New York Times says raids part of corruption investigation into Democrat's successful 2021 mayoral campaignElectronic devices including at least two mobile phones belonging to New York City mayor Eric Adams were seized by the FBI as the agency escalated a corruption investigation into his victorious 2021 campaign, the New York Times reported Friday.It follows an FBI raid earlier this month on the home of Brianna Suggs, Adams's leading campaign fundraiser, in which agents reportedly confiscated two laptop computers and three cellphones. Continue reading...

Research shows increase in prejudice and hate as civil rights group condemns unprecedented surge in bigotry'Islamophobia and antisemitism are seeing sharp increases across the US after war between Israel and Hamas erupted last month.According to a new report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization received a total of 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias between 7 October and 4 November. Continue reading...

Joseph Emerson, facing 83 counts of attempted murder, says he hoped he would wake up' if Air Alaska plane headed towards crashThe pilot who attempted to shut fuel off to the engines of an Alaska Airlines jet last month after ingesting magic mushrooms has said that he had no intention of hurting anyone - but was trying to come out of a hallucinogenic state.I thought it would stop both engines, the plane would start to head towards a crash, and I would wake up," Joseph Emerson, 44, told the New York Times in a jailhouse interview published on Friday. Continue reading...

Michigan are one of the biggest teams in college sports. But allegations they have used underhanded tactics have rocked the programThe Big Ten, the conference in which Michigan play, and college sports' main governing body, the NCAA, claim that Michigan used a vast network" of people to tape the sidelines of future opponents, both in and out of the conference, across the last three seasons. Continue reading...

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North Carolina city marks 125th anniversary of the white-supremacist attack with a week of memorial eventsThe Equal Justice Initiative is a non-profit organization committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Guardian US has partnered with EJI to reprint this special feature, originally titled The Wilmington Massacre of 1898.In the late 1890s, Wilmington, North Carolina, a port city between the Atlantic's barrier islands and the banks of the Cape Fear River, became an island of hope for a new America. Continue reading...

Calls to censure Michelle Salzman, who said, All of them' when Democrat asked: How many [dead Palestinians] will be enough?'Outrage continues to grow over a public comment made by a Florida state Republican lawmaker calling for all Palestinians to die.The remarks came during a debate in the state legislature about calling for a ceasefire in Israel's invasion of Gaza, which has so far killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, many of whom are children. The assault came after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza, killing at least 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostage. Continue reading...

The country's approach to the Palestinians has been shaped by the political right for a decade. It's not workingIsrael has some of the most advanced armed forces in the world, but in its war against Hamas it lacks an equally sophisticated political strategy. The humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Gaza is taking on frightening dimensions. Bread is running out. Scabies and diarrhoea rip through overcrowded shelters. Brackish water is making people sick. Even US officials now admit the civilian death toll is likely to be far higher than the 10,000 reported. It is talking, not fighting, that will end the war.The absence of a sustainable peace plan divides Israel and its allies. When Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Israeli forces could be in Gaza indefinitely, Washington made it clear it wanted no permanent reoccupation. Mr Netanyahu backed down. But he has not ruled out shrinking Gaza's territory to create a buffer zone" or forcibly displacing Palestinians. Mr Netanyahu leads the most rightwing government in Israel's history: one minister recently suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza. Continue reading...

The home secretary is not alone in using the Israel-Hamas war to push her own agenda - squeezing that conflict into a shape it doesn't fitThere is a special place in hell reserved for people who exploit the pain of others - and it's becoming very crowded. It's filling up with those who look at the war between Israel and Hamas, and the grief and fear it prompts in the hearts of Jews and Muslims especially, and see not tragedy but opportunity - a chance to advance their own interests.Early to rush in was Suella Braverman, who is determined to be the hard right's candidate to succeed Rishi Sunak. Her chosen playbook is the one authored by Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, the tactic simple: pick a culture war issue that drives people apart, and crown yourself as head of one of the two warring camps. That's why she said multiculturalism had failed, that Britain faced a hurricane" of migration and that homelessness was a lifestyle choice - each one of those provocations designed to make her the standard-bearer of nationalist populism in the UK.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

Sam Haskell, whose father represented Dolly Parton and George Clooney, suspected of murder of wife and her parents in LAThe 35-year-old son of a Hollywood talent agent whose clients included Dolly Parton, George Clooney and a British prince, has been taken into custody in Los Angeles after a bloody torso authorities say probably belongs to his wife was discovered in a strip-mall dumpster.Sam Haskell, who was booked on suspicion of murder on Wednesday, is also suspected of killing his wife's parents who are missing, detectives have said. Continue reading...

