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Centrist No Labels says 2024 ticket could hurt Trump as much as Biden and rejects comparisons with Jill Stein and Ralph NaderThird parties could hurt Donald Trump as much as Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, the group No Labels has claimed, insisting that its contentious effort to build a unity ticket cannot be compared to spoiler candidates of the past.We're not spoiling anything," No Labels' Jay Nixon, a lifelong Democrat who spent 30 years serving Missouri as a governor, attorney general and state senator, told the Guardian. Continue reading...

SB4, scheduled to go into effect on 5 March, is one of the strictest immigration laws ever passed in American historyThe US Department of Justice has threatened to sue the state of Texas if it implements a law that would allow state police to arrest any person deemed suspicious of crossing the border illegally.The law, called Senate Bill 4, is scheduled to go into effect on 5 March. One of the strictest immigration laws ever passed in American history, SB4 seeks to prohibit sanctuary city' policies, that prohibit local law enforcement from inquiring about a person's immigration status and complying with detainer requests". Continue reading...

The president's approval rating has sunk to 34% - can he stop Donald Trump from retaking the White House?Welcome to paradise. As rain dampened spirits in Washington, Joe Biden this week flew with family to St Croix in the US Virgin Islands to ring in 2024. Its lush landscape, turquoise water and humid air provided some welcome respite for a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.Biden has fought numerous elections for the Senate and White House, but next year he faces possibly the toughest campaign of his career. Continue reading...

Swept up in the sheer force of nature, we huddled into a tighter group. As social animals we survive only as a community

As we celebrate the return to Wales of the peace petition sent to the US in the 1920s, we should also harness its spirit of togethernessOne significant anniversary in 2023 passed almost without mention. In May 1923, the Welsh women's peace petition was initiated - a plea from the women of Wales to the women of the US, urging the US to take its place in the newly formed League of Nations and encouraging its full participation in the permanent court of international justice, which had come into being in 1922. The text refers to American-Welsh cooperation in the 19th century, and welcomes the steps taken after the first world war to control the arms trade and tackle what we now call human trafficking and the movement of illegal drugs.These are issues that give it a startlingly contemporary ring. But more startling is the fact that nearly 400,000 women in Wales signed. The petition, with all its handwritten signatures (amounting to several miles' worth of paper), was received formally in Washington DC, and travelled all over the US, as far as the west coast. Housed in a purpose-made chest of Welsh oak, it ended up in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC - where, after an initial flare of enthusiasm, it was forgotten for decades. In its country of origin, it was commemorated only by a small plaque in the Temple of Peace in Cardiff. Continue reading...

US prosecutors say strong public interest' in prompt resolution of case against 31-year-old outweighs benefits of second trialUS prosecutors say they do not plan to conduct a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.In a letter filed on Friday night in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said the strong public interest" in a prompt resolution of their case against the 31-year-old former billionaire outweighed the benefits of a second trial. Continue reading...

Body camera reveals Los Angeles deputy fired at woman who sought help for domestic violence as nine-year-old daughter watchedThe Los Angeles sheriff's department (LASD) released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting Niani Finlayson, 27, who had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident.The footage from the 4 December encounter showed that deputy Ty Shelton shot Finlayson four times within roughly three seconds of entering her home. Continue reading...

Antony Blinken tells Congress he made second emergency determination covering $147.5m sale for equipmentFor the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.The state department said on Friday that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had told Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5m sale for equipment, including fuses, chargers and primers, that is needed to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function. Continue reading...

Former Trump lawyer says he used AI program Google Bard and blames his lawyer for not fact-checking himMichael Cohen, the former attorney and fixer for ex-president Donald Trump, said in a newly unsealed court filing that he accidentally gave his lawyer fake legal citations that were made up by an artificial intelligence program.In a sworn declaration made public on Friday, Cohen told a Manhattan judge that the sham citations had been generated by the AI program Google Bard, and had made their way into his lawyer's filing because of a pair of misunderstandings - including his failure to realize that the information spat out by the program was not based in reality. Continue reading...

