Witch of the West. If you're a fan of the musical Wicked, you'll also know her as Elphaba, the moniker imagined by Gregory Maguire in his 1995 prequel to L Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. As played by Margaret Hamilton in the 1939 movie, she was the nemesis of Judy Garland's Dorothy; as played this year by the musical theatre star Cynthia Erivo, she has conservative men across Britain and America bursting their blood vessels.Since Maguire came up with his novel - an extravagant piece of fan-fiction that suggests this witch" might simply have been misunderstood - it has been reinterpreted as a stage musical and now as a movie in two parts. Wicked's target market consists of teenage girls who see themselves in this backstory for Elphaba and her college-friend-turned-rival, Glinda the Good Witch. In the 21 years since Stephen Schwartz's adaptation opened on Broadway, the show has been a cult phenomenon among young musical fans, blithely ignored by everyone else. Now the screen version has brought into mainstream conversation and the land of Oz has become a battleground in America's culture war.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Riding on a TikTok tide of Putin propaganda, the Romanian nationalist typifies a swing on the continent that is raising the spectre of the 1930sPolitics in Romania can be a bloody business, especially on the right. The excesses of the Iron Guard, an insurrectionary, violently antisemitic, ultranationalist 1930s political-religious militia, stood out even at a time when fascist parties were wreaking havoc in Germany, Italy and Spain. Given what is happening in Europe today, the events of that period are instructive.Iron Guard founder Corneliu Codreanu, a ruthless assassin who was himself assassinated in 1938, and his ally turned enemy, the pro-Nazi general Ion Antonescu, who was executed for war crimes in 1946, are back in the news of late. That's because both men have been lauded as national heroes by Clin Georgescu, shock winner of last weekend's first round of Romania's presidential election.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Officials acknowledge prisoners have harmed themselves but say they did not set themselves on fire or self-immolateSeveral incarcerated people in Virginia's high-security Red Onion state prison have intentionally burned themselves in a protest against harsh conditions at the facility.A written statement from Virginia's department of corrections acknowledged that men imprisoned there had harmed themselves, although the authorities confirmed six incidents while others reported that 12 men were injured. Continue reading...

Email from mother, published in the New York Times, said he mistreated women and displayed a lack of characterThe family dynamics of Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, have burst out into the open after an email from his mother criticizing her son over his treatment of women and calling him an abuser of women" was leaked to a newspaper.A 2018 email from Penelope Hegseth accused her son of routinely mistreating women and displaying a lack of character. Continue reading...

Hoax threats come days after similar threats to Republicans set to fill roles in incoming Trump administrationAmerican lawmakers are on edge after a wave of hoax bomb threats targeted figures across the political spectrum and prompted the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives to demand that Congress take action to provide maximum protection".Over Thanksgiving nearly the entire Connecticut congressional delegation of Democrats faced bomb threats that apparently were signed Maga" - shorthand for Donald Trump's Make America great again" political movement. Continue reading...

Elon Musk seems to have abandoned his many children to hang out with Trump's family and JD Vance is ... just bizarreMelania Trump has made it clear that her second stint at being first lady will be conducted entirely on her own terms. It's been reported that she's unlikely to move back to the White House and will spend a lot of the next four years flitting between New York and Florida. Maybe she'll write another coffee table book. Maybe she'll develop another caviar-infused skincare line. Who knows. But whatever she does, it'll be in the service of her own interest, rather than the country's. Continue reading...

As the next US president threatens steep tariffs, the country's two largest trading partners steel themselves for another rocky rideStone-faced as he stared into a gaggle of cameras on Tuesday, the leader of Canada's largest province laid bare how it feels to be America's northern neighbour and closest ally this week.It's like a family member stabbing you right in the heart," said Ontario's premier, Doug Ford. A day before, president-elect Donald Trump had pledged hefty tariffs on Mexico and Canada, the US's two largest trading partners. It's the biggest threat we've ever seen ... It's unfortunate. It's very, very hurtful." Continue reading...

Navajo Nation sued Apache county for a second time over alleged scramble to cure mail-in ballots - on top of other systemic hurdles like long lines and translation issuesThe calls started coming in to the Arizona Native vote election protection hotline around 6am on election day.Voters in Apache county, where a sizable chunk of the population is Dine, also known as Navajo, were seeing problems at the polls. One location was locked and several others were having trouble printing ballots, according to an affidavit filed in state court. As the day went on, voters reported hours-long waits and observers reported that people were leaving. A local judge would eventually agree to extend voting in nine precincts in the county by two hours. Continue reading...

President-elect's list of branded products continues to grow - and he seems to be profiting from his eclectic rangeDonald Trump raised eyebrows earlier this month when he announced he was selling a line of $11,000 guitars - the musical instrument becoming the latest item in a string of Trump-endorsed products that include sneakers, a Bible and a victory cologne".Billed as the only guitar officially endorsed by President Donald J Trump", the acoustic and electric axes bear all the gaudy insignia of Trump's political campaigns, and have been developed with the help of a master luthier". Continue reading...

Political analysts say president-elect cannot resist chaos' as he preps administration across ideological spectrumDuring Donald Trump's first administration, his vice-president became the target of an angry mob amid calls for him to be hanged. His top diplomat was fired via Twitter and branded dumb as a rock". His first attorney general was given his marching orders and called very weak" and disgraceful".Despite it all, Trump has had no trouble recruiting a team eager to serve when he returns to the White House in January, even if his initial pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, was forced to back out amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Continue reading...

