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Outrage over Israel's attempt to dismantle our UN agency has largely petered out. The stakes are very high now

The AFC North archrivals renew their feud with home-field advantage in the playoffs on the line. Can Lamar reverse his lousy record against Pittsburgh?Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4) v Baltimore Ravens (9-5) Continue reading...

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I looked at Manhattan, trying to work out how a person like me could exist in it. The snow settled on my lashes and I knew I was home

He has bankrolled elections, stoked riots and ignored laws. We mustn't make the mistake of playing nice with the world's richest bullyElon Musk is, more or less, a rogue state. His intentions are self-serving and nefarious, and his nation-state level resources allow him to flout the law with impunity. To put it into context, if dollars were metres, Musk's money would be enough to take him to Mars and back, while a mere millionaire could only make a round trip from Paris to Amsterdam.The sheer immorality of any one person possessing so much wealth is obvious to most people with basic amounts of empathy. But when it comes to Musk and the other 14 people worth more than $100bn, the morality of it is almost a secondary concern. Their individual wealth is a society-distorting threat to democracy in the same way that economics has always recognised monopolies to be dangerous to a functional market.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Trump spokesperson points to high number of illegal crossings and reiterates plans for mass deportationsThe US deported more than 270,000 immigrants in a recent 12-month period, the highest amount annually in a decade, according to a government report released on Thursday.The deportations were nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier and came as part of a broader push by Joe Biden to reduce illegal immigration. Continue reading...

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This year I am adapting my own rituals - and with them, hopefully, the landscape of my brain - as the ultimate gift to myselfIt's the last fortnight of December, time to reappraise the traditions of shared holiday rituals.Will Australians once more create kitchen-bound El Nino microclimates in their sweltering devotion to a Christmas turkey, or go with the smelly, if pleasurable, coolness of a prawns-on-ice buffet? Do we pretend to love a handmade noodle necklace more than receipt of an electronic lump of plastic we've been coveting all year? Should we indulge anti-vax, flat-earther Uncle Awful spouting theses of YouTubology at the dining table or scream not this year, Satan" and instead book a package to Bali? Continue reading...

A day before potential shutdown, House rejects package hastily assembled after Trump and Musk scuttled prior dealDonald Trump suffered a humiliating setback on Thursday when Republicans in Congress failed to pass a pared-down spending bill - just one day before a potential government shutdown that could disrupt Christmas travel.By a vote of 174-235, the House of Representatives rejected the Trump-backed package, hastily assembled by Republican leaders after the president-elect and his billionaire ally Elon Musk scuttled a prior bipartisan deal. Continue reading...

Accused in Brian Thompson killing was in court in New York on federal charges - which could carry the death penaltyWhen Luigi Mangione walked into a Manhattan federal courtroom on Thursday afternoon, he looked like any number of smartly dressed defendants prosecuted here - not someone accused of a brutal murder on the streets of New York that caused headlines around the world and a national manhunt.Mangione, 26, is accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in a brazen street assassination that also sparked a national outpouring of social media vitriol from many Americans against the healthcare industry. Continue reading...

Members of Congress had been racing for agreement before Friday deadline after Trump earlier rejected bipartisan plan

Brian K Williams placed on administrative leave as lawyer says client intends to vigorously fight the allegations'FBI agents searched the home of a Los Angeles deputy mayor this week as part of an investigation into whether he made a bomb threat against city hall, officials said.A statement from the office of the LA mayor, Karen Bass, said she was notified of Tuesday's search at the residence of Brian K Williams, her deputy mayor for public safety, as part of an investigation into an alleged threat. Continue reading...

