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A growing group has found community around Cincinnati. Trump's ICE crackdown threatens to send them back to Mauritania, rife with human rights issuesMusician Khalidou Sy recalls the night his concert was shut down before he was taken away by the Mauritanian police and jailed for five days.While he was never given a reason for his detention, in his show Sy criticized the lack of electricity available to the Mauritanian public and called on the authorities to make a change. Continue reading...

US government continues holding on to massive amounts of seized personal property, from diaries to cellphonesGeorgia's historic racketeering case in connection with opposition to the police training center known as Cop City continues hanging over the heads of 61 defendants, drawing into focus the state's continuing possession of hundreds of cellphones, laptops and personal items.The state's case is believed to be the largest ever leveled against a protest or social movement using Rico, a law created to go after the mafia and usually associated with organized crime but here deployed against a largely environmental and criminal justice-focused movement. Continue reading...

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro warns Trump administration may destabilise the entire region' amid rising tensionsWhile all eyes are on the four-month-long US military campaign against Venezuela, the White House has been quietly striking security agreements with other countries to deploy US troops across Latin America and the Caribbean.As Donald Trump announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions and ordered the seizure of vessels amid airstrikes that have killed more than 100 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the US secured military deals with Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago in the past week alone. Continue reading...

Across the US, people have been carrying their passports amid reports of citizens being detained. Five people explain what living this reality is likeAcross the United States, citizens say they have started carrying their passports with them through their daily activities as widespread immigration raids create a pervasive climate of fear, and reports of citizens being detained circulate in the media.The Guardian talked to people living this reality. Continue reading...

By representing its region's distinct culture and players, the Canadian Premier League team aims to boost the province's undoubted soccer potentialBoulevard Saint-Laurent is one of Montreal's great arteries, a throughway for gourmands coveting smoked meat sandwiches or proper pizza at one of a dozen different joints in Little Italy. It's also home to Evangelista Sports, a shop that has doubled as a shrine to the city's soccer-obsessed for more than 40 years and is every bit a part of Montreal's cultural fabric as poutine or lamenting the cold.It's also where FC Supra du Quebec opted to announce their first-ever signings last week. The Canadian Premier League (CPL) expansion team is looking to become part of the city and province's cultural identity, hoping their commitment to recruiting a full roster of Quebec-born or raised players, inspired by European clubs like Athletic Bilbao, will go a long way in helping to build a pathway which has so often seen talent slip through the cracks. Continue reading...

This normalization of gun violence in the US - who is it serving? Why can we not collectively make this not normal again?On her first day of fourth grade, wearing her magenta spectacles, my daughter Anna arrived to the Big School where she couldn't reach the drinking fountains. She was small for her age, in terms of stature, though she had big ideas.I went to pick her up that afternoon, the first day of school, and I looked eagerly at all the young faces streaming out the door, but no Anna. The high schoolers flooded out, then the middle schoolers. Still no Anna. I started to get that mother panic vibration thing in my belly and I called the lower middle school office.Sarah Ruhl is a playwright, essayist, teacher, mother of three and Brown University graduate. Her most recent book is Lessons from my Teachers, from preschool to the present. Her collaboration with A Great Big World, the musical Wonder, is at American Repertory Theater in Boston through February Continue reading...

Liberal democracies view Putin's Russia as a bully - and Trump's US as an angry drunk with a bazooka. The response is pure venomThere are people who argue that Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine is not motivated by fears or imperial ambitions, but by other countries' disrespect. Russia once commanded authority as one of the world's two superpowers, but it has since forfeited that status. It knows it has lost the respect of other countries (Barack Obama famously dismissed Russia as just a regional power"), and the Ukraine war is its way of winning it back.What is perhaps surprising is that Donald Trump's turn against Europe has similar motivations. Putin knows his aggressive revanchism won't win Russia any love among countries whose respect he craves. But if he can't be loved, he hopes at least to be feared. If you are in a social order that regards you as inferior, you have every incentive to turn spoiler.Henry Farrell is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University. Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E Schmidt distinguished professor at the Henry A Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Continue reading...

