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President-elect said he would give states the power to control education, but it would be extremely difficultDonald Trump issued a bold campaign promise to his voters: he would eliminate the US Department of Education and give states all power to control education.He didn't lay out how he could get rid of the cabinet-level agency, but he alone cannot eliminate a department, making it an extremely difficult task to accomplish. Congress is requested to approve the creation or demise of an agency. Continue reading...

Animals, mostly birds, die of smoke inhalation in incident at shopping centre in TexasMore than 500 animals have died after a fire broke out in a shopping centre in Dallas.The 579 animals, mostly birds, were in a pet shop at Plaza Latina in the north-west of the Texas city. Continue reading...

Family remembers Terrence Kennedy, 63, as nicest person in the world' after reporting he was one of 14 people killed

More than half of the 12 identified were from local areas and all ranged in age from 18 to 63The New Orleans coroner's office has released the identities of most of the 14 people killed in the deadly truck attack aimed at New Year's Day revelers on the city's famous Bourbon Street.More than half of the 12 victims identified after being slain Wednesday by the attacker - a US army veteran who was shot dead by police - were from the New Orleans metropolitan area or other Louisiana communities. Others were residents of Alabama, Mississippi and New Jersey. Continue reading...

Investigators recover equipment from house rented by attacker who killed 14 and injured dozens on New Year's DayAuthorities have confirmed finding bomb-making materials at the New Orleans home that US military veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar rented before ramming a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year's revelers, according to an FBI statement containing the most complete account yet of the attack.Investigators recovered from Jabbar's rental truck a transmitter intended to trigger the two bombs, the statement read, confirming prior media reporting. Continue reading...

President-elect will be sentenced for his 34 felony convictions on 10 January, Judge Juan Merchan rulesA judge on Friday set Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush-money case for 10 January - little over a week before he is due to return to the White House - but promised not to jail him.Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial in New York, denied the president-elect's motion to dismiss the case due to his election victory in November. He said Trump is expected to appear for sentencing either in-person or virtually. Continue reading...

Matthew Livelsberger died in an apparent suicide after reportedly breaking up with wife six days before explosionPolice in the US were still investigating the possible motivations and background of Matthew Livelsberger, the decorated special forces soldier who died in an apparent suicide and vehicle bombing of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day.Authorities said Livelsberger had written a note saying his actions were intended to serve as wakeup call". He apparently shot himself dead inside the Tesla seconds before the vehicle packed with fireworks, gas-filled tanks and camping fuel exploded outside the hotel lobby. Seven people suffered minor injuries, but little damage was done to the hotel. Continue reading...

Mike Johnson has been re-elected US House speaker, after seeing off a brief revolt by two Republicans. Johnson had won 218 votes while Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, had won all 215 votes of his caucus

Eight members of a family were killed in a 2016 shooting and another two members received lengthy sentencesTwo more family members convicted in the killings of eight members of an Ohio family received lengthy prison terms on Friday for their roles in the 2016 shootings, as prosecutions near completion in what has been described as the most heinous crime in modern Ohio history.Visiting Judge Jonathan Hein sentenced Edward Jake" Wagner to life in prison with the chance of parole in 32 years - after 12 years on gun charges and then 20 for the murders of five of the eight victims. Continue reading...

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on New Orleans, read our full report:

Department of Transportation denounces unrealistic' JetBlue schedules in yet another setback for the airlineThe US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Friday a $2m fine against JetBlue for operating multiple chronically delayed flights". The agency said it was the first time it had fined an airline for chronic delays on specific routes, which it said was caused by unrealistic" scheduling practices by JetBlue.Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today's action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality," the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said in a statement. Continue reading...

Campaigners say US president-elect's call to get rid of windmills' is based on North Sea interests of oil and gas firmsClimate campaigners have accused Donald Trump of attacking Britain's energy policies on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, which made record donations to his presidential campaign.The US president-elect wrote in a social media post on Friday that the British government was grave mistake by cracking down on North Sea oil and gas producers - and that the UK should abandon wind generation. Continue reading...

Tight security and makeshift memorials mark scene where 14 people were killed during New Year's Day celebrations

A concussion inspired me to challenge the invisibility of middle age, find my voice and discover how music might ward off dementiaWhen I saw the email from my neighbour asking whether I'd like to audition to sing in the rock band he played in, my body froze at the idea. My brain began drafting a reflex Thanks, but no thanks" response. I thought: You haven't sung in years. You're too old.As a petite, mid-50s woman, I'd been resigning myself to that invisibility we're told comes for us. I still hid my grey hairs beneath varying shades of red, but I'd swapped my vintage fashion for hoodies, T-shirts and jeans. I stayed home more and generally took up less space. Continue reading...

