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Critics call Democratic lawmakers spineless' for joining GOP in making bill potentially big legislative win for Donald TrumpThe US Senate on Friday cleared the way for final approval of a bill that targets undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes, a preview of how Republicans will use their majorities to help Donald Trump deliver on his long-promised border crackdown - and an early test of how Democrats will respond.The Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan national, cleared a key procedural hurdle by a vote of 61-35, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans to advance it. A vote on final passage was scheduled for early next week, making it potentially one of the first pieces of legislation he signs as president. Continue reading...

Officers said pilot had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol before planned flight from Savannah to ChicagoPolice at a Georgia airport arrested an airline pilot on a DUI charge as he was making pre-flight checks aboard a Southwest Airlines flight with bloodshot eyes and reeking of what smelled like alcohol, according to a police report.Passengers had boarded the Southwest Airlines flight from Savannah to Chicago and were awaiting takeoff on Wednesday morning when police boarded the plane and took the pilot away in handcuffs. Continue reading...

Our guide on what to know about the moment Trump becomes 47th US president, including the oath of office and who is attendingDonald Trump, the 45th and soon to be 47th president of the United States, will be inaugurated in Washington on Monday, in an event moved indoors by freezing weather from the Capitol steps where he was first sworn into power eight years ago.Trump will again take the oath of office, and complete an astonishing political comeback. Continue reading...

Sean Curran, who has headed Trump's details for the last two and a half years, will be the agency's new directorAn agent who helped cover Donald Trump when a gunman opened fire at him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania has been chosen by the president-elect to lead the US Secret Service.

She's past 40 with a knee made of titanium, but Lindsey Vonn's comeback is already bucking expectations and crackling with the promise of a fifth Olympic GamesThere's no denying the nervous apprehension that rippled through the ski racing world after Lindsey Vonn announced her shock comeback in November. She'd walked away nearly six years earlier due to a battered right knee worn down by a string of gruesome crashes and multiple surgeries, no longer able to endure the punishing demands of the circuit. Now she was proposing a return on the wrong side of 40 with a knee made of titanium to a high-risk sport where no woman has ever won a top-flight race past 34 years old.But a funny thing happened on the way to Vonn's humiliation. In the two months since her unretirement, she's finished 14th in a super-G at St Moritz, before improving to sixth and fourth in her next two races at St Anton. Incredibly, she says she feels healthier now than when she called time on her extraordinary career in early 2019. And after only three races, Vonn's chances of competing in a fifth Olympics next year at Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo seem more than plausible. From the NBC point of view, it's a possibility that could be described in industry jargon as manna from heaven. Continue reading...

The agreement reached this week is basically the plan Joe Biden unveiled in May. So much pain, terror and death could have been avoidedWhen news of the ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas first broke on Wednesday, a friend offered the kind hope that now, at last, there could be a sense of joy. I wanted very much to feel that way but, at that moment, I could not - and here's why.For one thing, a mere announcement did not seem enough. When it comes to the Middle East, believe it when you see it" tends to be a good operating principle. Sure enough, there followed 48 hours of hitches and last-minute delays and even now, as I write this and after the Israeli security cabinet approved the deal, it seems like tempting fate to assume everything will run smoothly. Continue reading...

Status of measure enshrining gender equality in law remains ambiguous despite president's declarationJoe Biden announced on Friday that the Equal Rights Amendment should be considered a ratified addition to the US constitution, inserting himself into a long-running legal battle over gender equality just days before he is set to leave office.It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people," Biden said in a statement. In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex." Continue reading...

The close-knit Los Angeles community has been devastated by the fires - but locals have mobilized to help the recoveryBrandon Garner was armed with only a garden hose atop his grandparents' home in Altadena as the flames encircled him.I only thought to leave once," Garner said. He fended off the Eaton fire from engulfing his family's residence last week, livestreaming the feat on Facebook. I just kept saying, God ain't gonna let nothing happen to me.' I got it. He got me. I got the house." Continue reading...

