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The forward's blocked contract and a growing talent drain to Europe have nudged the NWSL into crisis mode. Here's what's happening and why it mattersThe Trinity Rodman contract saga has exposed a fundamental tension at the heart of the National Women's Soccer League: a salary-cap model built for stability and measured growth coming in collision with a global market that has accelerated far beyond it.Rodman is one of the most important young players in US soccer, arguably its most marketable female star and a centerpiece of the NWSL's future. Yet European giants have offered her salaries that America's top women's domestic league cannot legally match, prompting the NWSL to veto a record-breaking Washington Spirit deal (and the players' union to file a grievance in response). Continue reading...

A new book explores how an all-time great and a world famous franchise handle the waning of a monumental careerIn a book about LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, it's only fitting that one memorable scene involves a Hollywood star: Will Smith.Yaron Weitzman's latest book is titled A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers. Suffice to say the plot thickens when Smith goes to the Lakers' film room to speak to the team in 2022. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Congress members seek answers after Guardian revealed data to be shared for immigration enforcementMore than 20 members of Congress are demanding answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and homeland security officials after the Guardian revealed the VA is compiling a report on all non-US citizens employed by or affiliated with" the government agency that will then be shared with other federal agencies, including immigration authorities.The lawmakers, led by Illinois congresswoman Delia Ramirez - along with congressman Mark Takano of California and US senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the House and Senate veterans affairs committees - have written a group letter to be sent to the VA secretary, Doug Collins, and the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, on Friday. Continue reading...

With the US threatening to support patriotic' parties here, we need better defences, starting with tough new rules about political donationsThe new threat is so dizzyingly bizarre that Europe, and especially Britain, is slow to believe it. The US declares itself our enemy. Europe emerges as its main adversary in the US national security strategy. Russia is its friend, not us. Everything that looked solid since the second world war is turned upside down; the land of the free becomes the destroyer of democratic values. Appeasement fails.He may ramble, but Donald Trump speaks plainly. He means what he says, and he hates everything European. Except its emerging patriotic" parties, which he wants to support. His strategy warns of civilizational erasure", claiming Europe will soon become majority non-European" and parroting the racist conspiracy known as the great replacement theory. Describing Europeans as weak", decaying" and destroying their countries", with real stupid" leaders, Trump responded to the question of whether they would still be allies, in a Politico interview, with a hint of threat: It depends."Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Proposals to change US citizenship rules leaves dual citizens like me caught in the crossfire. If push comes to shove, I know where my loyalty lies Continue reading...

Trump's press secretary suggested Trump was growing weary of process as Ukraine's president under immense pressure to sign US deal - key US politics stories from 11 December 2025When it comes to Ukraine peace talks, Donald Trump is sick of meetings just for the sake of meetings", White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.Leavitt added that the White House may send a representative to meet with European and Ukrainian officials this weekend if it feels like a meeting is worthy" of the US's time, adding that Trump is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war". Continue reading...

Six more oil supertankers added to sanctions list, as well as members of Maduro's extended family, amid rising tensions following tanker seizureDonald Trump has exerted more pressure on Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro, expanding sanctions and issuing fresh threats to strike land targets in Venezuela, as the South American dictator accused the US president of ushering in a new era of criminal naval piracy" in the Caribbean.Late on Thursday, the US imposed curbs on three nephews of Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, as well as six crude oil supertankers and the shipping companies linked to them. The treasury department alleged the vessels engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro's corrupt narco-terrorist regime". Continue reading...

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Order, which lacks the force of law, also creates taskforce whose sole responsibility' will be challenging states' AI lawsDonald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that seeks to halt any laws limiting artificial intelligence and block states from regulating the rapidly emerging technology. The order also creates a federal taskforce that will have the sole responsibility" of challenging states' AI laws.At a signing ceremony, the president touted AI companies' enthusiasm for wanting to invest" in the United States and said that if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it". Continue reading...