Ingrid Lewis-Martin and her son allegedly used power to illegally influence city decisions in exchange for cash'A former chief adviser to New York's mayor, Eric Adams, surrendered to city prosecutors on Thursday to face criminal charges related to an ongoing investigation of the mayor and his circle.Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a powerful adviser of Adams, her son Glenn Martin II, aka Suave Luciano, and two real estate investors were indicted in an influence-peddling $100,000 bribery scheme. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer on the verge of appointing Labour grandee to key post at start of Trump presidencyPeter Mandelson is set to become Britain's next ambassador to the US,, the first time a politician has been appointed to the role for almost half a century.Keir Starmer is about to announce that Lord Mandelson, a former Labour minister and European commissioner for trade, has been given the role. The Guardian understands he will take over as Donald Trump begins his second term as president. Continue reading...

The denial of Gisele's humanity by her rapists is the denial of violence done to every woman. At her side, we can now look the world in the eyeI am looking at a colour photo of a woman with auburn hair entering the courthouse in Avignon. Around her, the impassive faces of her lawyers.This woman is about to hear a verdict. How much will he get? How much time in prison will be given to the man who drugged her senseless and remorselessly raped her?Judith Godreche is a French actor, writer and film director Continue reading...

Gisele Pelicot's extraordinary courage and composure has forced a reckoning in France and elsewhere. We must act on her demand for changeGisele Pelicot, a 72-year-old woman who had retired to a small village in provincial France, has become a heroine not only to compatriots but to people thousands of miles away, rightly saluted by global leaders and ordinary citizens alike. In refusing anonymity, and insisting that the trial of her ex-husband and other men for raping her be held in public, she has forced a broader recognition that shame must change sides". Her extraordinary courage and composure shone through the grim hearings.For almost 10 years, Mrs Pelicot's husband of decades drugged and raped her, and sedated her so that dozens of others could rape her at his instigation. DominiquePelicot was caught by chance after a security guard caught him filming up women's skirts at a supermarket, prompting police to seize his computer equipment. But he has since admitted an attempted rape in 1999, after police matched his DNA to a sample from the scene, and is under investigation for a 1991 rape and murder that has similarities with that incident. He denies involvement.Do 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...

The virus has spread for years in wild birds and commercial poultry, and was detected for the first time in US dairy cattle in MarchCalifornia officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in the state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the US.Here's what you need to know. Continue reading...

Trump called for the elimination of the debt ceiling on Thursday. Here's what to know about the statutory limitDonald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan to prevent a government shutdown before the Friday deadline and called for the outright elimination of the debt ceiling.The US is one of the few countries with a statutory limit on how much debt the federal government can accumulate. Continue reading...

This was an extraordinary response to unimaginable crimes. Yet true change will only come when men engage with the culture that led us hereWomen who are raped are in many countries - perhaps in most - violated and abused again by the legal system. And yet during her reckoning with the crimes of her husband and 50 other men, all now found guilty in a historic set of verdicts, Gisele Pelicot seized control of the narrative, becoming a hero in France and around the world.After she discovered her husband had been drugging her and offering her up online to strangers to come and rape while she was unconscious, Gisele left her home, her marriage and the story she had told herself about her life, and spent some time in seclusion.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to PossibilityDo 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...

Billionaires must not be allowed to run our government,' Sanders says after Musk derides bipartisan deal to prevent government shutdown

Teacher Erin West and ninth grader Rubi Vergara confirmed as victims in shooting at Abundant Life Christian schoolThe teacher and a student killed in Monday's shooting at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, have been identified as Erin West, 42, and Rubi Vergara, 14.The Dane county medical examiner's office confirmed their identities Wednesday night. Continue reading...

State court of appeals ruling to remove DA signals death knell for last standing criminal case against president-electThe Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has been disqualified from prosecuting Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in light of her relationship with her top deputy on the case, the Georgia state court of appeals ruled on Thursday.The 2-1 decision to remove Willis - and overturn the ruling by the presiding judge that allowed her to remain on the case as long as the deputy, Nathan Wade, resigned - likely signals the death knell for the final criminal case still active against Trump. Continue reading...