Decision comes amid growing public support for Guan Heng - who secretly filmed detention facilities in China - after he illegally entered US by boatThe Department of Homeland Security has dropped its plan to deport a Chinese national who entered the country illegally, two rights activists have said, after his plight raised public concerns that if deported the man would be punished by Beijing for helping expose human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer who assisted in the case, said Guan Heng's lawyer received a letter from the department stating its decision to withdraw its request to send Guan to Uganda. Asat said she now expected Guan's asylum case to proceed smoothly and favourably". Continue reading...

In his first comments since the release, the president expressed sympathy for high-profile figures, including Bill Clinton, who have come under scrutinyDonald Trump has broken his silence on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, complaining that people who innocently met" the convicted paedophile could have their reputations destroyed.In his first comments since the justice department began releasing the materials on Friday, the US president on Monday expressed sympathy for prominent Democrats who have come under renewed scrutiny over their associations with Epstein. Continue reading...

Donald Trump is on a naming spree; Schumer asks Senate to back legal action over partial Epstein files release - key US politics stories from Monday 22 December at a glanceDonald Trump has announced plans for the US navy to build a new generation of warships - known as Trump-class".The ships will be bigger, faster and a hundred times more powerful than any previous US-built warship, the president said on Monday. The project will begin with construction of two such battleships and eventually be expanded to 20 to 25 new vessels. Continue reading...

Food and Drug Administration's approval hands drugmaker Novo Nordisk an edge in the race to market an obesity pillUS regulators on Monday gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity.The US Food and Drug Administration's approval handed drugmaker Novo Nordisk an edge over rival Eli Lilly in the race to market an obesity pill. Lilly's oral drug, orforglipron, is still under review. Continue reading...

Move comes as union representing US diplomats said it was deeply concerned' by the process, which could politicise' foreign serviceThe Trump administration has quietly recalled nearly 30 ambassadors and other senior overseas diplomats as the Trump administration plans to promote appointees loyal to the new administration to higher levels of the state department, according to diplomatic sources.The recall of the ambassadors or heads of mission, which were confirmed by several current and former senior diplomats, was unusual for targeting career foreign service officers heading embassies overseas who are generally left in place after a change in administration because they strive to be apolitical. Continue reading...

President says the ships will be bigger, faster and a hundred times more powerful than any previous US-built warshipJust when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. Donald Trump has announced plans for the US navy to build a new generation of warships - known as Trump-class".The ships will be bigger, faster and a hundred times more powerful than any previous US-built warship, the president said on Monday. The project will begin with construction of two such battleships and eventually be expanded to 20 to 25 new vessels. Continue reading...

The statement says the release was a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation'

Attorneys general from 21 states and DC argue defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unlawfulA coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to prevent Donald Trump's administration from defunding the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by refusing to request money from the Federal Reserve.Democratic attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit in federal court in Oregon, arguing that the administration's decision not to seek additional funding for the US consumer watchdog is unlawful and undermines Congress's authority under the US constitution. Continue reading...

An atmospheric river is forecast to drive storms across the state this week, bringing rain, high winds and risk of floodsOne person has died in California amid heavy flooding, as residents across the state brace for a week of brutal storms that are predicted to bring extensive rainfall throughout the Christmas weekend.Authorities in Redding, a city in northern California, reported that a motorist died on Sunday after becoming stranded in their vehicle. Continue reading...

Top Democrat to introduce resolution after Department of Justice misses deadline for all files linked to sex offender

Governor calls accusations that students with disabilities may have been confined in boxes highly disturbing'A school district board in upstate New York is investigating school officials amid accusations that the district may have confined elementary school students inside wooden timeout" boxes.Images of the boxes, which resemble tiny padded cells, first spread on social media last week, after a former member of the Salmon River school district school board accused officials of building them to seclude children with disabilities. The images unleashed an immediate uproar in the small district, which teaches about 1,300 children and lies on the border between New York state and Canada. Continue reading...