Democratic West Virginia senator signalled possible White House run in announcement he would not run for re-election to SenateThe West Virginia Democrat senator Joe Manchin's announcement that he will not run for re-election next year has triggered speculation that he might instead launch a bid for the White House as the candidate of No Labels, a third-party group which has attracted significant funding.Manchin has long flirted with such a bid, brushing off warnings that by running he would only help elect Donald Trump, the likely Republican candidate who is far ahead in the party's 2024 nomination race. Continue reading...

Max Hightower stripped of role over policy that students must play characters aligning with gender identity assigned to them at birthWeeks into his senior year of high school in Texas, Max Hightower earned a key male role for his campus's production of Oklahoma! the musical. But the trans teen's principal has since stripped the teen of the part, citing a new policy requiring students to only portray characters who align with the gender identity assigned to them when they were born.Hightower and his family are now appealing the administrator's decision to the school board while the play is put on hold pending a review.This article was amended on 10 November 2023 to clarify that the role Max Hightower initially got was a key male role, but not the leading role. Continue reading...

Trump said: If I happen to be president and I see somebody doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them'Donald Trump has suggested he would use the FBI and justice department to go after political rivals should he return to the White House next year in a move which will further stoke fears of what a second period of office for Trump could mean.Trump made the comments during an interview with the Spanish-language television network Univision. The host Enrique Acevedo asked him about his flood of legal problems saying: You say they've weaponized the justice department, they weaponized the FBI. Would you do the same if you're re-elected?" Continue reading...

Rico charges against 61 people have outraged civil liberties groups who see an effort to demonize legitimate protestersAt one point during the courtroom arraignment this week of 61 defendants charged with criminal conspiracy in connection with a protest movement in Atlanta, the bailiff could be heard shouting out numbers corresponding to the next batch - like a crowded delicatessen at lunch hour.The courtroom's six rows of wooden benches were packed with attorneys and defendants, with one row at the back reserved for media. It took about four hours for the Fulton county superior court judge Kimberly M Esmond Adams to go through the felony criminal charges with the defendants, all tied to opposition against a planned police and fire department training center known as Cop City". Continue reading...

There is no blank cheque in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The ICC is working to ensure justice is on the frontlines

From Florida to Alaska, workers are facing legal efforts to weaken their power by targeting union certification and duesPublic sector unions in the US have been facing significant challenges from anti-union groups and Republicans at the federal and state levels in recent years, but have also mounted significant organizing campaigns to stave off membership and funding losses.Some 33% of workers in the public sector were union members in 2022, over five times the union density of the private sector in America. At more than 7 million workers, public sector unions represent nearly half of the 14.3 million union members in the US. Continue reading...

Everything is on the table,' US official says of first face-to-face interaction between leaders in a year, on WednesdayThe US president, Joe Biden, will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, face-to-face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, the White House said, in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at curbing tensions between the world's two superpowers.The closely watched interaction, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the San Francisco Bay Area, could last hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington. Continue reading...

Donald Trump's daughter fulfils her filial role. Plus, De Niro in the dock and Fiona on the farmThe sun is bright and the air is crisp as we enter the second and final week of what, among stiff competition, may be New York's juiciest trial of the season. Not Sam Bankman-Fried, the former crypto-trader awaiting sentencing after his conviction for fraud last week, nor Donald Trump, facing his own civil fraud trial (on top of the 91 felony counts), but Robert De Niro, who is being sued by his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, for $12m, and who is countersuing her for $6m. Continue reading...

Offices in Georgia, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington were all sent letters containing suspicious substancesLaw enforcement in the US is searching for the people responsible for sending letters with suspicious substances sent to election offices in at least five states, acts some election officials described as terrorism".Election offices in Georgia, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington state all were sent the letters, four of which contained the deadly drug fentanyl, the Associated Press reported. Some of the letters were intercepted before they arrived. The FBI and United States Postal Service are investigating. Continue reading...