Vastly experienced former defense secretary who allowed women into combat is braced for backlash but feels deep, deep down in my guts' that norms will holdIn January 2013, as US defense secretary, Leon Panetta lifted a ban on women serving in combat. Some time after January 2025, if Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's nominee for the role, is confirmed and stays true to his expressed position, that ban may be reimposed.I'm particularly concerned about that, having been the secretary that opened up that opportunity for women to be in combat," Panetta told the Guardian. And I'm very proud of it, because I think they performed well. They're great warriors. I've seen them in action in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. And we now have over 200,000 women who are part of the military ... In a democracy like the United States, it makes sense for everyone who's willing to serve to have that opportunity." Continue reading...

Four years on, it's the most astounding case of collective amnesia. That so many seem willing to normalise that anti-democratic outrage is frighteningThe sun shone brightly on 6 January 2021. The birds chirped, children frolicked and thousands of unarmed patriots gathered peacefully in Washington DC for a day of love". It was a beautiful gathering in support of US democracy. In the words of incoming president Donald Trump, nothing done wrong at all".Perhaps that's not quite how you remember the scenes of violent mobs storming the Capitol that were broadcast around the world four years ago. Perhaps that's not how you, personally, would characterise an event in which more than 140 police officers were viciously assaulted and four people died; a furious riot in which crowds chanted hang Mike Pence" and set up a makeshift gallows. But it's certainly how a significant number of people seem to remember it: 6 January seems to have been alarmingly normalised - a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll published last year found about seven in 10 Republicans think too much fuss is being made about the event and that it is time to move on".Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist and the author of Strong Female Lead Continue reading...

President cites national security concerns as he follows through on pledge to keep steelmaker domestically ownedJoe Biden blocked a $14.9bn bid by Japan's Nippon Steel for US Steel on Friday, citing concerns the deal could hurt national security and following through on a pledge to keep the steelmaker domestically owned as he prepares to depart the White House.US Steel will remain a proud American company - one that's American-owned, American-operated, by American union steelworkers - the best in the world," the US president said in a statement. Continue reading...

Plane crashed through roof of manufacturing building were at least 200 were working, police sayTwo people died and 19 were injured when a small plane crashed through the roof of a sprawling furniture manufacturing building in southern California where at least 200 people were working, police said.The people who died were believed to have been on the plane, while those injured were inside the building. The deceased victims will be identified after officials have contacted the next of kin, the Fullerton police department said in a statement. Continue reading...

Those barriers were being repaired - and others were down - when attacker struck, prompting questionsLike the rest of those living in New Orleans at the time, Aaron Miller - then the city's homeland security director - was terrified after a gunman drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French coastal city of Nice in 2016, killing 86 people and wounding many more in a terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS).Similar car attacks in Berlin, London, New York and Barcelona also put him on edge as he thought about the safety of his city. Continue reading...

Twin terror attacks bring renewed focus on scourge of extremism, but efforts to effect change have so far stalledThe deadly New Year's Day terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas have brought renewed attention to the scourge of extremism in the US military, but efforts to tackle it wilted in the later years of the Biden administration, and are unlikely to be revived once Donald Trump begins his second term this month.Both the New Orleans vehicle attack that killed 14, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas in which the driver died, were perpetrated by discharged or serving members of the armed forces. Continue reading...

Advisory from US surgeon general also says alcohol should carry a label warning consumers about their cancer risksAlcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the US after tobacco and obesity and should carry a label warning consumers about their cancer risks, according to a new advisory by the US surgeon general.Released on Friday, the advisory revealed that alcohol use contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year. It also found that alcohol-related cancer deaths shorten the lives of those who die by an average of 15 years. Continue reading...

Many people in romancelandia' have rallied voters through podcasts and phone banks - and joined school boardsJody Lee had long toyed with getting into politics. She spent years working at the US state department before moving to Mercer Island, a suburb of Seattle, with her family. The 57-year-old threw herself into volunteering; sometimes, people asked whether she wanted to run for the local school board. But Lee never felt ready to make the leap.Until she started reading romance. Continue reading...

Have you been following the big stories in football, darts, cricket, tennis, chess, rugby, basketball and college football? Continue reading...

