US news | The Guardian

In the decade-long scheme, Rafael Alvarez provided false documents that reduced individuals' tax burdenA New York tax preparer known as the Magician" has pleaded guilty to filing tens of thousands of false tax returns costing the government $145m in tax loses.Rafael Alvarez perpetrated and oversaw one of the largest ever tax frauds by a return preparer, according to prosecutors in the southern district of New York. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US politics, see our full coverage here.Donald Trump posted a long and angry message on Truth Social, after a New York judge refused to dismiss his conviction on 34 business fraud charges. His lawyers had argued, to no avail, that the supreme court's ruling earlier this year granting presidents immunity for official acts should get the verdicts against him overturned. Trump's attorneys were nonetheless busy with other matters today, after reportedly filing a civil fraud suit against the Des Moines Register and Iowa's top pollster Ann Selzer over a poll they released on the eve of the presidential election showing Kamala Harris with a narrow lead among the red state's voters. Trump ended up winning Iowa handily, and has trained his ire on Selzer and the Register in the weeks since.Here's what else has been going on today:Electors are meeting in all 50 states today to certify Trump's victory in the presidential race last month. This is the same process he tried to disrupt four years ago, when Joe Biden was the winner.Trump's allies gathered for a gala in New York last night, where they mused about the president-elect seeking a third term in 2028. The constitution prevents him from doing this.The president-elect again referred to Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as governor", and attacked his outgoing deputy, Chrystia Freeland, with claims that she was preventing the two countries from agreeing to a trade deal. Continue reading...

Suspect also charged with two counts of second-degree murder and other forgery and weapon chargesThe alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Luigi Mangione, has been indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of murder.Mangione, 26, has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree. Continue reading...

Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said the manifesto, which has been shared on social media, had not yet been verified by police. He urged anyone with information relating to the shooter, Natalie Rupnow - who also went by the name Samantha, to come forward. Police said a teacher and a student were killed in the attack, while six others were wounded.

Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer accused of consumer fraud and election interference' in lawsuitDonald Trump has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register newspaper and its pollster, J Ann Selzer, accusing them of consumer fraud and election interference" over a poll from before the election that showed Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa.The lawsuit was filed in Polk county late on Monday, as reported by Reuters and NBC News, which have reviewed the documents. Continue reading...

US vice-president reminds Democrats that this struggle is not new' in Maryland after losing presidency to TrumpKamala Harris challenged young people to stay in the fight" during a speech in Maryland on Tuesday, her first major address since conceding the presidential election to Donald Trump last month.In her remarks, Harris expressed optimism in a future led by many of the young leaders in the room, praising their passion" and resolve" in spite of an electoral setback that threatens many of the causes they care deeply about. Continue reading...

Lester C Harvey, 58, rushed to two different hospitals after being struck by fallen animal in unusual accidentA Virginia man has died after a bear in a tree shot by one of his hunting partners fell on him, state wildlife officials said.The bizarre, accidental death occurred 9 December in Lunenburg county, which is between Richmond and Danville, Virginia's department of wildlife resources said in a statement. Continue reading...

Kyiv's targeted killings expose the reach of its intelligence services, challenging the Kremlin's war machine while sticking to the laws of warRussia's leadership is furious that one of their top commanders has been assassinated by Ukrainian spies. Yet their anger seems misplaced: the targeted killing of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov was not an unprovoked act, but a consequence of Russia's ongoing offensive and Ukraine's right to defend itself under international law.The explosion that shook a quiet Moscow neighbourhood - eliminating the head of the Russian military's chemical, biological and radiological weapons unit, known as RKhBZ - also revealed the unexpectedly formidable capabilities of Ukraine's secret service (SBU). The general and his assistant are the most senior figures assassinated since Russia's 2022 invasion. The pair were killed when a bomb, concealed in a parked scooter outside a Moscow residential building, was remotely detonated. Continue reading...

