US news | The Guardian

Initial reports speculated that person found may be journalist, but Tice's mother said she knew it was not himThe mother of journalist Austin Tice - who was detained in Syria in 2012 - told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that seeing another missing American, Travis Timmerman, found in Damascus recently felt almost like having a rehearsal ... of what it's going to really feel like when it is Austin walking free".Initial reports on Wednesday speculated that the American found might be Austin Tice - but Debra Tice said she knew immediately it wasn't her son. Continue reading...

Exchange offers example of senators's willingness to publicly disagree with Trump while serving as staunch allyUS senator Lindsey Graham has said officials who investigated Donald Trump supporters' deadly attack on the US Capitol in 2021 should not be imprisoned - despite what his fellow Republican has argued in advance of his second presidency.During an interview Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, show host Kristen Welker asked Graham whether he agreed with Trump's assertion on the program seven days earlier that those involved in the investigation of the January 6 Capitol attack should go to jail". Continue reading...

As claims about practices in two flagship London schools are investigated, it's time to stop and think about what schools are really forAsk the average Westminster politician about schools policy and the response will focus on issues that never seem to go away: funding, teacher shortages, and the drive to somehow uncouple unequal educational outcomes from children's social and economic backgrounds. At the moment the stereotypical answer is likely to also touch on the crisis in provision for kids with special educational needs. But what tends to go unmentioned is a subject that seems to be suddenly gaining traction in the real world: many schools' devout belief in zero-tolerance discipline, and whether that credo might be on its way out.Across England, the same story has been building for a long time. It originated in the New Labour years with the expansion of academies, the cult of the super head" and a seemingly rational drive to push up results and standards. During Michael Gove's time as the Tory education secretary and beyond, the same ideas fused with drastic changes in the national curriculum and a belief in quietening schools using old-fashioned punishment. And soon enough, the downsides of those approaches began to surface: eye-watering numbers of kids either suspended or excluded by their school, the grim use of isolation booths and claims that the transfer of so many former council-maintained schools to multi-academy trusts (Mats) had led to a deep crisis in accountability.John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Shooter was arrested and an all clear' was given about two hours after base outside Augusta went into lockdownA US army base in Georgia was locked down on Saturday after a person was shot and killed in what authorities described as an isolated incident.The shooter was arrested and an all clear" was given about two hours after Fort Eisenhower went into lockdown, the installation's operations center said on social media. Continue reading...

It's an enduring dilemma, this becoming-a-parent thing. It's never a good time to embark on parenthood

Reaction to Brian Thompson's killing shocked pundits but a polarized US is united in contempt for health systemJust over a week ago no one knew who Luigi Mangione was. After he was revealed as the alleged assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, on 4 December, he quickly became one of the most polarizing figures in American pop culture.To some, he's an anticapitalist arch villain. To others, he is a Marxist folk hero exacting revenge against the unchecked avarice of American medical insurance companies. To yet more, he's a damaged young man struggling with a variety of intense health issues, whose family and friends desperately tried to reach out to him after he disappeared in the weeks and months before the killing. Continue reading...

Largest private employer in US pledged to tackle inequities after George Floyd murder but has now dropped initiativesA year after the murder of George Floyd, Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart had a warning for corporate America. The death of Floyd triggered a wave of protest over systemic racism and was not an isolated event. We have a long history of racism, and we see unacceptable events continue."Walmart and other large US corporations made pledges to address inequities within their business, ones many feared would be dropped once the focus on Floyd's killing and its aftermath faded. We can't let that be the case," he wrote, outlining how the company was releasing its diversity metrics twice a year" and calling on companies to continue to address systemic racism and the structural inequities that are rooted in this nation's history of slavery and that persist today". Continue reading...

Self-serving meddling by Israel, Turkey and other foreign powers puts the revolution at risk. They should back off nowUnited in duplicity, if nothing else, Russia, Iran, Turkey and the US - key external players in Syria's long-running drama - all agreed. The country's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity" must be respected and maintained, each separately declared last week after Bashar al-Assad's sudden, welcome downfall.Even Israel, recklessly bombing Syria to blazes in the Jewish state's largest ever military operation, denied it was interfering in the country's internal affairs. Such cynicism is breathtaking. Like ravening wolves, supposed friends and neighbours tug at the still twitching corpse of the deposed regime. Unchecked, they could tear Syria apart, again. Continue reading...

Former House speaker underwent surgery at a US military hospital after injury during visit with bipartisan delegationThe former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi had a hip replacement on Saturday at a US military hospital in Germany after falling while at an event in Luxembourg with other members of Congress.Pelosi, 84, is well on the mend," said Ian Krager, a spokesperson for the California Democrat. Continue reading...