Measure to redistrict, which would add two GOP-friendly seats, failed 19-31 after 21 Republicans joined 10 Democrats

Abrego plans return to Maryland as DHS pledges to appeal judge's decision, calling ruling naked judicial activism'Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been freed from an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania after a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release on Thursday.Abrego was released shortly before 5pm ET, his attorney told the Associated Press. He plans to return to Maryland, where he has lived for many years with his US citizen wife and child after first entering the country illegally as a teenager. Continue reading...

Explosion led to three-alarm blaze in Hayward, California, neighborhood after construction crew damaged a gas pipeA big explosion erupted in a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood of Hayward, California, after a gas line rupture on Thursday, injuring at least six people, according to local news reports.The explosion broke out around 9.30am local time, several hours after a construction crew damaged a gas pipe. At least eight fire engines and two fire trucks responded to the three-alarm blaze. Continue reading...

New York attorney general dodges indictment for second time in a week as Trump's justice department seeks retributionA federal grand jury has declined to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department as the president has sought retribution against one of his political rivals.The department has attempted to twice file new charges against James after a judge dismissed an indictment against her after determining the prosecutor handling the case had not been properly appointed. Continue reading...

Trump hands 760 acres of California public land to the navy for a new defense zone, deepening border militarizationThe US's southern border is poised to become more militarized following an announcement by Trump administration officials that armed forces would now oversee 760 acres of public land for a three-year period.The US Department of Interior said in a statement that jurisdiction over this acreage - located in California's San Diego and Imperial counties - would be transferred to the US navy to establish a National Defense Area to support ongoing border security operations". Continue reading...

UC Berkeley apologizes to Israeli sociologist and dance teacher and Pomona to create taskforce on Jewish lifeTwo California colleges have reached settlements with Jewish organizations and individuals who filed complaints alleging antisemitism arising from pro-Palestinian campus protests, including a $60,000 payment to an Israeli sociologist and dance researcher who says she was not rehired by the University of California, Berkeley despite the popularity of her class.The UC Berkeley chancellor, Rich Lyons, on Wednesday issued an apology to Yael Nativ, a visiting 2022 professor who was found in a campus investigation to have been the victim of discrimination, the Los Angeles Times reported. She is also invited to teach her class in a semester of her choosing. Continue reading...

Lindell, an election conspiracist who still maintains the 2020 election was stolen, joins a crowded Republican fieldMike Lindell, a pillow salesman and election conspiracist, is running for governor of Minnesota, he announced on Thursday.Lindell, an ally of Donald Trump's and major player in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, joins a crowded Republican primary in the left-leaning state, where his pillow company, MyPillow, is headquartered. Continue reading...

Retired Adm Mike Mullen said political environment facing officers is difficult as we have gotten so much more divided'The US's sharpening ideological polarization is affecting a wider and much more junior cross-section of the country's armed forces and challenging the military's ability to remain above the political fray, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has said.Retired Adm Mike Mullen, who was the US's top military commander under presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, called the political environment facing currently serving officers challenging" and the most dangerous time" in his memory. Continue reading...

The Skipper, a tanker sanctioned by the US in 2022, is thought to have been carrying 1.1m barrels of Venezuelan oilThe US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a ship that was previously sanctioned by the US in 2022 while sailing under another name, in a dramatic operation that further ratchets up tensions between the Trump administration and the government of Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro.Over recent months the US has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades, which includes the USS Gerald R Ford, the world's newest and largest aircraft carrier. It has more than 4,000 sailors, plus fighter jets and accompanying warships. Continue reading...

Announcement, and lack of details in the weeks following, represents major departure from previous FDA prioritiesAs the US's top vaccine officials come under pressure from lawmakers and former leaders, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it will release information soon" about changes to regulations following unconfirmed claims of deaths after Covid vaccination.It's part of a sweeping effort, led by Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to change the routine vaccines given in childhood, limiting access to and casting doubt upon safe and effective vaccines. Continue reading...

US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a major escalation of Donald Trump's campaign against the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, whose government called the seizure an act of international piracy.The Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny over a series of attacks on boats off the Venezuelan coast. At least 87 people have been killed in 22 known strikes since early September.Lucy Hough talks to the Guardian's deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat. Continue reading...

