Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, David Copperfield and Prince Andrew among high-profile names in court documents. Plus, 20 easy, mind-expanding ways to be more creativeGood morning.Numerous court documents identifying associates of the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public last night.Epstein's elite circle was huge. What was the source of his $580m fortune? The documents released shed some light on the circumstances of Epstein's lifestyle, but they do not answer any of the pending questions about his financial arrangements with wealthy men, and how he came to amass such a fortune.Where can we see the unsealed court papers? Hundreds of pages of documents linked to Epstein associates were made public on Wednesday. You can read them here in full.What was behind the campaign to get her sacked? Some of the activists who campaigned most prominently against Gay made clear this week that their broader aim was opposing diversity, equity and inclusion" (DEI) programs in all US universities and attacking DEI as a movement, not just opposing the choices of one individual Harvard president. Continue reading...
The president's speech this Saturday will be about the future of democracy - yet the press seems reluctant to make that clearWhen Joe Biden talks on Saturday about US democracy on the brink, there's no doubt that it will be a campaign speech. Maybe the most important one of his life.But the speech will be more than that. It's intended as a warning and a red alert, delivered on the anniversary of the violent January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
I am eschewing dry January for something arguably more difficult - one small glass a night, with two nights off each week. What could possibly go wrong ...Big respect for all those embarking on Dry January. I won't be joining you because ... January. But I am attempting a tricky challenge of my own: mindful drinking. No, this doesn't involve sipping merlot while chanting mantras (although four days in, that doesn't sound too bad). Instead I intend to pay more attention to how much I drink and whether I'm imbibing because I'm merely thirsty, bored or, most likely, hangry".My Dry(ish) January project is simple but not easy: one small glass a night, with two nights off. As a moderate tippler, why am I bothering? In part because when I read the news that pubs will be able to serve wine in pints, I had initially scoffed. How ridiculous - who on earth would drink a pint of wine in one night?" But then I noticed a scary detail: one pint equals 568ml. Continue reading...
Mike DeWine defied his party on gender-affirming care for youths and now legislature is set to reconvene early to push law throughA legislative showdown is brewing in Ohio after Governor Mike DeWine split from his party to veto a bill that would impose substantial new restrictions on the lives of trans children.The bill, HB 68, prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youths. It also blocks transgender female student athletes from participating in girls' sports. Continue reading...
The Clark county district court Judge Mary Kay Holthus was attacked by a defendant during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Deobra Redden had pleaded guilty to attempted battery with substantial bodily harm and had asked the judge not to send him to prison but when she appeared to decline this request, Redden lunged over the bench at her. Neveda state records show he had previously served prison time on a domestic battery conviction Defendant attacks judge in Nevada Continue reading...
Mary Kay Holthus and court officials injured in incident which has led to new charges against Deobra Delone ReddenA defendant has attacked a judge during a felony battery case, dragging her to the floor and sparking a brawl involving court officials and attorneys, officials and witnesses have said.In a violent scene captured on courtroom video on Wednesday, Deobra Delone Redden jumped over a defence table and the judge's bench, knocking the Clark county district judge Mary Kay Holthus from her seat and against a wall then pulled her to the floor. She sustained some injuries but was not sent to hospital, courthouse officials said. Continue reading...
The longtime Capitals star entered the season just 72 goals shy of Wayne Gretzky's storied career mark. But a ongoing scoring slump threatens to keep the lofty milestone out of reachOn 7 December, Alex Ovechkin notched his 1,500th point of his career - an assist during a 5-4 loss to Dallas. Ovechkin is just the 16th player in NHL history, and one of only two active players, to have hit the milestone. That other player is Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. Ovechkin and Crosby, perennial rivals since they were drafted first overall consecutively in 2004 and 2005, have tracked nearly identical points-earning paths throughout their careers, differing only in how they accumulated them. Crosby's playmaking has given him 966 assists and 567 goals. For Ovechkin, the points combo was always the reverse of Crosby's: 675 assists and 827 goals. Continue reading...