During his annual end-of-year press conference, the Russian president said his Oreshnik ballistic missile could defeat any US missile defence system. Russia first fired an Oreshnik at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on 21 November after Ukraine's first use of US Atacms ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows on Russian territory

Employees at seven facilities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco take action in demand of contract talksAmazon workers at seven US facilities walked off the job early on Thursday during the holiday shopping rush, aiming to pressure the retailer into contract talks with their union.Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco are taking part in the largest" strike against Amazon, said the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 10,000 workers at 10 of the firm's facilities. Continue reading...

Federal Aviation Administration issues ban following dozens of night-time drone sightings reported across the stateThe Federal Aviation Administration has issued a one-month ban on drone operations in certain areas of New Jersey, unless operators receive special permission from the government due to special security reasons".This comes as dozens of night-time drone sightings have been reported across New Jersey and other states along the eastern coast of the US over the last several weeks. Continue reading...

We must preserve the rights of women to make decisions that have nothing to do with anyone else

A vacuum among his generals is the last thing the president needs. He will be holding his breath for Trump's inaugurationThe assassination on Tuesday of the Russian general and conspiracy theorist Igor Kirillov in downtown Moscow is yet another operation in a string of small, morale-boosting actions by Ukraine and its sympathisers. Last month, Valery Trankovsky, a senior naval officer, was killed in a car-bombing in Crimea. Sergei Yevsyukov, the former chief of the Russian-operated Olenivka prison that Russian forces blew up in 2022, killing many Ukrainian prisoners of war, died in a similar attack this month in Donetsk. All three men had been accused by Ukraine of war crimes.These killings are more than acts of retribution; they are part of a calculated effort to signal Ukraine's resolve in the face of Russian aggression. They serve as a warning to Moscow's military establishment and offer a modicum of justice to a Ukrainian public enraged by the atrocities committed by Russian forces. Yet the effectiveness of such assassinations is less clear. In authoritarian regimes that lack mechanisms for orderly power transitions, the elimination of high-ranking officials can destabilise leadership structures. A sudden vacuum at the top risks igniting infighting among elites and undermining the regime's cohesion.Olga Chyzh researches political violence and repressive regimes, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of TorontoDo 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...

All 51 men on trial have been found guilty, a fact that needs to prompt major changes in French societyOne face and name dominated the streets of Paris on 23 November as the annual march marking International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women took place. Gisele Pelicot's image was everywhere - she is a new feminist hero.Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, writer, film-maker, activist and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

One survivor says local archbishop should have been sitting right there next to' abuser Lawrence Hecker at his hearingThe clergy abuse survivor who successfully pursued a child rape charge against retired Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker in New Orleans says the local archbishop should have been sitting right there next to" the serial molester clergyman at his criminal sentencing hearing on Wednesday.A statement issued by the survivor after the 93-year-old Hecker received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment Wednesday alluded to how New Orleans archbishop Gregory Aymond has repeatedly expressed a desire in the media to walk with" the victims of the worldwide Catholic church's decades-old clergy molestation scandal. Continue reading...

No other demographic has maintained the level of voter loyalty for a party as Black women have - experts tell us whyFor decades, Black women have been the most ardent supporters of the Democratic party. Most recently, in the 2024 election, they voted for Kamala Harris at 92%. Since 1972, Black people's overall support for Democrats has stayed at about 90% during a presidential election, with Black women voting even more Democratic than Black men. No other demographic has maintained that level of voter loyalty for a political party.Donald Trump's victory over the vice-president, and success with certain voting blocs such as Latino men and white women, has drawn attention to just how differently situated Black women are when compared with other voters. Continue reading...

Thought Caitlin Clark was a funhouse mirror for the zeitgeist? Meet Cooper Flagg, the Duke star tapped to be the first white American in 48 years to go No 1 in the NBA draftFive months ago USA Basketball convened an inter-squad scrimmage in Las Vegas before the Paris Olympics, and the standout player was a gawky teenager from Maine.On that heady July day, Cooper Flagg showed flashes of his sky-high potential, out-jumping Bam Adebayo for a put-back layup, spinning off Jrue Holiday for a baseline jumper and burying a corner three over an outstretched Anthony Davis to key a near upset of Team USA's Monstars." One NBA head coach in attendance called Flagg the 13th-best player in the gym (behind Indiana Pacers leading man Tyrese Halliburton and Boston Celtics point guard Derrick White, ostensibly), while Kevin Durant endorsed Flagg's on court sangfroid as a good sign." As the clips of Flagg's workout circulated online, hoops fans couldn't help speculating about the further damage the 6ft 9in teen terror might do in college basketball. Continue reading...