Six million people under high surf warning as powerful storms sweep through California and OregonGiant waves as tall as 30ft crashing on to California's coast have caused injuries and property damage, prompting evacuation warnings.At least eight people needed hospital treatment after towering waves crashed over seawalls in southern California on Thursday, engulfing seaside neighborhoods. On Friday, more than 6 million people remained under a high surf warning across California and Oregon. The National Weather Service (NWS) has predicted waves up to 40ft, warning: Stay away from rocks, jetties, piers, and other waterside infrastructure. Never turn your back to the ocean!" Continue reading...

Republican Mike DeWine made the surprise move after talking with parents of trans children and trans adultsOhio's governor, Mike DeWine, on Friday vetoed a bill by fellow Republicans that would have banned gender-confirming healthcare for minors in the state, and prohibited transgender athletes from taking part in girls' and women's sports.The surprise move, which DeWine said was ultimately about protecting human life", was largely welcomed by pro-LGBTQ+ activists, although the governor indicated he still intended to enact some of the provisions of the bill through executive action. Continue reading...

Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips will appear on stage together on 8 January, two weeks before state's primaryThe lonely political vigil of long-shot Democratic presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips will be transformed on to the debate stage early next month in New Hampshire - without Joe Biden, who is neither on the state ballot nor agreeable to any debate interaction with competitors.The debate between self-help author Williamson and Phillips is set to be held at the New England College on 8 January, and moderated by Josh McElveen, former political director of radio station WMUR, two weeks before the state holds its primary. Continue reading...

Storms have left at least eight people needing hospital treatment. Waves more than 20ft high poured over seawalls and the tops of low cliffs along the Pacific coast, flooding nearby streets and leaving many injured. In a video taken on Thursday morning, people are seen fleeing Pierpont beach - just north of Los Angeles - as a rogue wave engulfs the area

Military sexual assaults and harassment have increased almost every year since 2006, prompting Congress to pass new legislationIncidents of sexual harassment and assault have been on the rise across the US military for roughly the last 15 years. Now, a new law has been passed that will change how they are dealt with, putting independent lawyers in charge of decisions and sidelining commanders.It's the most important reform to our military justice system since the creation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 1950," the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

Filipino nurses for Ohio-based company say they have been forced to pay thousands in fees after signing training contractsFilipino nurses are calling for the US's top labor watchdog to review controversial stay or pay" training repayment agreement provisions that have left them facing lawsuits and thousands of dollars in fees after they quit their jobs.Training repayment agreement provisions (Trap) are contracts employers require workers to sign before beginning a job and stipulate that if a worker leaves the job before a specified time, they owe substantial fees. Continue reading...

Police release footage in investigation of deaths of Savannah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, whose bodies were found on TuesdayTexas police have released surveillance footage they hope will lead to answers in the killings of an 18-year-old pregnant woman and her boyfriend. The couple were found shot in the head in a car and may have been dead for days.Police on Friday had not named a possible motive or suspects as family and friends mourned the deaths of Savanah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22. Soto went missing before Christmas just before she had been scheduled to have an induced labor. Continue reading...

Military service defines who you are in Israeli society but dissent has a long tradition, despite the many obstaclesLast week, 18-year-old Tal Mitnick was jailed for 30 days for refusing Israel Defense Forces enlistment, becoming the first conscientious objector imprisoned since the Israel-Hamas war began. I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security. I refuse to take part in a war of revenge," Mitnick wrote in a statement.Military conscription is a unifying cornerstone in Israeli society. It is hard to completely trust the IDF figures due to a lack of transparency, but its official numbers show that 69% of men and 56% of women are conscripted for service at 18. This makes the military uniform an emblem of collective national identity, perhaps even more important than the flag, epitomised by the Israeli maxim: A nation building an army is a nation building itself." Continue reading...