ICE held more than 68,400 people as of 14 December, breaking previous high set at beginning of DecemberThe number of people in immigration detention in the US has hit an all-time high according to data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The data, which comes out every two weeks, shows that as of 14 December 2025, ICE held more than 68,400 people.This many people in immigration detention is a new record, breaking the previous high set at the beginning of December. Continue reading...

During her time as a ranger Soskin sought to shed light on experiences of women of color during the second world war

A side that once looked resilient has collapsed into historic futility, with Wolves now facing the grim task of avoiding the worst season English league football has ever seenSaturday's defeat at home to Brentford means Wolves have taken just two points for 17 games. No side in the entire history of English league football, in any division, has ever made a worse start than that. To reach 11 points, the record low for a Premier League season set by Derby County in 2007-08, would require a significant improvement.How can this have happened? Wolves finished 16th last season, recovering after a dismal start. When Vitor Pereira took over on 19 December last year, they were second bottom on nine points from 16 games. They picked up 23 points from the final 22 games of the season and effectively ended any prospect of relegation with a run of six successive victories in the spring. How can a team go from averaging near enough a point a game to a 10th of that? The drop-off is extraordinary.This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he'll answer the best in a future edition. Continue reading...

Tenures end for mission chiefs in at least 29 countries, including 15 in Africa, as US reshapes its diplomatic postureThe Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of Donald Trump's America first" priorities.The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two state department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves. Continue reading...

WBD had urged shareholders to reject $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount, which is controlled by the Ellisons, following $82.7bn Netflix dealThe tech billionaire Larry Ellison has agreed to provide a personal guarantee of more than $40bn for Paramount Skydance's fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery, amid an extraordinary corporate battle over the entertainment giant.WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount - which is controlled by the Ellisons - last week, having agreed to sell its storied movie studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in a $82.7bn deal earlier this month. Continue reading...

Some US citizens, grappling with issues from LGBTQ+ rights to the economy, are looking to the countries their families once left behindDaniel Kamali was born and raised in New York City, where he spent his summers riding his bike around Brighton Beach before pedaling home to his Brooklyn Jewish" mother and his smooth talker" father. He went out for Cub Scouts and soccer before realizing, during his time studying at MIT, that he loved sailing most of all. Now 48, he is a professional tenor with the opera, performing in and around New York.Kamali never considered that he might want to be anything but American - why would he? His life was shaped by the freedoms and opportunities that his father, Ivan Kamali, risked everything for. Continue reading...

Once loose, erratic and reliably unreliable, Jacksonville have hardened into something far more serious, with Trevor Lawrence's control and confidence turning a hot streak into a genuine AFC threatSeven weeks ago, the Jaguars were still that team: loose, entertaining, unreliable. The kind that could light up a quarter and then spend the next three undoing it. Now, they're a wagon.After beating the Broncos on Sunday, the Jaguars have ripped off six straight wins. They've won 11 regular-season games for the first time since 2007. And with two winnable games to close the season, they have a solid path to the No 1 seed, with the AFC potentially running through Jacksonville. Continue reading...

The documents are disturbing. But they seem largely to reflect information that has already been made publicAfter months of public outcry and pressure from within the Maga coalition, Donald Trump's justice department released what it called The Epstein Files, with the Trump world's typical fanfare. A media frenzy ensued. But the files" that were released by Pam Bondi's Department of Justice left many observers frustrated and confused. The release was partial and heavily redacted; much of the information had already been made public. Media figures were incensed, and members of Congress pledged to push the Trump administration for more. The episode left Washington watchers frustrated. It fueled speculation that Trump, who had long opposed the release of the documents, had something to hide.That was on 27 February, when a group of 15 rightwing media figures who had taken a special interest in the Epstein case were summoned to the White House and given white binders labeled The Epstein Files." The release was meant to allay pressure from the president's conspiracy-minded base and neutralize the Epstein issue, which has dogged Trump since the financier sex offender and former close friend of the president died in prison during his first term in 2019. But those who received the binders said that there was little new information in them. The episode only further inflamed tensions and increased the salience of the Epstein issue. Continue reading...