French man jailed for 20 years over abuse of ex-wife Gisele Pelicot. Plus, Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of genocide for restricting Gaza water supply

Ankara's support of Syria's rebels was a strategic triumph that confirms it is replacing Iran as the regional powerhouseThe fall of the Assad regime in Syria marks the end of Iran's long-feared Shia crescent" and the rise of Turkey's full moon", reshaping the geopolitical landscape from the Horn of Africa to the Levant and Afghanistan. Recep Tayyip Erdoan's backing of the Syrian rebels has elevated Ankara to the status of a regional powerhouse, one whose influence now encircles all the major players in the region.Turkey played a pivotal role in the rebels' surprising triumph. The operation unfolded with an extraordinary lack of the kind of violent destruction that has characterised Syrian campaigns over the past 13 years. Turkey provided intelligence, guidance and political cover.Hassan Hassan is the founder and editor-in-chief of New Lines magazine Continue reading...

If Trump's first term is any indication, outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe will face political inquisitionsDonald Trump has never made any secret of his hatred of the press, which he famously calls the enemy of the people". Press watchdogs are already raising the alarm about the ways in which he might use intimidation, lawsuits, and sham investigations to harm the free press in his second term. Independent media organizations certainly have a lot to fear from a second Trump presidency. But there's another group of journalists we should be worried for, too - those who work directly for the US government.The US government funds a variety of different public broadcasting outlets, primarily aimed at foreign audiences. The jewel in the crown in terms of reach and influence is Voice of America, but there are other important networks, too, including Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Radio y Television Marti, which broadcasts to Cuba. The agency which oversees them, the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), has a budget of nearly $1bn and reaches 420 million people weekly in over 100 countries - numbers that make America's biggest domestic radio and TV networks look like small fry.Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University and author of the newsletter America Explained Continue reading...

Brought to Minnesota to be a bridge to the next generation, Sam Darnold is now leading one of the hottest teams in the league and the potential No 1 seed in the NFC. Yes, really!Before this season, Sam Darnold's strongest contribution to the NFL canon was seeing ghosts".Darnold was one of several quarterbacks selected early in the first round to wash out with the New York Jets. After leaving Florham Park, he bounced between backup and bridge-starter roles in Carolina and San Francisco before winding up in Minnesota. Now he's leading one of the hottest teams in the NFL. As injuries and attrition continue to knee-cap the Lions, the Vikings are making a late surge for the No 1 seed in the NFC - and potentially home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Continue reading...

Jotham Russell switched from Tweed Heads Seagulls to the Pats' practice squad and dreams of making the gradeBy Gavin Willacy for No Helmets RequiredDesperate to find breakthrough international stars, NFL talent scouts seem to have found two avenues well worth pursuing. Of the athletes in the league's International Player Pathway (IPP) in 2024 and 2025, the latter group was announced last week, around half were rugby players of both codes from Australia or athletes with Nigerian heritage. In Jotham Russell, the NFL have both.A year ago, Russell was pursuing his rugby league career at Tweed Heads Seagulls in Queensland's Hastings Deering Colts competition. Identified as a potential NFL player, by January he was at trials for the IPP program at the IMG Academy in Florida. The Australian with Nigerian heritage survived the Rookie Camp in May and pre-season to sign for New England Patriots' practice squad, watching an NFL game from the sidelines for the first time when the Pats lost to Jacksonville at Wembley in October. It has been a bewildering whirlwind. Continue reading...