Residents were evacuated as homes and vehicles were submerged in the north-western US state after an atmospheric river smacked the region on Tuesday. Governor Bob Ferguson told the public he was 'requesting an expedited emergency declaration from the federal government' and has activated the state's national guard to respond to flooding. Rainfall from the storm could reach 5-10cm (2-4 inches) across lower elevations and 25cm higher up in the Cascades, alongside 45mph gusts of wind

Two protesters disrupted House panel hearing, with one yelling line made famous in 1973 horror filmProtesters briefly interrupted the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, during a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday, evoking a quote from the film The Exorcist.As Noem delivered her opening remarks before the House committee on homeland security, two protesters disrupted the session, with one yelling: Stop ICE raids! The power of Christ compels you! End deportations, the power of Christ compels you!" Continue reading...

At least 20 killed and almost 200 injured, as Trump claims he can settle hostilities pretty quickly'

Unease grows in Washington, including among some Republicans, over Trump administration's escalating military posture in the Caribbean

Some warn proposal will decimate US tourism industry as free speech advocates say it will lead to people self-censoringFree speech advocates have accused Donald Trump of shredding civil liberties" and censorship pure and simple" after the White House said it planned to require visa applicants from dozens of countries to provide social media, phone and email histories for vetting before being allowed into the US.In a move that some commentators compared to China and others warned would decimate tourism to the US, including the 2026 Fifa World Cup, the Department for Homeland Security said it was planning to apply the rules to visitors from 42 countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia, France, Germany and Japan, if they want to enter the US on the commonly used Esta visa waiver. Continue reading...

Success doesn't mean you can speak your mind - and criticizing Paul Dano is like kicking a bunny at a birthday partyThere are many things Hollywood is known for: lavish parties, subtle (or not so subtle) plastic surgery, the concept of juice as a meal. What it is not traditionally known for is honesty. I live in Los Angeles, work in the entertainment industry when I'm not moonlighting as a semi-reputable journalist and have done my fair share of lying ... or, more accurately, omitting the truth. One of the least pleasant experiences in town is being asked to give honest feedback to someone who is at best an acquaintance. It's worse yet if that person is a friend, lover or family member who actually takes your opinion seriously. Overall, the notion of offering honesty to a peer is akin to rubbing poison oak on your privates.And yet, despite knowing how gruesome this can be, I still solicit feedback on scripts, films and even nascent ideas I'm toying with. Naturally, I feel guilty doing it. I blubber about how gracious the person is for taking the time to engage with my creative output, how generous they are and how crucial this step is to any sort of actual success in the industry. I'm even lying when I say that to someone. I should tell them: I'm sorry I just asked you to do the equivalent of punching several of your own teeth out for free. Please don't destroy my self-esteem completely. Let my mother finish the job."Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

Thanksgiving travel and low vaccination rates have contributed to 27 new cases in state during past weekSouth Carolina health officials have reported an accelerating" measles outbreak in the state in the wake of Thanksgiving travel and a lack of vaccinations, with hundreds of people in quarantine.The outbreak, which appears centered on a single church and several schools in Spartanburg county in the state's north-west, according to an epidemiologist for the state's department of public health, totaled 111 cases. Continue reading...

House of Commons calls on Keir Starmer to condemn Donald Trump's interference' in European politics

Harold Wayne Nichols, who will be killed by lethal injection, confessed to killing Karen Pulley and raping other womenTennessee is preparing to execute Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection on Thursday for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old student at Chattanooga State University.Nichols confessed to killing Pulley as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted that he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1990. Continue reading...