Napping, eating and showing your emotions are IN Continue reading...

Issue animated conservatives for 50 years but has tormented Republicans since the fall of Roe - and it's unclear also whether it will continue to fuel Democratic victoriesAs the 2024 election season ramps up, Republicans continue to struggle to find a winning national strategy on the flashpoint issue of abortion - where restricting the procedure has animated the conservative movement for half a century but tormented the party since the fall of Roe.The supreme court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade delivered Republicans one of their most significant policy victories in a generation. But in the year and a half since the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, the ruling has also become one of their biggest political vulnerabilities. Continue reading...

A quarter of its population could die within a year due to outbreaks of disease caused by this unprecedented conflict

But former president will not be disqualified from the ballot in California. Plus, war in Gaza intensifies

The Israeli prime minister has his own agenda to galvanise his coalition and strengthen himself. A wider war is a real dangerWarnings about a region-wide escalation engulfing the entire Middle East have been circulating since the first fraught days after the 7 October Hamas terrorist atrocities. The most dangerous flashpoint is generally believed to be Israel's northern border with Lebanon, where lethal clashes between the powerful Shia militia Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have greatly intensified in recent days.Sporadic Israeli airstrikes inside Syria, repeated limited attacks by Islamist militants on US bases in Iraq and US reprisal raids - such as that ordered by the president, Joe Biden, on Tuesday - fuel the narrative of an approaching, broader conflagration. Drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen's Houthi rebels, explicitly launched in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, are adding to the angst. Continue reading...

For many, he represents the nation's cultural presence. But he is also a cause celebre for those frightened by #MeToo and progressive changeI remember the moment my Scottish flatmate showed me a clip of Gerard Depardieu in Le Camion by Marguerite Duras from 1977, proof of his youthful attractiveness. As a woman born in France in the 1980s, my recent memory pictured him as a more imposing figure, someone prone to debordements in the sense of excess - a national treasure: a symbol of a certain Rabelaisian laisser-aller, an overindulgence of man's appetites.I won't lie and say that the latest Depardieu controversy - the accusations of past rape and sexual assault - came as a shock in my parents' home north of Paris, where I am spending the quiet days between Christmas and new year.Elsa Court is a lecturer in French at the University of OxfordDo 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...

Miami and Baltimore meet with the Ravens able to clinch the No 1 seed while the Dolphins can stay in the hunt and win the AFC EastAs the regular season draws to a close, we'll take a look each Friday at a game likely to affect the playoff race, along with the teams whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don't neglect the also-rans, we'll see which teams are in the hunt for next year's No 1 pick. Continue reading...

As the world's attention turns to other conflicts, the onslaught here continues. This is the story of one December day in KyivFrom early, picket lines are set up near the walls of Kyiv's city state administration. My friends and acquaintances are protesting, demanding that the capital's budget be directed not to the repaving of roads, but towards the purchase of drones and FPVs for the battlefield. People close to me are saying: I don't want new roads; I want my friends to come back alive." Continue reading...

Joe Gow says that his free speech rights were violated after the Universities of Wisconsin board of regents decided to fire himFormer University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow has said he was fired by the school's governing board because members were uncomfortable with him and his wife producing and appearing in pornographic videos.The Universities of Wisconsin board of regents, which oversees 11 regional campuses, voted unanimously during a hastily convened closed meeting on Wednesday evening to fire Gow. Continue reading...

Escaping poverty, violence and the climate crisis are factors, but the main driver is rich societies demanding cheap labourWe seem to be living in times of unprecedented mass migration. Images of people from Africa crammed into unseaworthy boats desperately trying to cross the Mediterranean, asylum seekers crossing the Channel into Britain, and caravans" of migrants trying to reach the Mexico-US border all seem to confirm fears that global migration is spinning out of control.A toxic combination of poverty, inequality, violence, oppression, climate breakdown and population growth appear to be pushing growing numbers of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America to embark upon desperate journeys to reach the shores of the wealthy west.Hein de Haas is professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and the author of How Migration Really WorksDo 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...