State attorney general Dana Nessel's investigation found allegations dating back to 1950 against clergy in LansingMichigan's top state prosecutor on Monday issued a report outlining allegations against nearly 60 people at the Roman Catholic diocese of Lansing accused of sexually abusing children and vulnerable adults over the last seven decades.The state attorney general Dana Nessel's office published the report as part of a years-long investigation into clergy sexual abuse within Michigan's Catholic dioceses. Continue reading...

Snap elections will be a referendum on Scholz's failed coalition. But our leaderless drift is disastrous for EuropeIt was certainly not one of those rather bland debates the Bundestag, the German parliament, is deservedly known for. On Monday, Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, and his challengers were hurling insults at each other in the hallowed halls of the Reichstag.It was the last day of Scholz's coalition government and he lost the vote of confidence that he had called for, which means the country is heading for early federal elections on 23 February.Jorg Lau is an international correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit Continue reading...

He has wiggled his way into power thanks to his wealth. But once he is making decisions that affect people's daily lives, Musk may find the shine wears offCongratulations to Elon Musk, a genius of truly galactic proportions, who recently made what might have been the world's savviest investment. The tech billionaire spent more than $277m backing Donald Trump, along with a number of other Republican candidates in the election - and that quarter-billion-dollar investment has paid off nicely. Musk's net worth has increased by 77% since Trump's victory, and has now surpassed $400bn (315bn), according to a recent estimate from Bloomberg, making him the first person ever to officially reach such a milestone. Still, in just a couple of years, Musk's current fortune might look like chump change: the man is reportedly on track to become the world's first trillionaire by 2027.How did he get (even more) rich so quick? Well, if you want to be diplomatic about it, as CNN was, you can say something like an alliance with president-elect Donald Trump has pushed his ventures to the forefront". But the more direct answer is that everyone knows the incoming Trump administration's guiding principle is quid pro quo. Since it seems highly likely that taxpayer money will be funnelled towards Musk's various companies, the value of those companies has been blowing up. Kind of like his SpaceX rockets - one of which exploded so ferociously earlier this year that it tore a hole in the ionosphere. Is that a bad thing? Iono. Continue reading...

Rights leaders worry that Harmeet Dhillon could harm work into police misconduct, discrimination and hate crimes

The Duke of York has proven to be a scandal magnet. He is a problem, a royal problem: it's time they owned itNo matter how much you try to digest the implications of the alleged Chinese spy scandal, some details are just comically indigestible. Take the fact that Prince Andrew has somehow contrived to find staff even stupider than him. Here is one senior aide called Dominic Hampshire, writing in March 2020 to the Chinese businessman with whom the Duke of York has found himself unfortunately entangled: Outside of [Andrew's] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on." Sorry, is this March 2020? A full four months after the four-dimensional pile-up that was Andrew's Newsnight interview? Which was followed immediately by the duke's own mother sacking him? Dominic, there were ventilators that people would rather have been on than that tree.Or take the fact that the rural Buckinghamshire pub where David Cameron took the Chinese premier Xi Jinping for a pint in 2015 was bought by a Chinese firm called SinoFortune, which seems to have promised billions of UK investment that never materialised.Marina Hyde 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...

Only a few countries, including Venezuela and Syria, have experienced larger drops in confidence in their courtsAmericans' confidence in the US judicial system and courts dropped to a record low this year, according to newly released data.A new Gallup poll, published on Tuesday, reveals that only 35% of Americans surveyed in 2024 expressed confidence in their country's judicial system and courts - representing a decline of 24 percentage points since 2020, marking one of the largest national level drops for the courts measured globally by Gallup since 2006. Continue reading...

Hawaii woman was reported missing in November, sparking international search that ended with her safe returnHannah Kobayashi had been unaware of everything that was happening in the media" after the 30-year-old Hawaii native's disappearance prompted her family to report her missing in November, setting off an international search, she reportedly wrote in a statement following her safe return.I am still processing it all," Kobayashi said in the statement, which her aunt Larie Pidgeon distributed to media outlets including NBC News. My focus now is on my healing, my peace and my creativity." Continue reading...