When people face financial pressure and child poverty is so high, it's hard to prioritise family readingOn the shelf in my son's bedroom is a row of picture books that once belonged to me. Sometimes, I like to look at them, and be immediately transported back to my own childhood. There's The Three Wonderful Beggars, by Sally Scott, a retelling of the Serbian fairytale; and The Whales' Song, by Dyan Sheldon and Gary Blythe, about a little girl who sneaks out at night in the hope of hearing the sea creatures call to one another.These books conjured vivid worlds for me, and there's something magical about being able to tap into that still, all these years later. This week, I read an interesting report about the so-called crisis" in kids' literacy, which, while worrying, is somewhat overblown. The real concern, it seems, is not to do with test scores measuring the ability to read, but the plummeting number of children reading for pleasure. In 2020, only 17% of US 13-year-olds read for fun every day, compared with 27% in 2012. The numbers in the UK are higher, but also on a downward trajectory. The National Literacy Trust found 35% of eight- to 18-year-olds said they regularly read for pleasure in 2024, which is the lowest figure since measurements began two decades ago.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author Continue reading...

Making dying easier is not the solution when NHS, social and palliative care are simply not there for patientsThe succession of former prime ministers who lined up in recent days to assert their compassion for the dying was quite something. David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson - all of them wanting us to know just how much they cared. Imagine if this roll call of political powerhouses - each of whom was better placed than anyone to improve the fate of those with terminal diagnoses - had used that power, while in office, to do something concrete, tangible, to alleviate the terminal suffering that allegedly touched them so deeply. Imagine, in other words, if their actions then had matched their fine words now.I don't doubt the strength of feeling behind this vote in favour of legalising assisted dying in England and Wales, but as someone who has cared for thousands of people with terminal illnesses, I have to wonder at its sincerity. Because every prime minister over the last 20 years - and every MP for that matter - knows full well that much (though not all) of the pain and misery of dying can be alleviated with good palliative care. They also know how much suffering at the end of life is caused by basic NHS, social and palliative care simply not being there for patients. Wes Streeting went one step further. The health secretary cited the threadbare realities of our underfunded, patchy, palliative care services as his primary reason for voting against the bill, stating (correctly) that the postcode lottery in care denies many patients a genuine choice at the end of life.Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and the author of Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic Continue reading...

From selfie' to slop', internet culture is changing our languageIt started with chav" and has included carbon footprint", omnishambles" and selfie". The Oxford word of the year campaign celebrates 20 years of selecting the word - or sometimes two words - that in some way sums up the moment. This year's winner, decided by public vote, will be announced on Monday.All six contenders on the shortlist have one thing in common - the internet. The words either refer to anxieties about online phenomena or behaviour (slop", meaning AI-generated content, and brain rot" caused by consuming too much slop" and other material); or they have been repurposed or popularised by social media (old-fashioned words such as demure" and lore", and romantasy" - a blend of romance and fantasy beloved by BookTokkers). Even dynamic pricing" relates to Ticketmaster's skyrocketing costs ofOasis reunion tickets for fans in virtual queues. Continue reading...

Thousands of people ventured out in the rain to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade , with beloved floats, including Minnie Mouse and Sponge Bob, sailing down the parade route. The 98th annual parade, televised nationwide, is part of the tradition of the US Thanksgiving Day holiday, a spectacle of giant balloons of cartoon characters, marching bands and popular music acts performing live. Similar events took place in Chicago, where an array of floats, marching bands and cultural performers marched down State Street. Continue reading...

Emma Hayes is keen for her Olympic champions to keep progressing in Saturday's friendly meeting with EnglandLindsey Horan's nails are painted gold and she gives an embarrassed laugh when asked whether they are a celebration of the US team's Olympic gold in Paris, a statement to Saturday's opposition of their status. No, it was supposed to be brown chrome," she says, going a little red. It was a translation problem."Her manager, Emma Hayes, sitting beside her at Tottenham's training ground before the game against England at Wembley, chips in: She has got the most incredible necklace, though." The five Olympic rings hang round Horan's neck in gold and the captain promises she will get Hayes one. Continue reading...

From defence to trade, the incoming US president is upending the old order - and standing apart from our neighbours leaves us dangerously exposedIt's one damned thing after another. As Keir Starmer is discovering, government, like life, can feel like a fusillade of events, each coming faster than the one before. If it's not a cabinet minister resigning over a past fraud conviction, it's MPs voting for assisted dying - and that's just in one day. Through that blizzard of news, it can be hard to make out the lasting changes in the landscape - even those that have profound implications for our place in the world.The November 2024 event that will have the most enduring global impact is the election of Donald Trump. There are some in the higher reaches of the UK government who are surprisingly relaxed about that fact, reassuring themselves that, in effect, we got through it once, we'll get through it again. Yes, they admit, Trump has nominated some crazy people to lead in areas crucial to the UK-US relationship, such as defence and intelligence, but don't worry, officials in London will do what they did last time: work with like-minded counterparts in the Washington bureaucracy to bypass the Trump loyalists at the top.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...