Online activity shows the Base, headed by alleged Russian asset Rinaldo Nazzaro, sees US and Ukraine as key centersAmid high-profile arrests in its Spanish cell, the American-born and designated neo-Nazi terrorist group the Base - once a major preoccupation of FBI counter-terrorism efforts - has all but faded from US headlines. But a flurry of online activities shows the group is still active stateside and considers the US an operational nerve center.Headed by Rinaldo Nazzaro, an ex-Pentagon contractor turned alleged Russian intelligence asset, the Base has been busy of late pursuing European expansion: besides its heavily armed members in Spain, its Ukrainian wing is linked to multiple acts of terrorism inside of the country and claimed the high-profile July assassination of an intelligence officer in Kyiv. Continue reading...

LA medical examiner reports Ransone, who played Chester Ziggy' Sobotka in the HBO crime drama, died by suicideJames Ransone, the American actor best known for his work in 12 episodes of The Wire, has died in Los Angeles.Information from the Los Angeles medical examiner indicated Ransone, 46, died on Friday by suicide. Continue reading...

Medetomidine has extreme and fast-acting withdrawal symptoms - and the detox centers that help patients are struggling with how best to copeThe staff at harm reduction hub Sunshine House in the middle of Kensington, a neighborhood in north-east Philadelphia home to the most notorious open drug scene in the US, often reverse at least one overdose per day.But the mutating illegal drug supply is regularly conjuring new drugs with novel sets of potentially deadly risks. For the past 18 months, there has been a new drug in circulation, the veterinary sedative medetomidine, also known as rhino tranq". It has perhaps the most extreme and fast-acting withdrawal symptoms of all known street drugs. Continue reading...

DoJ has nearly $90m appropriated by Congress to support victims, but organizations say funding has been cutMore than 100 organizations that support victims of human trafficking have lost funding since October, leaving thousands of survivors at risk, a Guardian investigation has found.Anti-trafficking advocates say the US Department of Justice's failure to spend nearly $90m appropriated by Congress is impeding law-enforcement investigations and exposing survivors to homelessness and the risk of deportation, jail time or re-exploitation. Continue reading...

Documents allege Epstein's accomplice and ex-girlfriend normalized' his grooming and directed' girls on what to do. Plus, was 2025 the year that business retreated from net zero?

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Identical twins Nick and Nathan Roberts prioritize kindness and civility, and say we never argue about politics'A pair of identical Indiana twins whose life on opposite ends of the US's political divide recently propelled them to internet virality say it has been key for them to prioritize kindness and civility whenever they engage in conversations about politics.Nick Roberts is an elected Democratic politician, and his brother Nathan Roberts is a Republican support of Donald Trump. Their relationship generated significant public commentary when Nick posted a social media video imploring his followers not to confuse him with Nathan, who runs Save Heritage Indiana, a nonprofit organization that it says is dedicated to opposing illegal immigration in the state. Continue reading...

Whiskey brand, owned by Japanese drinks group Suntory, to close main distillery amid tariff uncertaintyThe maker of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey will halt production at its main site in Kentucky for all of 2026.The company said in a statement it would close its distillery in Clermont until it took the opportunity to invest in site enhancements". Continue reading...

Documents allege Epstein's accomplice and ex-girlfriend normalized' his grooming and directed' girls on what to doA document among the tranche of newly released Jeffrey Epstein files casts fresh light on psychological tricks that his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell deployed in her effort to lure vulnerable teen girls into his abusive orbit.She doted. She joked. She even seemed to listen. Continue reading...

Beach Sprints are shaking up this most strait-laced of sports and may be heading to a coastal town near youAt a point when most rowers are pounding away on rivers in the wind and rain through the dark winter months, a new breed are honing their skills in brighter climes surrounded by sun, sand and waves, all the while dreaming of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.Out of 17 sports that proposed an extra discipline to the International Olympic Committee, rowing came out on top with its Beach Sprints format added to the LA 2028 programme. While many may have noticed the addition of five new sports in baseball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash, a mini-revolution is happening on the water within a sport that will no longer have a lightweight category but will have five coastal rowing events in 2028. Continue reading...