Authorities also concerned people could be firing weapons at manned aircraft, leading to lasers hitting pilots' eyes

Every cancer patient grapples with what is truly important. To bear witness to their attitude can put one's own life in perspective

Palestinians seeking urgent protection in the US must navigate a Kafkaesque system that's unique to them - and it could get worse under TrumpAli Aljamal came to the US from the Gaza Strip in September 2023 as a 15-year-old exchange student through the Yes program, a competitive scholarship run by the state department.My goodbye to Gaza was not enough," said Ali, speaking over the phone from Redding, California. An eager and organized young man - Ali was the youngest in his cohort - he was so keen to have a breather from the war zone environment in Gaza" that he didn't say goodbye to the beach or his friends before coming to the US. Continue reading...

Report by Roosevelt institutes argues apps encourages nurses to work for less pay and can threaten patient wellbeingA new report published on Tuesday is sounding the alarm on the rise of Uber for nursing" - a growing gig industry in which artificial intelligence is being used by hospitals and other healthcare facilities to aid nurses.The report published by the Roosevelt Institute argues: These apps encourage nurses to work for less pay, fail to provide certainty about scheduling and the amount or nature of work, take little to no accountability for worker safety, and can threaten patient wellbeing by placing nurses in unfamiliar clinical environments with no onboarding or facility training." Continue reading...

It's unlikely history will repeat itself as electoral college meets in state capitols to formally vote for next presidentElectors will meet in all 50 states on Tuesday to ratify the second election of Donald Trump to the presidency, a process typically no more than a ceremonial step to the White House for the winner of an election.Usually, it lacks drama. But four years ago on 20 December 2020, Republican activists met in seven states won by Joe Biden - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania - to sign false certificates of ascertainment proclaiming victory for Donald Trump and Mike Pence, to be sent to the National Archives and to Congress. Continue reading...

Anytime anyone tells me they are ill, I now launch endless inquisitions about their symptoms. Why do I care so much?Neologisms may have the excitement of the strange, but there is nothing exciting about the quad-demic" if you're afflicted by it. Even if the idea of getting out of a load of events is thrilling to you, you would still prefer to have a cold, or maybe sprain your ankle, than get any of the quartet: flu, Covid, respiratory syncytial virus or norovirus.Nevertheless, with warnings of a tidal wave" of disease this winter, any time anyone is ill, I want to know where on the quad they would put themselves. And people are ill everywhere you look, which is, I guess, why they're calling it a quad-demic". It's not, particularly in the case of norovirus, any of my business. It takes studied restraint to stop me drilling in for symptoms. Continue reading...

Igor Kirillov was head of the Russian army's chemical weapons division. Plus, Mitch McConnell warns Trump against isolationismGood morning.The head of the Russian army's chemical weapons division, Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, was killed on Tuesday when an explosive device attached to a scooter went off outside an apartment building in Moscow.Britain and the US have accused Russia of using the toxic agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. Chloropicrin is an oily liquid with a pungent odour known as a choking agent that was used widely during the first world war. Its use is outlawed by the chemical weapons convention.The killing comes as Russia has gained momentum in the war. Russia has made gains in eastern Ukraine as the Kremlin seeks to secure as much territory as possible before Donald Trump returns to the White House.Follow our live coverage here.Syria's new leadership hopes to signal to the world that the country can return from diplomatic isolation. The UN envoy to Syria visited Damascus on Monday, meeting Sharaa and the interim prime minister. The envoy urged a credible and inclusive" transition.Assad's fall leaves western countries with a dilemma. HTS group has its roots in al-Qaida; it maintains it has renounced jihadism, yet it has been accused of human rights abuses and remains proscribed as a terrorist group by the UN. Continue reading...