The septuagenarian coach has been mum on his future ahead of what could be his last game with the Patriots, but the all-time wins record is in tantalising reach for himBill Belichick was asked again at a news conference Wednesday morning about his future with the New England Patriots - as if he'd suddenly spill the beans and blurt out that he planned to stop coaching them, or, perhaps planned to hoof it to another NFL team in 2024.Asked if he'd talked this week about his job to the team's owner, Robert Kraft, Belichick replied, Yeah, I'm looking forward to working, getting ready for the Jets here." Continue reading...
So many citizens are angry and cynical, like Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle. I wish our leaders would ask themselves whyYou talkin' to me?" One of the most famous speeches of the past half-century is delivered with only a mirror for an audience. Alone in his cramped bedsit, clothes drying on a line in the corner, Travis Bickle dons a green army jacket and practises pulling out a pistol. And so unravels Taxi Driver, the classic film study of isolation and lethal madness. Well, I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talkin' to?"Where does it come from, the paranoia that shrouds Bickle? From steering a yellow cab around and around New York's concrete claustrophobia. There is this kind of myth that the taxi driver was this friendly, joking kind of guy who was a character actor in movies," said the film's writer, Paul Schrader. But the reality is that it's a very lonely job, and you're trapped in a box for 60 hours a week." Continue reading...
The 2024-page document released by a US judge is littered with names, but some secrets stay hiddenIt has long been known that the disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein operated at the center of a globe-spanning network of the rich, famous and powerful but the documents released Wednesday were nonetheless shocking in revealing the sheer magnitude of his elite circle.Through the prism of a defamation lawsuit involving allegations against the Wall Street estate planner" Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the scale of their social network came into harsh focus. Continue reading...
Stainless steel mesh beneath iconic 1.7-mile span took decades of advocacy and is already workingA long-awaited suicide prevention barrier at the Golden Gate Bridge has been completed, officials announced on Wednesday, marking the culmination of a tireless campaign by families who lost loved ones at the famous structure.Crews had been working to finish installing stainless steel nets on both sides of the bridge before a promised 2024 deadline. Continue reading...
by Martin Pengelly in Washington and Sam Levine in Ne on (#6HJQS)
Colorado supreme court issued ruling on Tuesday but in anticipation of appeal stayed it until 4 JanuaryDonald Trump appealed to the US supreme court on Wednesday to undo the Colorado ruling that removed him from the ballot in the western state under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, for inciting an insurrection.In our system of government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,' Colorado's ruling is not and cannot be correct," Trump's lawyers wrote in their Wednesday filing. They also said the Colorado supreme court's ruling if allowed to stand, will mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate". Continue reading...
I was scared, out of my depth in the water and out, but I was there. The hope and the welcome propelled me alongOn my morning walks, I used to look at the older, pink-capped women swimming in the ocean and project myself decades into my future.One day I'll be a mermaid," I hoped, as I watched the Morning Mermaids swimming group in the golden light. I'll live near the sea, and throw myself into it. I'll leave behind my self-conscious shame, I'll be me, I'll be at one with the watery world." Coming from a non-swimmer, this was quite the fantasy. Continue reading...
Cleric was attacked outside Masjid-Muhammad-Newark on Wednesday morning in NewarkA New Jersey imam was shot and killed on Wednesday outside a mosque in the state's largest city, authorities said as officers worked to identify and arrest the shooter.The cleric, Imam Hassan Sharif, was shot after 6am outside the Masjid-Muhammad-Newark mosque, Newark's public safety director, Fritz Frage, said in an emailed statement. Sharif was taken to nearby University hospital and was in critical condition, authorities said. He later succumbed to his injuries. Continue reading...