The quarterback was seen as living off his father's name when he entered the NFL. But he has slowly started to prove himself at the Cleveland BrownsIt seems the goalposts are always moving on Shedeur Sanders, the Cleveland Browns' rookie quarterback who keeps throwing people off.He excelled at two colleges to establish himself as a top NFL prospect, only to wind up getting picked in the fifth round of this year's NFL draft in one of the most dramatic stock crashes in league history. He then distinguished himself in training camp, only to wind up as the back-up to the back-up. When Sanders was finally pressed into injury relief duty last month and led the Browns to just their third win of the season, the caveat was that his breakthrough had come at the expense of the even-worse Las Vegas Raiders. Last week against the struggling Tennessee Titans, Sanders became the first Browns quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns and rush for another score in the same game since 1950. But for many, the bigger headline was that he lost. Again. Continue reading...

The move marks a major escalation of Trump's pressure campaign against Nicolas Maduro. Plus, how Hasan Piker became one of the biggest voices on the US leftGood morning.US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump's four-month pressure campaign against the South American country's dictator, Nicolas Maduro, whose government called the seizure an act of international piracy".Where is Venezuela's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, in all this? The Nobel peace prize winner greeted crowds in Oslo after secretly traveling to Norway following 11 months in hiding in Caracas. She said she backs the US oil tanker seizure, calling it a crucial step to tackle what she says is Maduro's criminal regime.Do we know who sent the letters? It remains unclear - and Lau said she was told it was unlikely police would find out who was behind them. Continue reading...

The president called immigrants such as Ilhan Omar garbage' - but this latest racist outburst may be another sign of weaknessLast week, as ICE agents descended on Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota's Twin Cities, and members of migrant communities there retreated into hiding, Donald Trump unleashed a wave of bigotry against the area's Somali population in a moment of vitriol that was shockingly racist even by his own very low standards. Rousing himself to animation at the tail end of a televised 2 December cabinet meeting during which he sometimes appeared to be struggling to stay awake, the president disparaged Somali immigrants, many of whom are refugees from the country's long-running civil conflict, as ungrateful and unfit for residence in the United States.I don't want 'em in our country," Trump said of ethnic Somalis, about 80,000 of whom live in the Minneapolis area. Their country's no good for a reason." The comments echoed recent posts from the president's powerful adviser Stephen Miller, who has largely taken over immigration policy. Referring to what he called the lie of mass migration" in a November 27 post on X, Miller cast doubt on the possibility of assimilation, and suggested that immigrants from troubled countries would contaminate America with a kind of genetic or ontological incapacity for democratic governance. At scale, migrants and their descendants represent the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands," Miller wrote.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Residents have had to adjust how they're living - staying home, carrying passports - since Trump launched his attackOn Tuesday morning, just a few stalls were open among the dozens that normally sell food, rugs, clothing and jewelry at Karmel mall, a Somali community hub in Minneapolis. Longtime Minnesotans said they had never seen the mall as quiet as it has been in recent days, almost jarringly still.The bustle was replaced by unease and fear over the Trump administration's menace toward Somalis and increased immigration agents in the city, tasked with targeting Somalis for deportation. Continue reading...

Bajun Mavalwalla, who maintains his innocence, will take case to jury even as others strike plea agreementsAn Afghanistan war veteran arrested on felony conspiracy" charges a month after he participated in a protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) maintains his innocence and is preparing for a jury trial, even as others arrested the same day strike plea agreements to avoid long prison terms, his father said.Bajun Mavalwalla II - a former army sergeant who survived a roadside bomb blast on a special operations mission in Afghanistan - was charged in July with conspiracy to impede or injure officers" after joining an anti-ICE protest in Spokane, Washington. Continue reading...

The president's son-in-law is once again at the center of an international business deal that will require administration approvalOn Monday, Paramount Skydance launched a $108bn takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery, the entertainment giant that owns Hollywood movie studios, along with CNN, HBO and other media businesses. The bid is led by David Ellison, son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison - a prominent Donald Trump supporter and Republican donor. Netflix had already prevailed over Paramount in a previous bidding competition for the purchase, but Trump announced on Sunday that he would be involved" in his administration's review of the Netflix deal. The president suggested the sale could be a problem" because Netflix is already dominant in the US streaming market.Paramount left out a significant fact in the press release announcing its offer: the bid includes funding from the private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, as well as three Arab monarchies, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which collectively have billions of dollars in ongoing ventures involving the Trump family business. Those details were buried in required paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Continue reading...