James Wynn takes rare step after two trial court judges do the same, prompting conservative complaintsA US appeals court judge has taken the rare step of revoking his decision to retire from active service on the bench, depriving Donald Trump of the ability to fill a judicial vacancy.US circuit judge James Wynn, an appointee of Barack Obama on the fourth US circuit court of appeals based in Richmond, Virginia, disclosed his decision in a letter to Joe Biden on Friday. Continue reading...

Chuck Hildebrandt, 63, of Chicago says he tried to return Baseball's Zaniest Stars while in Warren for ThanksgivingFifty years later, a man who grew up in suburban Detroit tried to return a very overdue baseball book to his boyhood library.The answer: you can keep it - and no fine. Continue reading...

Chris Smith said he was looking into letting police down the drones, some of which were spotted near military basesA Republican representative from New Jersey called on federal officials on Saturday to address the many recent drone sightings in the state.For weeks, we have asked for the truth and actions to mitigate all threats to people and property," Chris Smith said at a news briefing. Now, we are demanding it." Continue reading...

Former California lawmaker accused the FBI of conspiring against Trump during Russian election interference inquiryDonald Trump on Saturday named ally Devin Nunes, a former US lawmaker who now runs Trump's Truth Social social media platform, to serve as chair of the president's intelligence advisory board.Nunes, a longtime Trump defender who led the US House of Representatives intelligence committee during part of Trump's first White House term, will remain Truth Social CEO while serving on the advisory panel, Trump said in a post on the platform. Continue reading...

In a New York Times essay, Andrew Witty also says slain healthcare CEO Brian Thompson cared about customersThe leader of the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, whose chief executive officer was shot to death outside a New York City hotel on 4 December, conceded that the US's patchwork health system does not work as well as it should".But in a guest essay published by the New York Times, UnitedHealth Group's CEO, Andrew Witty, maintained the slain Brian Thompson cared about customers and was working to make the system better. Continue reading...

Michael Conahan was convicted of accepting $2.8m for jailing more than 2,300 children, some as young as eightVictims of a former Pennsylvania judge convicted in the so-called kids-for-cash scandal are outraged by Joe Biden's decision to grant him clemency.In 2011, Michael Conahan was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after he and another judge, Mark Ciavarella, were found guilty of accepting $2.8m in illegal payments in exchange for sending more than 2,300 children - including some as young as eight years old - to private juvenile detention centers. Continue reading...

Senate minority leader contracted the disease as a child, before the wildly successful vaccine was licensedUS Senate minority leader and polio survivor Mitch McConnell has condemned attempts to undermine the polio vaccine after reports that a lawyer affiliated with Robert F Kennedy Jr - the health secretary pick for Donald Trump's second presidency - petitioned for the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the vaccine.In a statement reported by numerous outlets on Friday, McConnell, who contracted the disease as a child in 1944 - 11 years before the licensing of the world's first polio vaccine - said: The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed - they're dangerous." Continue reading...

The USPS was a target during his first administration, and it might now be on the chopping block due to financial lossesDonald Trump in recent weeks has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the US Postal Service (USPS) because of its financial losses, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.Trump, who begins his second US presidency on 20 January, has discussed his desire to privatize the USPS with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary, at his Mar-a-Lago home, the report said. Continue reading...

Only the disgraced prince would be daft enough to invite an alleged spy for China to his 60th birthday partyHere's a festive quiz for all the family.Is Prince Andrew: Continue reading...

Trump has vowed to usurp authority of the city, which he has openly disparaged - and the feeling is generally mutualBoth a senator and a pastor, Raphael Warnock reflected on being asked to give closing remarks at an annual congressional dinner in Washington. Since we are meeting in what used to be the Trump International Hotel," he mused, perhaps it is an exorcism".That was last year, when the ghost of Donald Trump had seemingly been banished for good from the nation's capital. But like all the best horror movies, there is going to be a sequel. Next month Trump will return to a city that he has openly disparaged - the feeling is generally mutual - when he is inaugurated as the 47th US president. Continue reading...

Anthony Odiong to appear Monday in court over charges he abused his position to pursue sex with congregantsA Roman Catholic priest who served under the command of church officials in Texas's capital and Louisiana's most famous city is tentatively scheduled to plead guilty Monday in connection to charges that he allegedly abused his position of clerical authority to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable women whom he encountered during his work, according to criminal court records online.However, attorneys on both sides of the case pending against Anthony Odiong - who was understood to be mulling a plea deal in recent weeks - emphasized the tentative nature of the hearing set for Monday morning. Continue reading...

Lt Col Herman West was charged after sexual harassment was classified as a crime under military justice codeA former US army battalion commander was found guilty on Friday of sexual harassment of a subordinate in what prosecutors hailed as a historic military justice case.Lt Col Herman West, who was previously stationed at Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), faced multiple charges over his treatment of a young female officer in his command, KOMO News reported. Continue reading...