Black residents were stopped the most, while Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groupsLaw enforcement in California handcuffed and detained Black and Indigenous residents during traffic stops at significantly higher rates than white people in 2022, according to data released on Wednesday.The annual racial profiling report from a state board analyzed 4.5m vehicle and pedestrian stops conducted by 535 law enforcement agencies, the first time departments from across the state contributed data.Black residents were stopped the most, making up 5.4% of the state's population, but 12.5% of stops.Latinos were also disproportionately stopped, making up 32.4% of the population, but 42.9% of stops.White and Asian American residents were stopped at lower rates than their proportion of the population.Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups, in 22.4% of stops, nearly twice the rate of white people, who were searched in 12.4% of stops. Native Americans were also handcuffed at the highest rate of all groups at 17.8% of stops, compared with less than 10% for white people.Black residents were detained on the curb or in a patrol car at the highest rate, at 20.2% of stops, and also ordered to exit their cars more frequently than all other groups, at 7.1% of stops. Black residents were also issued a sole charge of resisting arrest at a rate more than three times the state average, making up 19.2% of those cases. Continue reading...
Charles R Drew is training 60 students to serve communities where underinvestment has led to health inequitiesIt was too late for Sanam Ahadi's grandmother, Karima Lutfi.Ahadi's family, originally from Afghanistan, had feared taking Lutfi to the hospital when she contracted the Covid-19 virus early in the pandemic. Information was low. Visitors were restricted, and the unknown was inescapable, including the virus's possible deadliness among older adults. In Lutfi's case, there was also a language barrier. Continue reading...
Emmer completes full House of Republican leaders - Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise and Elise Stefanik - backing ex-presidentDonald Trump secured the endorsement of Tom Emmer on Wednesday, completing a full House of Republican leaders backing the former US president even though Trump dynamited the majority whip's own bid for speaker just two months ago.Democrats have made clear they will use every tool in their arsenal to try and keep Joe Biden and his failed policies in power," Emmer said. Continue reading...
As the right celebrates the resignation of the Harvard president as victory', concerns rise over equality initiatives in universitiesOn Tuesday afternoon, Claudine Gay resigned from her post as president of Harvard University, making her six-month tenure the shortest in university history. In the aftermath of her departure from the position, many argued that the aggressive nature of the campaign against her was motivated not by questions about her academic integrity or about her response to campus controversy, but by her race.Pressure on Gay to resign grew following her 5 December congressional testimony, where she, along with the presidents of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, answered questions regarding allegations of on-campus antisemitism related to the Israel-Gaza war. Shortly thereafter, plagiarism allegations published on conservative website the Washington Free Beacon mounted against Gay, ultimately leading to her resignation. Continue reading...
The assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut and Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea increase the risksFrom the moment that the full extent of the 7 October atrocities by Hamas in southern Israel became evident, the spectre of an ensuing regional conflict loomed in the background. Since then, attention has been fixed on Israel's pummelling of Gaza, where the death toll passed 22,000 this week, according to Palestinian health authorities. Yet in recent weeks the risk of a greater conflagration has grown.The assassination of the senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut marks a new and dangerous moment, as Israel (which did not publicly claim responsibility) will have known. Arouri was the group's key conduit to Lebanon-based Hezbollah and to Iran. His death is a blow not only to Hamas but the broader network. It follows last week's killing - which Tehran blames on Israel - of an Iranian military official who oversaw the shipping of arms to Hezbollah. Continue reading...
Eugene Peterson, retired sergeant major who served in both the Philippines and Vietnam, says soda is the secret to longevityA US army veteran who just turned 101 years old has revealed what he thinks is the key to a long life: Dr Pepper.Eugene Peterson, a retired sergeant major who was drafted into the army in 1941 and served in both the Philippines and Vietnam, extolled the virtues of the soda pop while celebrating his birthday at Travis air force base in Fairfield, California, where he is a volunteer. Continue reading...
From September 2021 to April 2023, Aid Access tracked roughly 48,400 advance provision requests for mifepristoneMore Americans are now stockpiling abortion pills in case they get pregnant, according to new research published Tuesday.Before Roe v Wade was overturned in June 2022, Aid Access, an organization that mails abortion pills to people across the US, received an average of 25 requests a day from people seeking the pills despite not being pregnant. After the leak of the supreme court decision to overturn Roe, that average shot up to 247 requests each day, the research published on Tuesday found. Continue reading...