Lawmakers should break their silence about the escalating anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation in the US CapitolRepresentative Nancy Mace is proudly embracing her George Wallace moment. It's time for dissent.When Vivian Malone and James Hood enrolled at the University of Alabama in 1963, Governor Wallace traveled to Tuscaloosa to stand defiantly in the doorway of the Foster Auditorium. In tailored suit and tie, the white southern governor, whom Dr Martin Luther King once called perhaps the most dangerous racist in America today", prevented the two Black students from attending class.Jay Saper is an organizer of the bathroom sit-in in Congress led by Gender Liberation Movement Continue reading...

This fight will test whether pro-choice states can protect providers who mail abortion pills to anti-choice statesThe legal battle over the interstate mailing of abortion pills has begun. On Friday, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sued Dr Margaret Carpenter, a New York-based OB-GYN and reproductive justice activist, over what he alleges was Carpenter's choice to mail abortion pills from New York to a 20-year-old pregnant woman in Texas.The lawsuit, filed in a Texas state court but almost certainly the beginning of a federal legal battle, marks the first formal legal challenge by an anti-abortion attorney general against a Democratic-controlled state's shield laws, which protect abortion providers from out-of-state liability, and is slated to test how far pro-choice states can go to protect providers within their state borders - and how much force anti-choice states can give to their abortion bans beyond theirs. Continue reading...

The Pittsburgh Steelers head coach knows how to get the best out of his players. And that means instilling them with self-beliefEarlier this month, Mike Tomlin was asked what he had learned about his receivers in the absence of the group's star, George Pickens, through injury. It was not the first time Tomlin's team had been questioned this season, and it will probably not be the last. As ever though, the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach expressed his faith in his players. We believe in our group. I have said that repeatedly and maybe you will start believing me," he replied.We have a bunch of guys who want to be the reason we are successful," the 52-year-old continued. The message pointed to trust as an essential pillar of his coaching style, as Tomlin could just as easily have been speaking in preseason when quizzed about the dangers of a supposed has-been and a never-was - Russell Wilson and Justin Fields respectively - fighting for the right to be the Steelers' starting quarterback. The uplifting power of Tomlin's trust remains the same, whether for a backup wideout or for Fields in a crucial fourth and short. If you join the Steelers you become better. It is that simple truth that has helped earn another visit to the postseason while extending Tomlin's historic run of never having a losing season in almost 20 years as Steelers head coach. Continue reading...

It was no surprise that Moscow stepped aside as the rebels advanced. But this is not the end for Russia in the Middle EastThe fall of the Assad regime marks the end of a big chapter in Russia's presence in the Middle East. However, this does not mean that Moscow is about to withdraw from the region. Its decision not to fight for Bashar al-Assad's regime - instead airlifting him to Moscow, where he seems set to remain for now - looks more like an attempt to strengthen its presence in the Middle East by getting rid of a toxic asset.In 2015, the deployment of Russian forces in Syria to support the Assad regime was a milestone in the history of Russian ties with the Middle East. By doing this, Moscow loudly declared its return to Middle Eastern politics, where its presence had been extremely weakened after the collapse of the USSR. For the first time since 1991, Moscow conducted a major military operation in the region. It not only saved the friendly regime from inevitable collapse, but demonstrated its readiness to play an active role in shaping the regional processes beyond Syria. In a sense, the Syrian experience became a necessary prologue to Moscow's more active intervention in Libya, Sudan and sub-Saharan Africa.Nikolay Kozhanov is a research associate professor at the Gulf Studies Center of Qatar University and a non-resident fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Programme of Chatham HouseDo 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...

Shooter killed teacher and teenage student, with six others wounded in attack at Abundant Life Christian, say policeThree people are dead after a shooting on Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin - including the teenage shooter - and six others were wounded, according to local police.The shooter was a 15-year-old female student, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. Continue reading...

Juan Merchan rules decidedly personal acts' of falsifying records pose no danger of intrusion on executive functionA judge on Monday ruled that Donald Trump's conviction for falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal should stand, rejecting the president-elect's argument that it should be dismissed because of the US supreme court's recent ruling on presidential immunity, a court filing showed.Manhattan judge Juan Merchan's decision eliminates one potential off-ramp from the case ahead of Trump's return to office next month. His lawyers have raised other arguments for dismissal, however. Continue reading...