As fires set LA ablaze, some houses are left standing amid ashes thanks to concrete walls, class A wood - and luckWhen last week's fires in Los Angeles set parts of the city ablaze, one viral image was of a lone house in Pacific Palisades that was left standing while all of the homes around it were destroyed.Architect Greg Chasen said luck was the main factor in the home's survival, but the brand-new build had some design features that also helped: a vegetation-free zone around the yard fenced off by a solid concrete perimeter wall, a metal roof with a fire-resistant underlayment, class A wood and a front-gabled design without multiple roof lines. Continue reading...

Democrats should make the next four years of Republican governance as grueling and painful as possibleWhat the 2024 election results made clear is that the Obama coalition is dead. If Democrats are to have any shot at reclaiming power, so too must be the niceties and mores of the Obama era.Yes, Democrats must get mean - ruthlessly, bitterly mean. This is not to say, however, that they need merely to cast aside the former first lady's once-famous, now-infamous messaging mantra. No, what I prescribe is not just a new approach to political discourse but a new theory of opposition party politics.Peter Rothpletz is a freelance writer. Continue reading...

Saginaw county Republicans want new president to target big pharma, healthcare and food - can they rely on him?Saginaw's Republicans were amused by the suggestion that their anger at corporate power in America and the military-industrial complex made them sound like liberals from a bygone age.Yet Lori Patterson, chair of the local Republican party in this crucial region in the swing state of Michigan, was steadfast in her belief that Donald Trump will complete his oft-made promise to drain the swamp". She believes Trump will take on the corporate giants she said wield too much control over US politics and citizens' lives even as the incoming US president assembles a cabinet stacked with billionaires. Continue reading...

Number of families that are still separated remains unclear, and a previous ruling offers separated families few protections from future deportationIn summer 2017, the Trump administration began quietly separating families at the US-Mexico border. Under the zero-tolerance" policy formally announced months later, federal immigration authorities removed children as young as four months old from parents or adults who were seeking asylum. The administration didn't announce any plans for reunification.As Trump 2.0 grows closer and closer, so does the unease of the lawyers and advocates who have spent years locating, representing and reuniting these families. Organizations Justice in Motion, Kids in Need of Defense and the Women's Refugee Commission, along with the global private law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, formed a court-appointed steering committee after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the 2018 class action lawsuit Ms L v US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop separations at the southern border. While a judge halted Trump's policy, some families still remain separated. Continue reading...

Organization faces arguably its biggest test with Trump's return to power with deportation, free speech and immigration on the agendaThe American Civil Liberties Union, a leading defender of rights and freedoms enshrined in the US constitution, has drafted several major lawsuits it is prepared to file should Donald Trump try to wield excessive or unlawful power at the start of his second presidency, which starts on Monday.Cecillia Wang, the ACLU's recently appointed national legal director, said the organisation was fully set, with plaintiffs lined up and legal complaints already written. The incoming president's plans to mass-deport millions of undocumented immigrants, his threats to pursue vendettas against his political enemies and his talk of mobilising the military for domestic purposes, are all squarely in the ACLU's sights. Continue reading...

The Meta boss has ditched his diversity scheme and moved his moderation team. Is he jealous of the attention Musk is getting?

The paper's owner should show up - soon - to hold a town hall with the newsroom, answer questions, and take the heatMore than 400 newsroom staffers at the Washington Post pleaded with the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, this week to do something about their beloved paper's rapid - and very public - decline.We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent," an extraordinary letter to Bezos read in part, as first reported by NPR's David Folkenflik. It was signed by some of the Post's most respected names, including the investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and the unofficial dean of DC politics writers Dan Balz.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Total number of pardons and commutations issued by US president is now higher than any of his predecessorsJoe Biden, who leaves office next week, announced on Friday he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offences, saying he had now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any predecessor.The US president said in a statement that those benefiting from Friday's action were serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy and practice". Continue reading...