Gratitude journalling leaves me cold, but Ross Gay's delight practice' turns out to be exactly what I need to cope with this whole being-a-human-in-2024 thingNo doubt about it, these are dark days. I'm writing this from the west of Scotland, where at this time of year there are only brief glimmers of daylight before twilight descends again. Then, of course, there is the metaphorical darkness of current news events, inescapable wherever you live.I was feeling pretty bleak about this whole being-a-human-in-2024 thing until I read about an intriguing idea from Catherine Price in the New York Times. She writes about the American poet Ross Gay and his essay collection The Book of Delights, in which he challenges himself each day to document one frivolous, quirky or downright strange thing that provokes joy. Conducted over the course of a year, it's a gloriously unpredictable compendium of observations and celebrations of a life lived with full attention.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...
Republicans have criticized Alejandro Mayorkas's handling of the unprecedented crisis at the US-Mexico borderUS House Republicans will seek to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden's secretary of homeland security, alleging egregious misconduct and refusal to enforce the law" in relation to immigration policy and the southern border.In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, a spokesperson said the House homeland security committee had conducted a comprehensive investigation into Secretary Mayorkas's handling of, and role in, the unprecedented crisis at the south-west border. Continue reading...
Two explosions have killed at least 103 people and injured scores more at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Qassem Suleimani, head of Iran's Quds Force and one of the most powerful men in the Middle East. A senior official called the blasts a 'terroristic' attack, without saying who could be behind them. Eyewitnesses spoke of two explosions 10 minutes apart in the central southern city of Kerman, while some said they heard four. Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 and was seen as the leader directing Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria
Too long demeaned and treated as playthings by executives, female artists are finally getting the attention they deserveMadonna, Beyonce, Britney, Whitney: if you think about the most iconic names in mainstream pop history, you'll probably come up with a list of women. And this week, we have solid confirmation of female artists' dominance. British audiences listen to more female musicians than male, according to the latest industry figures for 2023.It was the most successful performance for women on the UK singles chart since it began in 1952, the British Phonographic Institute (BPI) found. This included artists such as Raye and PinkPantheress, both of whom saw their music proliferate on TikTok this year, and those global heavy hitters you'd probably expect: Miley Cyrus - whose single Flowers stayed at No 1 for 10 weeks on the UK chart - Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo et al. Continue reading...
Recent storms wash up rusted device along coast of Pajaro dunes in Santa Cruz countyA practice bomb from the second world war era washed up on a California beach after rising tides and larger waves hit much of the area over the holiday weekend.The rusted device was found on New Year's Eve along the coast of the Pajaro dunes in Santa Cruz county, about 22 miles (35km) south of Santa Cruz. Continue reading...
Jeff Jackson made a splash in his single term but will be running for North Carolina attorney general after a newly partisan state supreme court redrew his district mapA little over nine months after he was sworn in to his first term in Congress, Jeff Jackson, a freshman US representative for North Carolina, announced he would leave the body at the end of his term.To an outsider, that might seem like a surprising decision. In just his first few months in Congress, Jackson had become well-known for smart, short videos explaining what was going on at the Capitol. By April, he had more followers on TikTok than any other member of Congress, the Washington Post reported (as of mid-December he had 2.5 million). By all accounts, he was a rising star. Continue reading...
Of his properties in Georgia, Alabama, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Vermont, Fox host says the one in Florida is now homeFollowing Donald Trump, Jerry Seinfeld's screen parents and other ageing and querulous New Yorkers, Sean Hannity has moved to the free state of Florida", full-time.I've been threatening now to do this for quite a while," the 62-year-old Fox News prime-time host said on his iHeartRadio show on Tuesday, but we are now beginning our first broadcast from my new home and that is in the free state of Florida. I am out. I am done. I'm finished." Continue reading...