Decisions stem from the US constitution's insurrection clause and could have major ramifications for 2024 electionOfficials in Colorado and Maine have ruled that Donald Trump is ineligible to run for the White House again, citing his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.In Colorado, the state supreme court ruled 4-3 earlier this month to take the former president off the state's Republican presidential primary ballot; on Thursday, Maine's secretary of state kicked him off the ballot there too. Continue reading...

Far-right Colorado representative had won the third district by just 546 votes in 2022 and will move to the fourth for a fresh start'Colorado's Republican representative Lauren Boebert has announced that she will be changing congressional districts ahead of her 2024 Republican nomination bid for the House.In a Facebook video on Wednesday, the 36-year old, far-right representative announced that she would be moving from Colorado's third district to its fourth district. Continue reading...

Critics call decision by Steve Jones a disgrace' and say recently redrawn maps dilute voting power of minority residentsA federal judge in Georgia on Thursday upheld a Republican-drawn congressional map, a ruling branded a disgrace" by voting rights advocates who claim that the latest district lines illegally dilute the voting power of minority residents.The decision from Steve Jones set the stage for next year's elections, with Republicans now likely to maintain their 9-5 advantage among the swing state's 14 seats in the US House of Representatives. Continue reading...

Prank call to police claimed a shooting occurred at Scott's Naples home, prompting a Swat team to deploy before standing downThe Republican Florida senator Rick Scott has said that his home was swatted" on Wednesday night.While he was dining with his wife, Ann, local Naples authorities responded to what was revealed to be a prank call intentionally made to lure resources like a Swat team to a location to respond to a false threat of danger, otherwise known as a swatting call". Continue reading...

Two countries agree to enhance efforts to tackle human smuggling, poverty and violence and promote legal pathways'US and Mexican officials have hailed the success of talks held on Wednesday aimed at curbing historically high unauthorized immigration across their shared, 2,000-mile border that risks becoming a humanitarian disaster and an election year political crisis for Joe Biden.After the closed-door meeting between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Mexican foreign minister, Alicia Barcena, the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, hailed what he described as important agreements". Continue reading...

Over the holidays, this column will explore next year's urgent issues. Today we look at the danger posed by the former president's bid for reelectionThe great spectre haunting 2024 is the threat of Donald Trump triumphing in November's election. A second stint in the Oval Office would have grim repercussions for the US and the world. He dominates the Republican race for the presidential candidacy, while recent polls showed him beating Joe Biden in five of the six key battleground states, and besting the president on issues including the economy and national security. The Biden administration has overseen a striking economic recovery in tough global conditions, but voters don't feel the improvement. The president's handling of the war in Gaza is alienating core supporters. He inspires littleenthusiasm.Democrats point out that there's a long way to go and that November's off-year election results point to a brighter picture. Mr Trump faces a dizzying array of legal cases, though the most significant may not move to a trial before the election. While they boost the belief of diehard admirers that he is being persecuted, some supporters say he should not stand if convicted. It's not impossible that he might run from a prison cell. Continue reading...

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley declined to say that the US civil war was caused by slavery when asked by a voter in Berlin, New Hampshire. Responding to the questioner, Haley said: 'I mean, I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are'

Owner of property donated it to the University of Idaho, which said that its demolition was a key step towards finding closureDemolition began on Thursday of the house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year, marking an emotional step for the victims' families and a close-knit community that was shocked and devastated by the brutal stabbings.The sounds of construction equipment pierced the early morning air as an excavator started tearing down the front part of the house. The former walls formed a large pile of crushed and smashed wood on the ground as debris was picked up and loaded into a dump truck. Continue reading...