Three people are dead after a shooting on Monday at Abundant Life Christian school in Madison - including the teenage shooter - and six others were wounded, according to local police. Speaking at a briefing, Chief Shon Barnes of Madison police said it's believed the shooter was a student at the school, adding that 'every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. These types of trauma don't just go away.' Continue reading...

There is no getting around the cliche that it's the thought that counts - even if that thought is an acknowledgement of the 11 months of thoughtlessness preceding itI'm not sure when teacher gifts became another hot item on the December stress list. I have vague memories from my childhood of carrying to school homemade shortbread on paper plates, wrapped in green or red cellophane. A generic message on a cardboard tag. How quaint those festive footnotes seem now. What cheapskates we were then.There are probably rules about buying presents for teachers. Legally binding rules that prevent government employees from accepting gifts above a certain value. But when it comes to end-of-year gifts for professionals who have probably spent more of the year with our children than we have, those rules - if they do exist - matter less than the more informal and bewildering rules of social niceties, gratitude and, yes, guilt. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US politics, see our full coverage here.Last week, the New York Times reported that a lawyer who had filed petitions seeking to revoke the approval of vaccines for polio and other preventable diseases has been by Robert F Kennedy Jr's side in interviews to hire top officials for the health and human services department.A reporter asked Donald Trump today if he supported taking the polio vaccine out of circulation. Continue reading...

Former talk show host Carlos Watson and now-defunct startup found guilty last summer of wire fraud conspiracyFormer talk show host Carlos Watson was sentenced on Monday to nearly 10 years in prison in a federal financial conspiracy case that cast his once-buzzy Ozy Media as an extreme of fake-it-til-you-make-it startup culture.So extreme that another Ozy executive impersonated a YouTube executive to hype Ozy to investment bankers - while Watson coached him, prosecutors said. Continue reading...

Radical suggestions come from Steve Bannon and indicate most polarizing proposals will be up for considerationDonald Trump's allies have become increasingly emboldened to float their most audacious ideas as Trump prepares to return to office, suggesting he run for an unconstitutional third term in 2028 and accusing the news media of having engaged in a criminal conspiracy with prosecutors against him.Those suggestions, by Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon, came at a self-congratulatory gala dinner for conservatives in New York on Sunday. At times the remarks seemed like the product of the euphoria that permeated the audience. Continue reading...

Alexander Smirnov admits lying about Bidens' links to fake bribery scheme that played key role in impeachment effortA former FBI informant pleaded guilty on Monday to lying about a phony bribery scheme purportedly involving Joe Biden and his son Hunter that became central to an attempt to impeach the president in Congress.Alexander Smirnov entered his plea to a felony charge in connection with the bogus story, along with a tax evasion charge stemming from a separate indictment accusing him of concealing millions of dollars of income. Continue reading...

Trump accuses Biden and Pentagon of cover-up after suspects charged with trespassing over incident in BostonTwo men suspected of flying a drone dangerously close" to Boston's Logan airport were arrested on Saturday night and charged with trespassing, according to authorities.The arrest on one of the Boston Harbor islands comes as suspected drones continue to be spotted in airspace in New Jersey and Connecticut, alarming residents and setting off calls by some for federal detection equipment - and by others to shoot down the mysterious aerial swarms. Continue reading...

President-elect vows investment will result in 100,000 new jobs despite history of jobs plans not panning outDonald Trump claimed to have notched up the first economic success of his forthcoming second presidency on Monday by announcing a $100bn investment by the Japanese company, SoftBank, which he said would be completed during his four-year presidency.The president-elect has a history of headline-grabbing job announcements - not all of which pan out successfully. Continue reading...