The Texas governor has imposed harsh border policies and bussed tens of thousands of migrants to Democrat-run citiesThe Biden administration has asked the US supreme court to allow border patrol agents to cut through razor-wire fencing that Texas placed along the US-Mexico border.In an emergency appeal by the justice department, the solicitor general said that fencing installed by Texas's Republican governor had actually prevented border agents from detaining migrants at the border, and said federal law allows the government to remove it. Continue reading...
Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen by proxy who spent eight years in prison, is seeing a redemption arc with followers thrilled to watch her next movesSocial media has already found an it girl for 2024: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a Missouri woman who persuaded her then-boyfriend to kill her mother after being forced to pretend that she was suffering from leukemia and other serious illnesses.Blanchard, who is 32, was released from a Missouri correctional center just days before the new year. She served eight years in prison for her part in the 2015 murder, while Nicholas Godejohn, her ex-boyfriend, received a life sentence. The shocking case got the TV treatment in Hulu's 2019 miniseries The Act, and was also the subject of HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest. Continue reading...
The Championship club, part-owned by Tom Brady, chased a Hollywood name when they appointed Wayne Rooney. They fired the head coach after 15 gamesWayne Rooney's most memorable contribution as Birmingham City manager was the unforgettable meme that summed up his ill-fated 15-game spell. Captured despondently leaning against a wall in the St Andrew's tunnel, visibly exasperated after a disappointing match (of which there were many), the picture was never a positive one for the former England and Manchester United striker at the club. His sacking had been coming.Birmingham City were sixth in the Championship table when Rooney took over in October. Now, 15 matches and just two wins later, they are slumped in 20th place. A season that was shaping up to be a promotion push has become a fight against relegation. Rooney believes he should have been given more time to get it right, but the situation had become unsalvageable. Keeping Rooney for any longer could have caused even more damage, on and off the pitch. Continue reading...
Police say boy found gun in the car of his father, who was also charged with carrying stolen gun and child endangermentA 10-year-old northern California boy has been arrested on suspicion of shooting to death another child with his father's gun, authorities said.Sacramento county sheriff's deputies answered a shooting report at around 4.30pm on Saturday afternoon in Foothill Farms, an unincorporated Sacramento suburb. In a parking lot, they found a 10-year-old boy bleeding from the head and neck. Despite lifesaving measures, he was later pronounced dead at a hospital, the sheriff's office said in a social media posting. Continue reading...
Critics say encryption is an attack on transparency', and that radio monitoring is one of the few ways to keep track of the policeThe New York police department (NYPD) is facing serious backlash after announcing additional details about its plan to encrypt its radio communications system, which experts warn will limit transparency and accountability.NYPD radio signals have been publicly accessible since 1932, allowing journalists and civilians to listen to police communications, Gothamist reported. The NYPD will now be encrypting its radio channels for the first time ever. Police radio encryption is already underway in several US cities, including Chicago and Denver. Continue reading...
Biden-Harris camp announces campaign plan that aims to draw sharp contrast between US president and Donald Trump. Plus, how to get seriously fit from scratch - in 12 easy, enjoyable steps
We must keep watching. It is only in this pain that we will charge our resolve and our power - and force America and Israel to end this bloody warOver these last horrific months, Instagram has exploded with catastrophic images and videos of the genocide taking place in Gaza. We have seen formerly incubated babies found abandoned on hospital beds, huge craters where apartment buildings and neighborhoods once stood, bones emerging from rubble. One particular video haunts me. I watch it on my phone. I watch it again. A dust covered, anguished father crawls towards his limp, gray, dead 10 month old baby. He covers him with his body. He holds the baby rocking and rocking him as if to say, gone, gone, gone." He slaps the floor with his hand. He cries out over and over. Then the energy changes, suddenly terrifying, suddenly shocking. I have never seen a man's body go mad from the inside. I have never seen legs scream - their movements convulsive, spasmodic, as if taken, charged by electrocuting grief.And I realize there must be a person filming this and I wonder if the father is aware or if he is so far gone into the horror that he is no longer in that room or in this realm at all. And I ask myself what does it mean to be recording the mad vulnerability of grief in real time? And I worry that watching this is somehow invasive, entering an intimacy I have not earned. This father, a stranger and this probably the most catastrophic moment of his life. But the video is on Instagram. I assume that the father must have agreed to be filmed, agreed for the video to be posted here. And this reminds me of the mothers of the Say Her Name campaign, the extraordinary mothers of the daughters, sisters, granddaughters who were murdered by the police. I remember a particular event a few years ago where they were being honored after a play. I was on stage with several of them who were sharing their stories. One of the mothers began to cry as she spoke, which grew into a loud wail. I could tell she was losing control. So I gently took her arm and asked if she might want to walk off stage for a minute. She froze, looked at me with total clarity and said, No, no, let them see us. Let them know our pain."V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a playwright and activist and the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls Continue reading...