Briana Boston had reportedly just had a medical claim denied when she said to the person on the phone: Delay, deny, depose'Sit yourself down and let out a big sigh of relief: thanks to the tireless work of the Florida police force, everyone in the US can now feel a little bit safer. On Tuesday, Florida's Lakeland police department charged Briana Boston, a 42-year-old mother of three, with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism. Continue reading...

The contenders for the No 1 seed in each conference face off in Detroit. Could a February rematch be on the cards?Buffalo Bills (10-3) v Detroit Lions (12-1) Continue reading...

Trump's pick, who has gained key support, could open investigations unilaterally or influence background checksFormer FBI officials have warned that Donald Trump's nominee to be the next FBI director, Kash Patel, could have limitless power at the bureau as they confront the likelihood that he will be confirmed next year after locking down support from key Republicans and the current director's intention to resign.The alarm has come as Patel, who has called for shutting down FBI headquarters and drafted a so-called enemies list of people Trump feels wronged by, appears set to have his nomination supported unanimously by Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee. Continue reading...

The fall of Assad in Syria, protests in Georgia, the Franklin Fire in Malibu and the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris: the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

The president-elect's victory was straight out of the pro wrestling playbook. Voters knew it was fake, but they loved itDo you remember World Wrestling Entertainment? For many people, the show, in which muscle-bound wrestlers in tight tights throw one another around in staged fights, is a nostalgic throwback to the early 2000s, when it played briefly on Channel 4. Today, its mix of soap opera, theatre and athletic spectacle still draws millions of viewers each week. To some, it's a guilty pleasure; to others, timeless entertainment. Still, few would associate it with the serious world of politics.For Donald Trump, though, professional wrestling is a lifelong passion. His announcement in November that the former CEO of WWE, Linda McMahon, would take up the role of education secretary in his cabinet of curiosities elicited shock and disbelief. It is impossible to fully understand US politics today without understanding the significance of pro wrestling. Continue reading...

Red One is the latest Hollywood attempt at a spectacular festive action film. It is on course to lose $100m. Why don't they realise we want slippers, jim-jams and Lindsay Lohan?It's the most wonderful time of the year - a time for carolling and concerts, trees and tinsel, mulled wine, open fires and, of course, The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson). Or at least, that is, according to Hollywood. The action star's latest film, Red One, has been playing in cinemas across the world since mid-November. But critically, it's been regarded as a bit of a stinker.For those who missed it, the film was conceived as the first instalment of a Christmas-themed action franchise. It casts Dwayne Johnson as Callum Drift, commander of the North Pole's Enforcement Logistics and Fortification (ELF) division - Santa's security team. Continue reading...

It wasn't always clear why our buzz-cut parents felt so threatened by our cascading locks - but guys like me needed to express ourselvesThroughout the mid-to-late 60s, I had to fight every literal inch of the way over the matter of long hair. As I practised being Mick Jagger before the bedroom mirror, it was always on the understanding that, within hours, I might be in front of that same mirror after a parentally-dictated trip to the barber.No amount of backcombing, pulling or applications of a thickening gel called Dippety-Do could disguise the brutal shearing. I'd be left making the best of a bad job, sprucing up for a Saturday night of raging pubescent hormones and perspiration. Continue reading...

Bob Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor during 17 December 1941 attack that propelled US into second world warBob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, died shortly after deteriorating health prompted him to skip a trip to Hawaii to attend last week's remembrance ceremony marking the 83rd anniversary of the attack.Fernandez died peacefully at the Lodi, California, home of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie's daughter, Halie Torrrell, was holding his hand when he took his last breath. Fernandez had suffered a stroke about a month ago that caused him to slow down, but Guthrie said doctors attributed his condition to age. Continue reading...

In Bend, residents have been getting a chuckle out of seeing the decoration stuck on installations in roundaboutsGoogly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show.On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called Roundabout Art Route." One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It's not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures. Continue reading...

As part of plea deal, Alexander Smirnov will admit he made up story at center of Republican impeachment inquiryA former FBI informant accused of falsely claiming that Joe Biden and the president's son Hunter had accepted bribes has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to court papers.As part of the plea deal with the justice department special counsel, David Weiss, Alexander Smirnov will admit he fabricated the story that became central to a Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress. Continue reading...