In response to the attack, local officials have been putting up warning signs about not feeding elk in local communitiesAn Arizona woman has died after being attacked by an elk she is suspected of feeding, becoming the first person to be killed by the species in the state's history, local wildlife officials have said.The attack happened at the end of October but the woman died this week after succumbing to her injuries in the hospital, CNN reported. Continue reading...

Democrats and abortion rights supporters show enthusiasm for ballot initiatives - but organizers are already meeting interferenceIn the days since Ohio voters overwhelmingly backed a ballot measure to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution, abortion rights supporters and Democrats across the country have become enthralled with the idea of using such measures to protect access to the procedure.Not only are ballot measures often the best chance states have of restoring or protecting abortion rights, but they have proved to be a shot in the arm for Democratic and Republican voters alike. Ballot measures in states such as Kansas and Ohio, once considered conservative strongholds, have won by overwhelming margins - and won in areas that Joe Biden lost in 2020. Continue reading...

A conspiracy theory-touting clerk and far-right supervisor were ousted in Adams Township - but new officials face issues as the 2024 elections loomIn early October, Beverly Sharp addressed a table of poll workers, elections officials and activists gathered in rural Adams Township, Michigan, with a prayer.Father, we thank you for this opportunity to meet together to discuss things, and to agree if we agree, and if we disagree, [to be] friendly," said the longtime poll worker. Continue reading...

Nine of 12 members of the commission charged with avoiding nuclear conflict have financial ties to defense contractorsNine of the 12 members of a high-level congressional committee charged with advising on the US's nuclear weapons strategy have direct financial ties to contractors that would benefit from the report's recommendations or are employed at thinktanks that receive considerable funding from weapons manufacturers, the Guardian and Responsible Statecraft can reveal.While the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States (CCSPUS) purports to recommend steps to avoid nuclear conflict, it does nothing to disclose its own potential conflicts of interest with the weapons industry in its final report or at rollout events at thinktanks in Washington. Continue reading...

Uber-feminine style is often seen as infantile or unserious. But to me it's a form of escapism, nostalgia and joyThe other day I received a parcel in the post, and when I opened it, I squealed with pure glee. Nestled in the box was a pair of pink satin shoes, flat like ballet pumps, fastened with a silver buckle. They looked like a cross between a pair of Velma-from-Scooby-Doo Mary Janes and something you'd see on a Sylvanian Families rabbit. I was delighted.Over the last couple of months, I've developed a predilection for adorning myself in the trappings of uber-femininity: tartan kilts, danceresque tights, legwarmers and fuzzy knits. On the secondhand clothing app Vinted, I now have an alert set up for the phrase bow jumper"; and there is a container on my dressing table that is overflowing with hair ribbons.Lauren O'Neill is a culture writer Continue reading...

Prime minister appears to soften statement that Israel could be responsible for Gaza's security indefinitely. Plus, what has turned a pond in Hawaii bright pink?Good morning.Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel does not seek to conquer, occupy or govern Gaza after its war against Hamas, but a credible force" would be needed to enter the Palestinian territory if necessary to prevent the emergence of militant threats.Why is Israel striking near hospitals in Gaza City? The strikes come as the Israeli military pushes deeper into dense urban neighbourhoods in its battle with Hamas militants. Israel has accused Hamas fighters of hiding in hospitals and using the al-Shifa hospital complex as its main command centre. The claim has been denied by the militant group and hospital staff, who say Israel is creating a pretext to strike it.What does this mean for the Democrats? It will make the Democrats' quest to preserve their majority in the Senate even more difficult. Manchin was one of three Democratic senators representing red states who are facing voters next year, and the party is not viewed as having a strong replacement candidate in West Virginia, a deeply Republican state. Continue reading...

The World Cup winner's impact off the field was undeniable. As her final game approaches, it's time to assess her as an athleteWhen Megan Rapinoe's boots grace the field at Snapdragon Stadium for the NWSL final this Saturday, they will do so for the last time in her career.Should OL Reign, where she has played for 11 seasons, win the championship in San Diego, she will have clinched the one major trophy to have eluded. Continue reading...