The former federal prosecutor and presidential contender has morphed into a punchline, full-time defendant and deadbeatChalk up 2023 as Rudy Giuliani's annus horribilis. On the other hand, 2024 may even be worse. The man once known as America's mayor" faces financial ruin and criminal prosecution with no end in sight to his woes. The hair-dye dripping down his face at a 2020 press conference ominously presaged what would eventually follow. It took less than two decades for the former federal prosecutor and contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination to morph into a punchline, full-time defendant and deadbeat.Back in the day, Giuliani garnered a reputation for crime-busting - perp-walking Wall Street bankers and sending mobsters to jail. In summer 2023, a Fulton county, Georgia, grand jury indicted him on state-law racketeering charges along with the 45th president and a host of supporting characters. Continue reading...
Biden-Harris campaign, in a conference call with reporters, said they aim to draw sharp contrast between US president and TrumpAiling in opinion polls, Joe Biden will aim to jump-start his re-election campaign in the coming week with events designed to symbolise the fight for democracy and racial justice against Donald Trump.The Biden-Harris campaign announced the plans in a conference call with reporters that mentioned Trump by name 28 times in just 24 minutes, a sign of its determination to draw a sharp contrast between the US president and his likely Republican challenger. Continue reading...
I started wearing them to test my sister's lighthearted theory about feminism. Now I can't do without their vibrant versatilityMy sister has three questions she asks men who say they're feminists. It only takes one yes" to pass her test, and yet few do. The questions are: if you get married to a woman, would you (and any kids) take her surname? If you had children with a woman, would you step back from your career to be their primary carer? And, simplest of all, would you wear a skirt in public?The questions are lighthearted, and not intended to truly cut to the heart of feminist issues, but it's interesting to see how many men sheepishly give three no" answers nonetheless. Despite much apparent progress towards gender equity, some conventions around how men feel they must act and dress differently to women are stubbornly persistent, from family to fashion. Continue reading...
With the country's population tumbling, what Italy really needs is greater immigration, yet how could Giorgia Meloni sanction that?Fifty years ago in Italy, there was one person over 65 for every child aged six or under. Just before Christmas, Italy's national statistics office, Istat, revealed that the ratio is now 5.6 to 1. The population pyramid has been inverted, with 24% of the Italian population now over 65.With the death rate rising every year, the Italian population decreases by around 180,000 people per annum. The population has just dipped below 59 million and if current trends continue it's likely that by 2070 it will fall to 48 million.Tobias Jones lives in Parma. His most recent book is The Po: An Elegy for Italy's Longest River Continue reading...
Ballots in the UK are free by global standards, but that system alone is no bulwark against tyranny, as the spectre of Donald Trump provesThis year, countries with a combined population of about 4 billion - half of all the people in the world - will hold elections. That would be cause for celebration if democracy consisted only of the act of voting.That it doesn't will be proved in March, when Russian citizens will be asked to choose a president, knowing in advance that the winner will be Vladimir Putin. Again.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
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