Malaysians imprisoned in US prison camp agreed to testify against alleged ringleader of attacks that killed 202Two Malaysian held in Guantanamo Bay since 2006 have been returned to Malaysia, after they pleaded guilty to charges related to the deadly 2002 Bali bombings and agreed to testify against the alleged ringleader of that and other attacks.Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep arrived back in Malaysia, state media reported, where they will undergo a rehabilitation process before being reintegrated into society. Continue reading...

Call echoes push by other Democratic officials to reduce reporting requirements amid fears of risks to patientsThe Arizona governor, Katie Hobbs, is calling for legislators to repeal the state law that requires an annual abortion report, saying that it infringes on patients' privacy, which echoes other Democratic officials' push to reduce or eliminate such requirements.The government has no place in surveilling Arizonans' medical decision-making or tracking their health history," Hobbs, a Democrat in a state where Republicans control the legislature, said in a statement on Wednesday as the state released its report covering 2023. Continue reading...

World's largest hornet, which killed 42 people in China in 2013, has been wiped out in US five years after first being spottedThe world's largest hornet, an invasive breed nicknamed the murder hornet" for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a hive of honeybees in as little as 90 minutes, has been declared eradicated in the US, five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian border.The Washington and US Departments of Agriculture announced the eradication on Wednesday, saying there had been no detections of the northern giant hornet in Washington since 2021. Continue reading...

California declares a state of emergency as CDC reports person had contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flockThe first person in the US to develop severe illness from H5N1 bird flu has been hospitalized in Louisiana, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Wednesday.Officials believe the person had contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock, which would be the first time a person has contracted avian influenza from a backyard flock in the US - which the CDC's Demetre Daskalakis called notable". Continue reading...

Inquiry found NYPD's current use and impact policies do not sufficiently disclose' its technology capabilityA new report from the New York City department of investigation on the New York police department's drone operations has been released amid a flurry of drone sightings and activity along the eastern seaboard and elsewhere across the US.The report indicates that the NYPD's current use and impact policies regarding its drone operations do not sufficiently disclose details related to the capabilities of the technology". Continue reading...

Bill authorizes pay raises, strips coverage of trans medical treatments for children and aims to counter China's powerThe Senate passed a defense bill on Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895bn while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members.The annual defense authorization bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and has not failed to pass Congress in nearly six decades, but the Pentagon policy measure in recent years has become a battleground for cultural issues. Republicans this year sought to tack on to the legislation priorities for social conservatives, contributing to a months-long negotiation over the bill and a falloff in support from Democrats. Continue reading...

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Chen Jinping pleads guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of China's government and faces up to five years in prisonA New York man has pleaded guilty to running a undeclared police station for the Chinese government in lower Manhattan, more than a year after the US justice department unveiled efforts aimed at disrupting Beijing's efforts to locate and suppress Chinese American pro-democracy activists.Chen Jinping, 60, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to act as an agent of the government of the People's Republic of China, in connection with opening and operating an overseas police station for the PRC's ministry of public security, or MPS. Continue reading...

Woman, man and three children were killed in a Salt Lake City suburb, and teenager, 17, was found injured in garagePolice on Wednesday were investigating the when and why behind the deaths of five members of a Utah family - including three children - who were found in their home after a relative grew concerned about not hearing from them for several days.A wounded 17-year-old boy who had apparently been shot was also discovered in the home's garage on Tuesday. As of that evening, police in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City did not know whether the teen was a suspect or a victim in the case. Due to his injuries there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information", a spokesperson, Roseanne Vainuku, said. Continue reading...

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who said paper is echo chamber', also blocked paper's board from endorsing HarrisPatrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, reportedly asked the newspaper's editorial board to take a break" from writing about Donald Trump, in the latest report of the billionaire owner's growing influence over the newspaper's coverage.The newspaper and its owner were embroiled in controversy for weeks this fall after Soon-Shiong blocked the board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president. The decision led to a wave of resignations on the editorial board and the loss of thousands of subscriptions. Continue reading...