The feuds and rivalries within the US president-elect's Maga ecosystem - including some British sympathisersThe task of deconstructing the internal manoeuvrings of the leadership of the Soviet Union was once regarded as little short of a science such was the paucity of information. Today, the court of Donald Trump is perhaps no less enigmatic - but for quite different reasons. Trumpologists trying to keep up with the machinations of the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and its sympathisers in Britain are faced with a torrent of information via social media posts and podcast rants. Sworn enemies today can easily be the closest of conspirators tomorrow. Steve Bannon has let it be known that he intends to bring down fellow Trump acolyte Elon Musk in time for inauguration day (with days to go). It is no easy task to make sense of it all but here is what we know of the current feuds and rivalries in the Maga ecosystem: Continue reading...

Non-profits rush to assist undocumented immigrants who face deportation threat on top of displacement and job lossAngelica Salas has been shellshocked by the past week.The immigrants' advocate had to flee the Eaton fire as it rushed toward Altadena and Pasadena. But even as she and her family were evacuating their home and checking in on friends and neighbors, Salas was scrambling to organize emergency aid for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant families that her organization serves. Continue reading...

A new three-on-three league will bring some of the best players in the world together for a two-month season. Its backers believe it's just the startInside an old television studio, on an industrial park a few miles from Miami's international airport, an enthralling new show will premiere on Friday. It is opening night for the Unrivaled women's professional basketball league, a production almost two years in the making that is poised to revolutionize the sport.Unrivaled brings together 36 of the best players from the WNBA for a two-month season inside the newly converted building. Six clubs will play each other three-on-three in a round-robin format on a two-thirds sized court over the next nine weeks, until playoffs and a championship game on 17 March. A three-day, one-on-one Queen of the Court" tournament takes place next month. Continue reading...

Trump's second term will be marked by a rare level of influence in Congress and the highest courtDonald Trump will come in to power with a trifecta" of governmental control after his Republican party won the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency in the 2024 US election.Control of both chambers of Congress is not uncommon for US presidents. Trump achieved a trifecta in his first term, as did Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Continue reading...

The best weekend in football whirls into action with Kansas City starting their bid for a three-peat and ends with a blockbuster meeting of MVP candidateWhat the Texans need to do to win: CJ Stroud needs to continue his upward trajectory. After turning what would have been an ugly fumble deep in his own half into the beginning of a run of 23 unanswered points against the Los Angeles Chargers last week, Houston's quarterback seemed to shake off his winter blues at the very moment he found Xavier Hutchinson wide open downfield. Stroud needs to trust his instincts in order to compensate for a subpar offensive line, though more importantly he has to have faith in Nico Collins. The receiver will be under blanket coverage from Trent McDuffie and Justin Reid, owing to a lack of any other significant Texans threat downfield, but his remarkable knack of making catches in heavy traffic will be crucial if his team are to keep pace with the Chiefs. Oh, and in games that Collins has 150 or more receiving yards the Texans are 4-0 so just keep it flowing in his direction. Easy. Continue reading...

Former vice-president makes surprise visit to Taipei and predicts that if China annexes its neighbour other Asia-Pacific countries will build nuclear arsenalsMike Pence called on Donald Trump's incoming administration to maintain support for Taiwan against the threat of Chinese annexation during a surprise visit to the capital, Taipei, on Friday.On the eve of Trump's inauguration for his second term as president, his estranged former vice-president said withdrawing or reducing support for Taiwan - as Trump has repeatedly indicated he is considering - would endanger global security and likely spark a new nuclear arms race" in the Asia-Pacific region. Continue reading...

National Weather Service says wind siege has finally ended' and forecasts higher humidity but warns high winds could return next weekAs the battle against the deadly fires in Los Angeles county enters its 10th day, officials are warning evacuees against returning to their homes due to the presence of toxic, hazardous waste and exposed power and gas lines.During a Thursday press conference, Yonah Halpern, principal engineer with LA county public works said that toxins such as asbestos, and mercury can be found in fire debris and that the US Environmental Protection Agency and county fire department will be going house-to-house to assess and remove hazardous materials at no cost to the property's owner. Continue reading...