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions on a regular basis. In today's column, we endeavor to answer three of themLionel Messi is a MLS Cup winner. That might rank lowly on the GOAT's list of career achievements, but it was clear in the Argentine's celebrations after the 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps in Saturday's championship game just how much this meant. Even for Messi, this was more than just another trophy. This was a mission accomplished' moment. Continue reading...

Every day he broadcasts a marathon Twitch stream, airing his views to his three million subscribers. It has led to fame - and some fear - in a country ever more politically dividedHasan Piker calls it the bus driver test: You get on a bus and you have 30 seconds to explain whatever online phenomena took place to the bus driver without them looking at you and going, Get off the fucking bus.'" Most online discourse, no matter how heated, fails the test, he says - not least an incident last weekend, when someone on a Dublin street asked to take a picture with Piker, then held up a picture of his dog and shouted Free Kaya!" Never mind the bus driver; trying to explain the significance of this particular event might well take the rest of this article, but the wider point is that there is a jarring overlap, or more often disconnect, between the online and offline worlds.Piker finds himself in this in-between space more and more these days. Until fairly recently, the 34-year-old was familiar only to the very online, especially Americans in their 20s and 30s, largely thanks to his presence on the streaming channel Twitch, where he has three million subscribers. But since Donald Trump's election, Piker has become an in-demand voice in the real world" for his views on the beleaguered political left, and especially that inordinately fretted-over demographic, young men. Continue reading...

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Footage uploaded to X by US attorney general shows its forces landing on the tanker in major escalation of Trump's pressure campaign

In survey, US school principals describe climate of distress' and declines in student attendance amid crackdownsImmigrant students across the US have experienced increased bullying, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns causing declines in attendance and a culture of fear" among immigrant students in public schools, according to a new survey of high school principals.Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles's Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (Idea) conducted a nationally representative" survey of more than 600 principals about the toll of raids and deportations, and how schools were responding. Continue reading...

Trump says Colombia's president next' as he announces major escalation in US pressure on Nicolas Maduro - key US politics stories from Wednesday, 10 December at a glanceUS forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump's four-month pressure campaign against the South American country's dictator, Nicolas Maduro.Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, posted footage of the seizure on X. The grainy, unclassified 45-second video shows US forces landing on the tanker from a helicopter. Continue reading...

Legislation includes pay increase for troops and a demand for more information about boat strikes in the CaribbeanThe US House voted 312-112 to pass a sweeping defense policy bill on Wednesday that authorizes $900bn in military programs, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defense purchases weapons.The 3,000-page bill also includes a demand for more information about nearly two dozen lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean targeting suspected drug smugglers. A stipulation calls for the withholding of part of the travel budget of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, unless the Pentagon releases to Congress the full, unedited video of a widely scrutinized strike in September which killed survivors of an earlier strike. Continue reading...

The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) carries $8bn more than the funding Trump requested in MayThe US House has approved a sweeping defence bill that bolsters Europe's security, in what appears to be sharp rebuke to Donald Trump's mounting threats to downgrade Washington's ties to traditional allies and Nato.The bipartisan vote came just days after the publication of a White House national security strategy that said Europe faced civilisational erasure" and made explicit Washington's support for Europe's nationalist far-right parties - rattling EU leaders and opening up a seismic shift in transatlantic relations. Continue reading...

Bob Ferguson says he has also activated the state's national guard to respond to the floodingThe governor of Washington, Bob Ferguson, declared a statewide emergency on Wednesday in response to heavy rain in the Pacific north-west state since an atmospheric river smacked the region a day earlier with rains that triggered mudslides and washed out roads and submerged vehicles.The emergency declaration, Ferguson said, allows us to seek federal funds to cover the cost of this response, which we anticipate will be significant, and also gives us the flexibility we need to respond quickly to keep Washingtonians safe in a fast-moving situation". Continue reading...