His interference in the region has been aided by the collapse of the leftist forces that once pushed back against US imperialismFor the past generation, Latin America has been a place of unstable stability. Marked on the surface by protests, political pendulum swings and spectacular scandals, most of the region has, since the democratisation of the 1980s and 1990s, remained firmly democratic and free of war between states. Though scarred by the violence of armed groups and increasingly powerful criminal organisations, it has, by and large, lived up to its self-assumed moniker of a zone of peace".Which is why this year has felt so jarring. Throughout 2025, the first year of Donald Trump's second term, analysts have obsessively parsed potential US military incursions into a hemisphere once defined by its unified defence of national sovereignty. But the fixation on whether Washington's escalating pressure on Nicolas Maduro presages a physical military invasion of Venezuela has distracted from the real story: the larger shift towards direct intervention has already happened, and it has faced remarkably little resistance. More than 100 people have been killed in US maritime strikes that experts characterise as extrajudicial executions, and the loudest objections have come not from Latin American presidents or regional organisations, but from the US Congress.Jordana Timerman is a journalist based in Buenos Aires. She compiles the Latin America Daily Briefing and is part of the Ideas Letter's editorial team Continue reading...

Official indicates vessel is subject to sanctions after Trump's blockade' on sanctioned tankers in and out of VenezuelaUS Coast Guard officials said on Sunday they were tracking an oil tanker in international waters close to Venezuela, multiple unnamed US officials have told US media, marking the second such action over the weekend - and the third within the past week.What officials described as an active pursuit" in the Caribbean Sea took place a day after the coast guard seized another vessel off the coast of Venezuela, as Washington ramps up its pressure campaign targeting the South American nation's vital oil sector. Continue reading...

Todd Blanche says removal of images has nothing to do' with the president, and removal of 16 photos came at request of victim advocacy groups - key US politics stories from Sunday 21 December at a glanceDeputy US attorney general Todd Blanche said on Sunday that removing photos from the Jeffrey Epstein files release, including one of Donald Trump, had nothing to do" with the president, as the justice department restored an image it had removed a day earlier that included within it a photo of Trump.The US justice department said on Sunday it restored the image after concluding that the photograph posed no risk of public exposure to victims of the late convicted sex offender. Its unexplained removal on Saturday triggered a chorus of accusations from Democrats of political interference in favor of the president, a former friend of Epstein. Continue reading...

Steelers just hold on to beat the Lions while Broncos fall flat in 34-20 defeat to the JaguarsJ Cook rush for 44 yardsWell they were off to a slow start. The running back quickens matters with a mazy run through to the left then back across the field to avoid two free defenders. They just can't quite bring him down and Cook levels it up.D Prescott to R Flournoy for five yards Continue reading...

Steve Witkoff says representatives share goals to stop killing, support Ukraine and end war with RussiaA White House envoy said on Sunday he held productive and constructive" talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.Posting on social media, Steve Witkoff said the talks aimed at aligning on a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the US and Europe. Continue reading...

Vilma Palacios, 22, tells local outlet I want my freedom back' as she may be forced to return to HondurasA recent graduate of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing has been held in an ICE processing center in Basile, Louisiana, for the past six months following her arrest by immigration agents over the summer.Vilma Palacios had just recently accepted a position at Touro Infirmary when ICE agents arrested her and transferred her to the processing center in Basile. Her detention comes amid a broader immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, including cases involving individuals with no criminal records who are seeking legal residency. Continue reading...

Department says image was flagged by prosecutors before determining it posed no risk to survivors of late sex offenderThe US justice department said on Sunday it had restored an image it had removed a day earlier from the public release of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein after concluding that the photograph, which included within it a photo of Donald Trump, posed no risk of public exposure to victims of the late convicted sex offender.The justice department said the image had been flagged by federal prosecutors in New York for potentially exposing victims of Epstein. Its unexplained removal on Saturday triggered a chorus of accusations from Democrats about evident political interference in favor of the president, a former friend of Epstein. Continue reading...