Indictment comes seven months after FBI raided her home, with formal announcement scheduled to happen on FridaySheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, California has been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.The indictment comes seven months after an FBI raid on Thao's home and two months after she was recalled by voters in Oakland. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read more of our coverage of the California wildfires here

Experts say climate crisis was likely responsible for a quarter of the dryness that fueled the fires' rapid spreadAs Los Angeles's deadly wildfires continue to burn, a group of survivors is taking aim at the industry most responsible for fueling climate disasters: fossil fuels.Residents impacted by the blazes lamented during a Thursday conference call losing their homes and communities and called for litigation and policies that could force big oil to pay for the damages. In the coming days, lawmakers will introduce legislation with that aim in mind. Continue reading...

Police department officials lament systemic problem' and say rats enjoying' 400,000lbs of marijuana in storageHouston has found itself with a problem after drug-eating rats invaded the city's police evidence room, according to officials.Last Friday, a handful of city officials including Houston mayor John Whitmire, police chief J Noe Diaz and Harris county district attorney Sean Teare gave a press conference in which they announced new efforts to clear out outdated evidence from the Houston police's evidence room which has been infested with rats, KHOU reports. Continue reading...

Measures come a week after Washington also sanctioned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's rival, Mohamed Hamdan DagaloThe United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan's army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.The US treasury department said in a statement that under Burhan's leadership, the army's war tactics have included indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, and extrajudicial executions. Continue reading...

Responses from lawmakers underlined the very democratic fragility the president looked to highlightJoe Biden's farewell address warning that an oligarchy is taking shape" which threatens American democracy sparked polarized reactions from lawmakers that seemed to validate the very democratic fragility the president looked to highlight.Speaking from the Oval Office for the final time before president-elect Donald Trump's return to power, on Wednesday Biden sounded an alarm about America's future. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America," he said, that posed a challenge to our basic rights and freedoms". Continue reading...

Danielle Collins got into a back-and-forth with a booing crowd at the Australian Open after eliminating local hope Destanee Aiava, and blowing kisses to the spectators. 'The people that don't like you, and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills,' the world No 11 said.

The president-elect's pose says: here's a man you can't get rid of easily. The new vice-president's says: Can you believe this?'It's possible that you have seen far more of Donald Trump's face than you'd like in recent months. But if you haven't, then I've got great news: the president-elect's official portrait has now been released. This morning, Trump's transition team shared official portraits of the incoming president and his vice-president-elect, JD Vance, before their inauguration next week. Official Portraits Released - And They Go Hard ????" an accompanying statement from the Trump team proclaimed.So just how hard do they go? You can rate them for yourself, but Trump's somewhat untraditional pose is certainly trying to project tough guy". He's got one eye squinted menacingly and a grim, defiant look on his face. The pose is strikingly similar to his famous mugshot from 2023. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read all the latest from US politics here:

Complaints accuse TV stations and networks of promotion of 2020 election falsehoods, bias and news distortion'The outgoing chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered it to reject four complaints and petitions against television stations, saying she believes the complaints seek to curtail freedom of the press and undermine the First Amendment".In a statement on Thursday, just days before she is set to step down, Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said all four complaints were essentially political in nature. She described them as attempts to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC". Continue reading...

Trump ally says he has reached deal with election workers he defamed and will not have to turn over key possessionsRudy Giuliani's trial over whether he must turn over his Florida condo and other prized possessions to former Georgia election workers whom he defamed was delayed on Thursday after the former New York mayor failed to show up in court.Giuliani later shared on X that he had reached a resolution of the litigation with the plaintiffs that will result in a satisfaction of the plaintiffs' judgment". Continue reading...

The outgoing president was right, in his farewell address, to warn of the dangers posed by the billionaires around the tableAristocrats are the most difficult Animals to manage, of anything in the whole Theory and practice of Government. They will not suffer themselves to be governed," John Adams warned, writing after his presidency. Banning titles was insufficient; a few would still be distinguished by birth or, especially, wealth. The problem was not just their ability to buy political favours but the grip that their money had on people's minds.Economic and political power entwine everywhere. Fear of the rich's outsized influence has existed throughout US history. Yet at times the relationship becomes especially stark and threatening. On Wednesday, Joe Biden evoked the 19th-century Gilded Age and the robber barons - who crushed competitors, exploited workers, bought judges and politicians, and flaunted wealth - in his warning against oligarchs. Continue reading...

