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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...

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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'

Tougher penalties promised for illegal fireworks as more than 20 people suffer severe burns and shrapnel woundsEmergency crews arrived at a chaotic and gruesome scene in a neighbourhood of Honolulu, Hawaii, after a large new year's firework tipped over and set off a fiery, shrapnel-studded blast that killed three people and injured more than 20 others, several of them critically.Two women died at the scene and a third woman died in hospital, authorities said on Wednesday, as they implored people to abandon their new year's tradition of setting off fireworks across the city. Officials promised tougher penalties for illegal fireworks. Continue reading...

I've discovered new ways to be cool: rhyme time is my cocktail hour, the park my catwalk and I have a nappy bag that's chicer than a Fendi BaguetteWhen I was six months pregnant, against all odds, I hosted a house party. An intense plus-one, herself a mother, cornered me to deliver an ominous, drunken warning: You can't be cool and be a mum." This struck me as something that someone who had never been cool, with or without children, would say.Don't blame your innocent spawn for your lack of rizz, I thought ruefully. Plus, I knew it wasn't true, because I had grown up idolising my primary school friends' chic and powerful mothers. They had covetable wardrobes, rock dog exes and misspent youths in far-flung locales such as Prague and Berlin. While we played in the courtyards of their St Kilda apartments, enjoying a luxuriously long leash, they smoked cigarettes and gossiped, unburdened by anxieties about their capacity to measure up to arbitrary standards of coolness. Continue reading...

The NYPD chief of patrol, Philip Rivera, said 'three to four males opened fire over 30 times' in the direction of a group standing outside the venue. The suspects then fled the scene on foot before entering a vehicle. Six women and four men, aged 16 to 20, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Continue reading...

Police say three or four gunmen opened fire on about 15 young people waiting to enter Amazura club in QueensTen people were wounded in a shooting outside a New York City nightclub late on Wednesday night while they were waiting to get into a private event, police said.About 15 people were standing outside Amazura nightclub at 11.15pm on Wednesday in the Jamaica neighborhood of the city's Queens borough when four men on foot approached the group of 16- to 20-year-olds. Continue reading...

A man driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage in New Orleans during the new year celebrations, killing 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police. The FBI said it was investigating the attack as a terrorist act and does not believe the driver acted alone. Investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, along with other devices elsewhere in the city's French Quarter.

One person has died and seven others were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks and gas canisters exploded outside the president-elect's Las Vegas hotel. Officials said they were investigating the motives. Video shows charred firework mortars, canisters and other explosive devices jumbled in the back of the vehicle. The sides of the truck were intact because the blast had shot straight up

There are few rituals I despise more than the annual January catalog of joyless, dutiful aspirations. This year, I'm saying noAs the Christmas lights flicker off across the country and gift wrap is crumpled into trash bags the world over, we are about to collectively turn from the festive, indulgent holiday season to its more stringent coda. We are leaving the season of eat, drink and be merry, and entering an annual time of smug righteousness, virtuous self-denial and ostentatiously effortful self-discipline. Christmas is over. It is time, now, for new year resolutions.Allow me to be blunt in saying that there are few rituals I despise more than this, the annual January catalog of joyless, dutiful aspirations. The pledges to drink less, quit smoking, save money, work more and above all to lose weight - might be neutral, even admirable, on their own. But coming, as they do, in a mass seasonal push, in the form of boasting, peer pressure and loudly advertised gym membership sales, they create what has always struck me as an oppressive opening to the new year, one heavy on self-criticism and hypocrisy and light on serious engagement with the ways we should - and can - change. Continue reading...

Authorities think suspect acted with accomplices. Plus, woman found alive and well after going missing in 1972Good morning.Terror struck the busy French Quarter of New Orleans at about 3.15am on New Year's Day, as a vehicle flying an Islamic State (IS) flag was driven into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street - killing at least 15 and injuring 30.What do we know about the suspect? The 42-year-old Texas man accused of the crime, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, is a US citizen and served in the US army for 13 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan from 2009-10. Law enforcement officials said they were looking for accomplices, suspecting Jabbar did not act alone.Who are the victims that have been identified so far? Local media identified the first known fatalities as Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, who had traveled to New Orleans from nearby Gulfport, Mississippi, with a cousin and a friend; Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Tiger Bech, 27, a former footballer from Lafayette, Louisiana; and Nicole Perez, 28, a mother and delicatessen manager from Metairie, Louisiana. Continue reading...