Choose as your New Year's mantra that great civic-minded slogan: If you saw something, no you didn't'Are you, like millions of Americans, feeling hopeless and fearful about the dawning of a new age of fascism? And are you, like millions of Americans, in search of a New Year's resolution that won't require you to lose weight or go to therapy? Happily, both of these problems can be solved with one action: resolve to make 2025 the year of no snitching.Choose as your New Year's mantra that great civic-minded slogan: If you saw something, no you didn't."Hamilton Nolan is the author of The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor Continue reading...

Tech irritations are the definition of first-world problems', yet I yearn to fish from the banks of my own Walden PondIn many ways, I love living in the digital age. As someone who grew up in the analog world (my first journalism job, as a college intern, involved a manual typewriter and carbon paper), I am still delighted to be able to find out, within 10 seconds, whether a particular movie star is still alive or to share my latest column with the entire world through a social media post.But the downside of digital life is driving me batty - so much so that I sometimes consider trying to go off the grid altogether to seek a less frustrating existence. I have a fantasy of this simple life that I describe as Full Bore Thoreau. It involves listening to birdsong and reading Russian novels while occasionally using a landline to maintain contact with other humans.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Anti-corruption officials say they were blocked by 200 presidential personnel. Plus, FBI says New Orleans terror suspect acted aloneGood morning.South Korea's political crisis took a dramatic turn on Friday when investigators were forced to abandon an attempt to arrest the impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, after a tense standoff with his security forces.What are the details of Friday's standoff? Local media reports said anti-corruption officials - who are leading a joint team of police and prosecutors - entered the compound to find themselves blocked by troops under the control of the presidential security service.What happened on 3 December? Yoon declared martial law in an attempt to root out what he described as anti-state, pro-North Korean" forces - a reference to opposition MPs in the national assembly. He did not provide any evidence for those claims, however. He was forced to lift the order six hours later after lawmakers forced their way past troops into the parliament building to vote it down.What do we know about the New Orleans attack suspect? It's understood Jabbar was born and raised in Texas, served in the US army from 2007-15, and in 2022 was $27,000 behind on house payments, he said in court documents. Jabbar's brother told AP that in recent months he'd isolated himself.Why didn't steel bollards stop the attack? Seven years ago, officials began installing barriers at intersections in the French Quarter of the city. But the steel bollards were in the process of being replaced over New Year's Eve. Continue reading...

Two titans battle for the NFC North crown, home-field advantage until the Super Bowl and a first-round bye in Sunday night's regular-season finaleMinnesota Vikings (14-2) v Detroit Lions (14-2) Continue reading...

There are already three openings - the Jets, the Saints and the Bears - and Black Monday will probably see at least four new vacancies. Whose seats are the toastiest?The NFL's coaching carousel will officially open as soon as the final slate of games wraps up on Sunday. There are already three openings - the Jets, Saints and Bears - and Black Monday will probably see at least four new vacancies. Let's look at the toastiest coaching seats in the league. Continue reading...

A state of emergency has been declared amid unprecedented gun violence, but no one in our stagnating government is taking responsibilityJust before the new year, Trinidad and Tobago's government declared a state of emergency after a weekend of gun violence.Trinidad and Tobago, a country of about 1.5 million people and once the wealthiest in the Caribbean, has been plagued by decades of poor economic and social leadership, gang violence, home invasions, murders and corruption. Continue reading...

Request was made after Thomas failed to disclose luxury trips by Texas businessman and GOP donor Harlan CrowA judicial policymaking body on Thursday rejected a request by Democratic lawmakers to refer the conservative US supreme court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Department of Justice to examine claims that he failed to disclose gifts and travel provided by a wealthy benefactor.The secretary to the US judicial conference, the federal judiciary's top policymaking body, pointed at amendments Thomas had made to his annual financial disclosure reports for the decision. Continue reading...

Texas man, 42, who was killed by police, served in Afghanistan and held rank of staff sergeantMilitary records and media interviews are painting a clearer portrait of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old Texas man accused of crashing a truck into New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans, killing at least 14 people.Jabbar served in the US army for 13 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan. On Thursday, the FBI said investigators believe Jabbar acted alone when he attacked the busy intersection of Bourbon and Canal streets. Officials had earlier said they believed Jabbar had accomplices. Continue reading...

Aspiring nurse, father of two and former football player among 14 killed in New Year's Day truck attackThe victims of the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans make up a tragic but vivid tapestry of the characteristically cosmopolitan crowd that descends on the city's famous French Quarter to celebrate any occasion.Authorities have not yet released the names of those killed in the suspected terrorist attack, which killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, but details have emerged as family members and friends speak out. Continue reading...