The UFC has been accused of engineering a monopoly over the world of mixed martial arts. But its leverage may soon be severely weakenedAs the UFC prepares for its upcoming showcase event on Saturday, the real fight is set to take place outside the octagon, within the confines of a courtroom.Last week, the UFC lost its bid to revoke class action status from hundreds of mixed martial arts fighters who are suing for more than a billion dollars in wages. The lawsuit accuses UFC parent company Zuffa LLC of illegally acquiring and maintaining a monopoly over the MMA industry, which resulted in fighters being paid a fraction of what they would earn in a competitive marketplace."Karim Zidan writes a regular newsletter on the intersection of sports and authoritarian politics.

The success of centre-left parties follows the collapse in devotion. Like Ireland, we are loosening the church's grip on the stateThe city council of Czstochowa in central Poland passed a shocking resolution last year. Councillors announced that the city no longer wished to pay for religious education in local schools and called on the government to relieve them of this duty.Since then, many Polish cities, most recently Wrocaw, have followed suit. Their declarations are of no legal consequence, but they nevertheless are powerfully symbolic of Poland's social transformation, especially given where the rebellion originated.Wojciech Orliski is a Polish journalist and author

Wildlife refuge pond in Hawaii has twice the salinity of seawater because of low water levels caused by droughtA pond in Hawaii has turned bubble-gum pink, in what scientists believe may be the result of halobacteria" thriving on water with unusually high salt levels due to drought.Staff at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on Maui have been monitoring the pink water since 30 October. Continue reading...

These days it seems if you want a sheep rescued you have to get it on the news

Advocates warned of tragic consequences' should the project in a remote part of northern Alaska go aheadA federal judge has upheld the Biden administration's approval of the Willow oil-drilling project in a remote part of northern Alaska in a move that environmental groups warned will have tragic consequences" for the Arctic.On Thursday, the US district court judge Sharon Gleason rejected requests by a grassroots Inupiat group and environmentalists to undo the approval for the project in the federally designated National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Continue reading...

Actor and former wrestler says unnamed parties approached him one after the other' in 2022 after a poll revealed 46% of Americans would support his presidential runDwayne The Rock" Johnson has revealed that multiple political parties approached him last year to see if he would run for US president, after a poll revealed 46% of Americans would support his campaign.Appearing as the first guest on Trevor Noah's new Spotify podcast What Now?, the actor and former WWE wrestler said a 2021 poll of 30,000 American adults led to the parties" contacting him to ask if he was interested in running at the end of 2022. Continue reading...

Maga Republican and leftwing Democrat among 16 US Congress members lobbying Joe Biden to drop extradition attempts against WikiLeaks founder

Controversial West Virginia Democrat, 76, has for years held outsized degree of power within party

West Virginia's controversial Democratic US senator Joe Manchin says he will not seek re-election in 2024 and will instead 'fight to unite'.'After months of deliberation and long conversations with my family, I believe in my heart of hearts that I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia,' the senator said. Manchin's decision will jeopardise the Democrats' narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate.Manchin said he would instead be travelling across the US to 'mobilise the middle' as he denounced polarisation in US politics.

Mosby, best known for failed prosecution of police in Freddy Gray's death, was accused of improperly accessing retirement fundsA former top prosecutor for the city of Baltimore was convicted on Thursday of charges that she lied about the finances of a side business to improperly access retirement funds during the Covid pandemic, using the money to buy two Florida homes.A federal jury convicted former Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby of two counts of perjury after a trial that started on Monday. Continue reading...

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The party is viewed as not having a strong replacement candidate in West Virginia, a deeply Republican state

David DePape, 43, charged with breaking into San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi and husband and carrying out hammer attackThe trial of a man accused of breaking into Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home and bludgeoning her husband with a hammer has begun, with a defense attorney arguing that her client, David DePape, was caught up in conspiracy theories.Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was attacked by DePape in the early hours of 28 October last year and hospitalized with a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands. The encounter, which was captured by police body-cam footage, sent shockwaves through the political world just days before last year's midterm elections. Continue reading...

Chief executive of parent company G/O Media Jim Spanfeller says in staff memo our business model ... did not align with Jezebel's'Jezebel, a feminist US news site, was shut down by its owners on Thursday, with 23 people laid off and no plans for the outlet to resume publication.G/O Media, which owns Jezebel and other sites including Gizmodo and the Onion, announced the closure in a memo to staff, which was obtained by the Guardian.Jenna Amatulli contributed reporting; she is a former deputy editor at Jezebel Continue reading...