Residents in several counties of the state have reported sighting drones, sometimes over military facilitiesSince about mid-November, hundreds of New Jersey residents have been calling law enforcement and state officials after spotting what appeared to be drones in the skies over about a dozen counties. The reports have become more frequent in recent days. In some sightings, mysterious car-sized flying objects, sometimes in groups, were seen above military installations and critical infrastructure such as energy facilities, railway stations and reservoirs. Republican state senator Jon Bramnick said it amounted to a limited state of emergency". Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US drone sightings, read our full report:

New Jersey governor urges Biden and federal agencies to further investigate unidentified aircraft sightings

From Ballet Shoes to Wicked, stories of female empowerment and friendship are triumphing on stage and screenI'd start with Ballet Shoes first. It's my favourite," Meg Ryan's character urges a mother in a bookstore in Nora Ephron's 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail. Never out of print since it was first published in 1936, Noel Streatfield's Story of Three Children on the Stage" has been a favourite with generations of readers, including former Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson. Although adapted twice for television, Ballet Shoes has never been made into a play before. This Christmas, the National Theatre in London is staging it for the first time.Three foundling girls - Pauline, Petrova and Posy - fetch up at a dilapidated house on the Cromwell Road some time in the 1920s, having been rescued by roving palaeontologist Great Uncle Matthew - Gum". Left in the care of his adult niece Sylvia (another orphan) and her old nanny, the girls become the Fossil sisters. They grow up in a spirited matriarchy of genteel poverty and plucky determination to follow their passions - acting, engineering and ballet. Described by Streatfield as a fairy story with its feet halfway on the ground", Ballet Shoes is the perfect tale for our own age of austerity. Continue reading...

Test your knowledge of the week in sport as relationships ended and the end-of-year awards began to pour in Continue reading...

American Airlines flight with 196 people took off from LaGuardia airport before a bird strike forced it to land at JFKA bird strike involving an American Airlines jetliner disabled one of the plane's two engines shortly after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia airport, forcing the flight to turn around and land at John F Kennedy international airport, authorities said on Friday.No one was injured in the incident on Thursday involving flight 1722, which took off from LaGuardia at 7.43pm with a destination of Charlotte, North Carolina, airline officials said. Continue reading...

Nearly 90 million Americans didn't vote - which is more than the number of people who voted for Trump or HarrisThe 2024 US presidential election had been widely characterized as one of the most consequential political contests in recent US history. Although turnout was high for a presidential election - almost matching the levels of 2020 - it is estimated that close to 90 million Americans, roughly 36% of the eligible voting age population, did not vote. This number is greater than the number of people who voted for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.More than a month on from polling day, eligible US voters from across the country as well as other parts of the world got in touch with the Guardian to share why they did not vote. Continue reading...

Aaron Siri is helping Trump's health secretary pick to select top jobs despite long history of attacking vaccinesA key legal adviser to Robert Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump's pick for health secretary, is at the center of efforts to push federal drug regulators to revoke approval for the polio and hepatitis B vaccines and block distribution of 13 other critical vaccines.Aaron Siri, a lawyer who has been helping Kennedy select top health administrators as part of the Trump transition process, is deeply embedded in longstanding efforts to force the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw a raft of vaccines that have saved the lives and health of millions of Americans. Continue reading...

Shooter, who mentioned company in note found during arrest, may have targeted it because of its size and influenceThere is no indication the man charged with killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was ever a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said on Thursday.Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York police department, told NBC New York in an interview on Thursday that investigators had uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City. Continue reading...

German security authorities reportedly flag numerous sightings over Ramstein and sensitive industry locationsUnidentified drones have been sighted over sensitive industry locations and the US air base at Ramstein in Germany in recent weeks, the Spiegel news magazine reported on Friday, citing a confidential report by German security authorities.The report flagged numerous drone sightings made in the evening hours of 3 and 4 December over the air base, according to Spiegel. Continue reading...

Second person injured as plane crash shuts down traffic on Interstate 684 in Westchester countyA small plane crashed on to a New York highway in Westchester county on Thursday night, killing one of two people on board and injuring the other, authorities said.The crash shut down traffic on Interstate 684 in Harrison, about 25 miles (40km) north-east of Manhattan, at about 7pm. Continue reading...

As co-chair of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency', the world's richest man is likely to get richerThe Federal Advisory Committee Act says in plain language that an advisory committee - as Elon Musk proposes the Department of Government Efficiency" to be - must ensure that its recommendations are not biased by any special interest.Yet, Musk, the richest man on Earth, has a wider and deeper range of potential conflicts of interest with the federal government than perhaps any person has ever had. Continue reading...

The president-elect is expected to announce a flurry of executive orders on immigration in his first days in officeWith Donald Trump ready to unleash his mass deportation policy in January, many local and national immigrant rights, legal aid and civil rights organizations are preparing for the unexpected.During his campaign, Trump often spoke of launching - on day one - the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America". Now that he has been elected, various rights groups are preparing for the uncertainty of how quickly and to what extent Trump will be able to execute his plans. Continue reading...