Law enforcement have identified the driver of the Cybertruck that exploded outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas as Matthew Livelsberger, stating he 'sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle'. Livelsberger served as a Green Beret operations sergeant who spent most of his time at Fort Carson, Colorado, and in Germany, according to the sheriff

Officials say police and fire trucks arrived on scene after aircraft crashed into commercial building in FullertonEleven people were injured when a small plane collided into the rooftop of a commercial building in southern California on Thursday, police said.Police received a report at 2.09pm about the crash in the Orange county city of Fullerton, said Kristy Wells, a Fullerton police spokesperson. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read our latest story hereShamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old US citizen from Texas identified by the FBI as the New Orleans attacker, previously pleaded guilty to two charges, including driving under the influence in 2015, reports CNN.According to documents from a US district court in North Carolina obtained by CNN, Jabbar had driven under the influence of an impairing substance in November 2014 and recorded a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. CNN reports that documents also showed Jabbar was driving with an open container of alcoholic beverage after he consumed alcohol". Continue reading...

President bestows medals upon congressman and ex-congresswoman who led investigation into Capitol attackJoe Biden has bestowed the second highest civilian medal on the Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson and the Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney, who led the bipartisan congressional investigation into the deadly 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters intent on overturning his election defeat by Biden.Trump, who takes office again on 20 January after winning November's election, has said the leaders of that committee, which published its conclusions in December 2022 after a series of high-profile public hearings, should be jailed, not rewarded. Continue reading...

Democrat, 78, who won election to Congress in 1998, departs after storied career with long list of firstsThe Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee has always stood apart, a matter-of-fact renegade with a long list of firsts.In high school, she was the first Black student to integrate her southern California cheerleading squad. During her more than two decades in Congress, she has been the only Black woman elected to the US House from California's regions north of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Annual report details gifts given to first family by foreign leaders, most of which are transferred to National ArchivesJoe Biden and his family were given tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from foreign leaders in 2023, according to an annual accounting published by the state department on Thursday, with the first lady, Jill Biden, receiving the single most expensive present: a $20,000 diamond from India's leader.The 7.5-carat diamond from the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was easily the most costly gift presented to any member of the first family in 2023, although she also received a brooch valued at $14,063 from the Ukrainian ambassador to the US and a bracelet, brooch and photograph album worth $4,510 from the president and first lady of Egypt. Continue reading...

As life in the historic French Quarter tried to return to normal, the grief and sadness among residents was acuteAt the cross-street of Bourbon and Saint Phillip, a few dozen yards from the police security line around the crime scene on Thursday morning, it was almost as if nothing had happened.Tourists meandered past the ornate old creole cottages, the bars served cold beer on tap, and horse-drawn carts traipsed through the western end of the French Quarter, in a familiar scene. Continue reading...

Audio from Shamsud-Din Jabbar contains diatribes against music, drugs, sex and other sensuous pleasuresNearly a year before he allegedly killed 14 people and injured dozens more by driving a pickup truck flying an Islamic State (IS) flag through a crowd of New Year's revelers in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar expressed his beliefs that music, intoxicants, sex and other pleasures were evils deserving of destruction.An account on the SoundCloud platform under the name of Jabbar posted three recordings totaling about 20 minutes each containing those and other expressions of extremist religious views. Continue reading...

Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas police department, says an investigation by authorities has indicated the journey from Colorado taken by the suspected driver of the Tesla vehicle that exploded outside the Trump International hotel

Investigators had initially suggested others may have been involved in New Year's Day attack that killed 14 people

The deadly assault on crowds in the US city echoes those elsewhere. A bigoted and kneejerk reaction will not dispel the threat from terrorismThe deadly attack on new year revellers in New Orleans, which killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, was all the more terrible for its familiar characteristics. The method of attack - ploughing a vehicle into crowds - and the decision to strike those celebrating at a time associated with togetherness and joy are now far too well recognised internationally. It is less than a fortnight since a man used a car to kill at least five, including a nine-year-old child, at a Christmas market near Magdeburg in Germany.Part of the grimness of this event is that ordinary activities that should require no special protections are now guarded as a matter of course - and that even such precautions can prove inadequate. Bollards were reportedly being upgraded in New Orleans ahead of next month's Super Bowl, and patrols and barricades were being used in the meantime. In Magdeburg, the perpetrator used an entrance for emergency vehicles.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...

FBI deputy assistant director for counter-terrorism Christopher Raia said the New Orleans attacker acted alone, having previously said he wasn't acting alone. Speaking at a press conference Raia said: 'We're confident, at this point, that there are no accomplices'