The French president's failures offer an object lesson in what happens when liberalism is stripped of its morality and valuesWhen Emmanuel Macron was first elected in the spring of 2017, we were told that he was the future of liberal pluralism. The BBC said his victory was a repudiation of the populist, antiestablishment wave" of that time. He was the next leader of Europe" according to a Time Magazine cover. The Economist went one further. Its cover asked if he was Europe's saviour" and declared that he was mounting a revolution in democratic politics without pike or pitchfork".Seven years later, and Macron's peaceful", democratic" revolution" is in ruins, as the president struggles to navigate a political crisis of his own making. In June, he called legislative elections that were unnecessary, lost them, and refused to concede defeat. Over the summer, France went through the second-longest period without a government in its recent history. The resulting Michel Barnier-led government was only able to survive for as long as it did thanks to a compact with the far right, before it crumbled after a vote of no confidence held on 4 December. Although Macron has now named Francois Bayrou as prime minister, it is unclear how this solves the fundamental problem that both the president and his agenda are widely hated in the country, and broadly opposed in the parliament.Oliver Haynes is a journalist and the co-host of the Flep24 podcast Continue reading...

The American big mountain skier has experienced more loss at 38 than most humans will in a lifetime. She opens up about how she's learned to navigate the highs and lowsFor the last five years, Hadley Hammer has been fighting to stay above water. Only now, looking back, can she admit how intense the last half-decade has been.In April 2019, Hammer's then partner, professional alpinist David Lama, died in an avalanche. A month later, Sam Coffey, an ex-boyfriend, died unexpectedly from a series of strokes. Soon after, her dad was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She then moved to Europe, tore her ACL, went through strict pandemic lockdowns, and just as she was rebounding, her dad passed away. Two months later, her close friend and mentor, Hilaree Nelson, died in an avalanche in Nepal. Continue reading...

The Honolulu fire department is investigating the cause of a fireworks explosion outside a home on New Year's Eve which killed three people and injured more than 20

As a child I moved from France to Turkey to Spain - then I finally found roots and belonging in stories

The new allegation in Islamophobic discourse is that even Muslims who appear well-integrated' hate the westReporting on the rise of anti-Muslim hostility across Europe means repeatedly hearing generalisations about Europe's 25 million Muslims. We are - all of us - too religious, easily drawn to extremism and terrorism, we live in parallel societies and Muslim women, especially those who wear the hijab, are victims of fanatical patriarchal oppression or foot soldiers in a drive to replace indigenous white Europeans.Again and again, European governments instruct us to integrate: come in, step out of the shadows and join the sunny European mainstream. We should be less foreign", more European, adopt European values" (just which ones is left unclear, but drinking beer and eating pork seem to be among them), get an education and then - and only then - actively participate in the political, economic and social life of our host societies" which, according to Hungary's Viktor Orban, are purely Christian.Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. She runs New Horizons project, a strategy, analysis and advisory companyDo 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...

Labour has promised to halve violence against women. As another year of grim statistics beckons, that's a speck of hope worth graspingThere is a classic Christmas episode of EastEnders in which much-loved character Little Mo is abused by her husband, Trevor. After visiting her sisters on Christmas morning, Mo is late for dinner. When she returns, Trevor grabs his wife by the hair and pushes her face into her waiting plate. Gravy dripping down her skin, Mo is pushed out of her chair and forced to eat turkey off the floor.It was a harrowing storyline but made more so because the viewer knew this was not just fiction: there are countless real-life Little Mos out there, trapped at home in fear and pain at a time of year that should bring joy and peace.Frances Ryan 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...

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Treasury disclosed hack earlier this week, with Washington Post reporting targets were Office of Foreign Assets Control and Office of Financial ResearchChinese government hackers breached the US Treasury office that administers economic sanctions, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, identifying targets of a cyber-attack Treasury disclosed earlier this week.The Treasury letter earlier this week said hackers compromised third-party cybersecurity service provider BeyondTrust and accessed several employee workstations and unclassified documents. Continue reading...