Every tech company from Monzo to my bank is crunching my data. All the results tell us is how dull it is to reduce human experience to numbers.How was my 2023? Pretty good, thanks. I spent 60 hours at my local cinema and 51 days listening to music from 170 genres (chiefly art pop"). Plus, I made a respectable 46 transactions at M&S. How about you?December has always been a time to take stock: the highs, lows, memorable moments and best-ofs from the year just passed. But over the past half-decade or so, there has been a creeping, unmistakable shift in how we approach these informal annual reviews.Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist Continue reading...

The Rev William Barber says he was trying to use his own chair in the disabled section for a screening of The Color PurpleMovie theatre chain AMC has apologized to a North Carolina civil rights leader after he was kicked out of a screening of The Color Purple for trying to use his own chair in the disabled section.The Rev William Barber, a former president of the NAACP North Carolina chapter, who suffers from a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis and walks with two canes, said that he tried to use a special chair he brought to an AMC Cineplex in Greenville on Tuesday afternoon and was told by staff he couldn't. Continue reading...

Blanchard persuaded her boyfriend to kill her mother, who forced her to use a wheelchair and a feeding tube for yearsGypsy Rose Blanchard, the Missouri woman who persuaded an online boyfriend to kill her mother after she had forced her to pretend for years that she was suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses, was released on Thursday from prison on parole.Blanchard was released early in the day from the Chillicothe correctional center, said Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the Missouri department of corrections. Blanchard was granted parole after serving 85% of her original sentence, Pojmann said. Continue reading...

Republican presidential candidate discussed role of government in response to voter's question but walked it back on ThursdayRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley declined to specify that slavery was a cause of the civil war on Wednesday, wading into an area of history that continues to reverberate and in some ways define US politics nearly 160 years after it concluded.Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, where the first shots of the north-south conflict were fired by Confederate soldiers in April 1861, was asked by a New Hampshire voter about the reason for the war but didn't mention slavery in her response. Continue reading...

Judge ordered Lorna Green, now serving five years for the arson attack, to pay insurance company, building owner and clinic founderA judge has ordered a woman who set fire to Wyomings only full-service abortion clinic to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, the full amount sought by prosecutors.Lorna Green is serving five years in prison for burning Wellspring Health Access weeks before the clinic was set to open in Casper in 2022. The fire gutted the building while it was being renovated for the new clinic and delayed its opening by almost a year. Continue reading...

When we started out, we didn't dare dream it would lead to this: expanded rainforest, a beaver release, and rewilding at BalmoralSid Rawle, the 1960s peace campaigner and infamous King of the Hippies", once remarked that if land ownership in Britain were to be divided equally, we would each get about an acre. Surprisingly, this thought experiment would just about hold true today.The UK measures 60m acres in total and is home to around 67 million of us. There is something rather beguiling about such extreme egalitarianism - impractical though it might be. One person, one vote, one acre. But there's also something about it that rather helps clarify the mind should you ever find yourself, as I have done recently, trying to reform the mind-bogglingly large amounts of land owned by the British royal family. Continue reading...

The Guardian's list of the 100 best male footballers for 2023 features players from Norway, Georgia and Canada, but there are no Americans in sight

Empiricism, algorithms and smartphones are out - astrology, art and a life lived fiercely offline are inCultural upheavals can be a riddle in real time. Trends that might seem obvious in hindsight are poorly understood in the present or not fathomed at all. We live in turbulent times now, at the tail end of a pandemic that killed millions and, for a period, reordered existence as we knew it. It marked, perhaps more than any other crisis in modern times, a new era, the world of the 2010s wrenched away for good.What comes next can't be known - not with so much war and political instability, the rise of autocrats around the world, and the growing plausibility of a second Donald Trump term. Within the roil - or below it - one can hazard, at least, a hypothesis: a change is here and it should be named. A rebellion, both conscious and unconscious, has begun. It is happening both online and off-, and the off is where the youth, one day, might prefer to wage it. It echoes, in its own way, a great shift that came more than two centuries ago, out of the ashes of the Napoleonic wars. Continue reading...