The European Union's two most powerful member states are plunged into introspection, as Donald Trump prepares to enter the White HouseAfter a brief weekend hiatus, action has resumed in the real-life political boxsets playing out in the EU's two most important capitals. In the Bundestag on Monday, a vote of no confidence in Chancellor OlafScholz's battered coalition government duly paved the way for a snap election in February. Over in Paris - where the same manoeuvre collapsed MichelBarnier's short-lived government a fortnight ago - his prime ministerial replacement was putting his feet under the desk after being appointed on Friday by an increasingly desperateEmmanuel Macron.As Europe faces big decisions and dilemmas overUkraine, how to deal with Donald Trump, and thechallenge of China, this is no time for the continent's fabled Franco-German engine to temporarily conk out. But there are no easy fixes in view on either side of the Rhine. In both France and Germany, the rise of the far right and a concomitant crisis of trust in mainstream politics have pointed to adeep political malaise for some time. Continue reading...

US president-elect also threatens legal action against Biden administration over sales of unused border wall partsPresident-elect Donald Trump on Monday said in a far-ranging news conference that he would consider pardoning the embattled New York City mayor, Eric Adams. Separately he called on the Biden administration to stop selling off unused portions of border wall that were purchased but not installed during his first administration.Yeah, I would" consider pardoning Adams, Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, before saying that he was not familiar with the specifics of the charges Adams is facing. Continue reading...

Bradley Robert Dawson killed his wife, Christe Chen, two days after the newlyweds arrived at Turtle Island resortA man from Memphis, Tennessee, has been found guilty by a judge in Fiji of murdering his wife during their honeymoon in 2022, the prosecutor's office said Monday.Bradley Robert Dawson, 40, killed his wife, Christe Chen, who was 36, at the exclusive Turtle Island resort in the Yasawa archipelago two days after the newlyweds arrived in Fiji, then fled by kayak to a nearby island. Chen was discovered in the couple's room by resort staff with multiple blunt trauma wounds to her head after the couple was heard arguing and did not appear at breakfast or lunch the next day. Continue reading...

For all its supposed populism', the new administration will probably target offices that protect consumersThe Republican party has shellacked its clean-cut corporatism, in recent years, with a veneer of economic populism. See JD Vance's pseudo-criticisms of Wall Street, so gestural they could be mistaken for an interpretive dance routine, or Donald Trump's stint as a McDonald's employee," which seemed more inspired by his contempt for Kamala Harris than his affection for fry cooks.But when it comes to how the second Trump administration actually intends to govern, there have already been plenty of signals that they intend to target and weaken - if not outright destroy - the parts of government most beneficial to working people. And right now, the agency most clearly in their crosshairs is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editorial director and publisher of the Nation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has contributed to the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times Continue reading...

Republicans' outgoing US Senate leader takes issue with foreign policy thinking in party's Maga movementMitch McConnell, the Republicans' outgoing leader in the US Senate, has called on Donald Trump to avoid an isolationist" foreign policy during his looming second presidency - and urged him to back up a surge in American hard power" by continuing to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.In a 5,000-word essay in Foreign Affairs magazine, McConnell, 82 - who retires as the GOP Senate leader at the end of this term in 2027 - takes issue with a strand of foreign policy thinking in the party's pro-Trump Make America great again" (Maga) movement, which casts China as the US's biggest threat and advocates turning away from the war in Ukraine to tackle challenges in Asia. Continue reading...

Trump defense secretary pick will give accuser opportunity to speak publicly about accusations, senator saysPete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, is offering to release a woman from a non-disclosure agreement related to sexual misconduct allegations from 2017, Lindsey Graham revealed on Sunday.Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, the South Carolina senator said Hegseth assured him in a private meeting that he would lift the NDA, giving the accuser an opportunity to speak publicly about her allegations. Continue reading...

Anonymous fundraiser aims to cover legal bills of man charged in Manhattan murder of Brian ThompsonAn online fundraiser created for the suspect arrested in the New York murder of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, has raised more than $120,000 for his legal defense.Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested on 9 December in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in connection with Thompson's killing outside a Manhattan hotel five days earlier. Continue reading...