Suella Braverman is trying to import the worst politics of the US evangelical right. This inflammatory rhetoric has no place in BritainIt reads, with hindsight, uncannily like a prophecy. Long before Suella Braverman became home secretary, when Mark Rowley was enjoying a brief career sabbatical ahead of being appointed chief commissioner of the Metropolitan police, he published an unexpected literary debut. A strictly fictional thriller, co-authored by the journalist David Derbyshire, The Sleep of Reason is set in a world where shrill competing political ideologies make the job of policing infinitely harder and real people consequently risk getting hurt.Between you and me, I despair with this generation of politicians," says a senior police officer at one point. We've got the rise of extreme-right terrorism, the continued threat from Islamists and we're in the middle, supposedly protecting the public. And meanwhile the political class on every side seems more interested in chucking fuel on the fire."Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Aaron James was grievously wounded in a power-line accident that destroyed most of his face and seriously damaged his left eyeSurgeons have performed the world's first transplant of an entire human eye, an extraordinary addition to a face transplant - although it's far too soon to know if the man will ever see through his new left eye.An accident with high-voltage power lines had destroyed most of Aaron James's face and one eye. His right eye still works. But surgeons at NYU Langone Health hoped replacing the missing one would yield better cosmetic results for his new face, by supporting the transplanted eye socket and lid. Continue reading...

Investigator was recorded on surveillance video removing the crucifix necklace from body and placing it in his medical bagA Los Angeles county coroner's investigator has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a gold chain and crucifix from around the neck of a dead man, prosecutors said on Wednesday.The suspect, a 34-year-old man, faces one felony count of grand theft and one misdemeanor count of petty theft, the district attorney's office said in a statement. Continue reading...

Students and staff at the Ivy League school have issued a series of dueling statements amid accusations of harassment and physical violence - and the acrimony shows no signs of slowingExcept for the flickering police vans idling around Columbia University on a recent evening, the campus was almost the picture of an Ivy League idyll, with students striding past classical architecture in their autumnal best, clasping coffee cups.Yet the conspicuously beefed-up security presence was one sign that all is not well at Columbia. Since the Israel-Hamas war began last month, fierce debates about the conflict and the US's response have riven the university, with students clashing in dueling statements, rallies, and occasional physical confrontations. Hundreds of faculty members have also gotten involved. Continue reading...

The candidates didn't dare go after Donald Trump. So they went after each other in a chaotic fashionBecause I did something terrible in a past life and have to be punished for it in this one, on Wednesday night I watched the Republican presidential debate. It was the third in a series of televised temper tantrums by a dwindling field of eligible candidates, all pretending that there is a meaningful contest for the Republican presidential nomination and that any of them have the slightest chance of winning it.In the past, these events have ranged from the chaotic to the deranged, as characters like Tim Scott put a smiling, chipper, aw-shucks sheen on a lurid vision of enforced male supremacy, Ron DeSantis publicly indulges wild fantasies about sending American soldiers to conduct summary executions of Mexican drug cartel leaders on the soil of a sovereign foreign nation, and Chris Christie puts on a poor imitation of someone who believes in his own relevance. Continue reading...

Power utility says fundamental reform' of UK's electricity network needed to tackle backlog of projects awaiting connectionNational Grid has increased its investment plans to 42bn by 2026 as the backlog of clean energy projects waiting to connect to the UK's power networks continues to grow.The FTSE 100 monopoly, charged with running most of the UK's power grids and some networks in the US, spent a record 3.5bn in the first half of the financial year as a result of the momentum of green policies on both sides of the Atlantic. Continue reading...

One of the many benefits of group holidays is that if you forget something, or break it, or soak it in red wine, you won't be on your own - but not every kind of sharing brings delightI was packing for a weekend away with several other families when I made the mistake of thinking a bottle of red wine would be safest rolled up in a sleeping bag.I didn't know most of the families going but I knew the instigators, and that they'd have gathered a great crowd. Those other families probably thought so too - until ours showed up, reeking of wine, in the middle of the day. Continue reading...

Former senator and secretary of state says Nazi leader was initially elected and that Trump is telling us what he intends to do'Hillary Clinton has compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler as she offered a blunt warning about the dangers of a second Trump presidency.Trump back in the White House, Clinton said during an appearance on ABC's daytime talkshow The View on Wednesday, would be the end of our country as we know it, and I don't say that lightly". Continue reading...