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People in Maga hats at lunch with Trump Jr last week did not know him and were invited in off the street, hotel boss saysA group of Greenlanders who attended a lunch hosted by Donald Trump Jr wearing Make America Great Again caps were not dedicated supporters of the US president-elect but homeless people enticed by the prospect of free food, it has been claimed.Trump Jnr visited the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, last week, shortly after his father declared it was an absolute necessity" for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory. Continue reading...

Ashley Moody, Trump loyalist with conservative track record, will replace president-elect's secretary of state pickThe Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has announced he is appointing Ashley Moody, the state's attorney general, to fill Marco Rubio's Senate seat. Rubio is Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state.Moody has been Florida's attorney general since 2019, having replaced Pam Bondi, Trump's pick for US attorney general. Rubio had been in the Senate since 2011 as part of the Tea Party wave during the 2010 election. Continue reading...

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was interrupted several times during his news conference by anti-war protesters seated in the state department briefing room, who challenged his record on Gaza

Fleeing the regime in Venezuela, a couple scored one of the few appointments to apply for asylum via the CBP One app but the president-elect has warned: Get ready to leave'Jorge Luis Jimenez and his wife did exactly what the US government asked of them when they spent months trying over and over again to get an appointment to cross the border, after risking everything to flee Venezuela.Now they may be easy targets in Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown - despite living and working legally in the US. Continue reading...

As Donald Trump voters celebrate, Democrats plan a fightback - campaigners overseas on what happens nextDonald Trump's voters in the UK are celebrating the arrival of what Sarah Elliot, an American conservative in London, describes as his new world order," while expat Democrats plan a fightback from Europe. In the buildup to the US presidential inauguration, the Guardian spoke to key campaigners in overseas communities. Continue reading...

Merrick Garland pressed to use final days to release report on president-elect's retention of classified documents

Disasters have long led to misinformation as people grasp for control, but the consequences can be life and deathThe Hollywood sign was not on fire. Firefighters weren't using women's purses to put out fires. A fish is not responsible for the blazes. The Los Angeles fire department didn't see big budget cuts. The fires were not started deliberately as some kind of mass plot related to high-speed rail or the 2028 Olympics. Firefighting efforts did not include spraying a mood stabilizer into the air to put locals into a trance. Diversity measures are not to blame.Fires are still burning in Los Angeles, and with them has come a near-constant stream of rumors, half-truths, conspiracy theories and outright lies. Natural disasters have long led to the spread of misinformation as people try to make sense of destruction and grasp for control when the world around them is destroyed. In the aftermath of the disaster, a lot is still unknown: what caused it, what could have prevented it, who could be to blame. Continue reading...

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's desperation to be cool as they suck up to Donald Trump is so cringe it makes my skin crawlI don't know if anyone else has noticed this but everything seems to be going down the tubes quite fast. And not fun tubes, like at a waterpark. The ending in shit" kind. The issues are complicated, the reasons diverse, but there are a few culprits who have been making themselves extremely visible.Alongside those holding political office, tech gragillionnaires (I had to invent a new number) like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg obviously wield huge global influence with their computers and numbers and whatnot. There has been a lot written about them and there will be more, as they continue to shape the world and win favour with Donald Trump. Big, scary, probably ruinous things lie ahead. But I'm here to discuss the smaller part. The insult to injury, the sprinkling of salt in the wound. Continue reading...

The Oregon Democrat has written a book, a call for chutzpah' from those seeking political progressRon Wyden of Oregon, the second-most senior Democrat in the US Senate, has written a book. Not your average political memoir, it's called It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change, and it does indeed look like a campaign handbook, a stylized megaphone blaring its title on the cover.I've read a lot of politicians' books," Wyden says. They're just deadening because there's a lot of bragging. You know, I passed this, and I passed that.' Then there's a section where they say, I'm being urged by so many people to run for president.' And then they feign un-interest, and then the third section is, Here's my presidential exploratory committee.' Continue reading...