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After much ado, the GOP made their choice - a leading figure in the Republican attempt to overturn the 2020 election - but he faces the same bind as his predecessor Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. If you want to take a break from the dysfunction in Westminster then cast your eyes to the dysfunction in Washington DC. The House of Representatives had been out of action for three weeks since the Republicans ousted their own speaker, Kevin McCarthy, until yesterday when they finally agreed upon Mike Johnson - their fourth nominee in that time.He takes up an incredibly important and powerful role: the speaker oversees Congress, sets the legislative agenda and can completely derail the president's plans. The person who occupies that role also becomes the second person in line to the presidency, after the vice-president. Without a speaker, the US government has been at a standstill, unable to legislate or allocate any spending - even to provide financial support to allies abroad.US gun violence | At least 16 people were killed overnight when a man opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine. The shooter remained at large as authorities ordered people to stay off the streets. Lewiston police named Robert Card as a person of interest" and said he should be considered armed and dangerous". This morning we are covering the situation live.Israel-Gaza | Joe Biden has called for an immediate end to Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, saying: Pouring gasoline on fire is what it's like." Biden said Hamas was hiding behind" Palestinian civilians in Gaza and he had no confidence" in their civilian casualty figures. The Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, said a ground offensive was being prepared - Hamas is doomed."University | Students in England are left with the equivalent of 50p a week to live on from their loans after paying for accommodation, the cost of which has soared by nearly 15% over the last two years, research has revealed.AI | Artificial intelligence brings new dangers to society that must be addressed head on", Rishi Sunak will warn on Thursday, as the government admitted it could not rule out the technology posing an existential threat. The government is preparing to host an AI safety summit in Bletchley Park next week.Media | Bidders for the Telegraph are concerned the Barclays' 1bn back door" offer could have a chilling effect" on the official auction, according to a source close to the process. The family confirmed they would make a Middle Eastern-backed offer to keep control of the Telegraph and Spectator titles. Continue reading...

Politicians and much of the media ignore, stereotype and demonise protesters. This lack of engagement is a risk to us allAs a million Britons marched through London in 2003 against war with Iraq, William Rees-Mogg gazed on from outside the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall. In the Times, he sniffed at the protesters' outfits (they dressed as they might for a football match") and scowled at their arguments. However well-intentioned, their very presence helped maintain the torture chambers of Baghdad". They were, he said, Saddam's useful idiots".Those protesters were as British as the former Times editor, but that didn't matter. The country was at war against an axis of evil". It was us versus them, and those who objected or worried or wanted more evidence were little more than traitors. Continue reading...

Local authorities say agencies are investigating two active shooter events' as police warn residents to shelter in place

The murder of the US president left millions convinced their government lied and covered up. Decades on, it continues to twist the truth about everything from Covid to G5 to Trump's defeat at the pollsOn 22 November 2021, a crowd of 100 or so people gathered in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, the site of John F Kennedy's assassination 58 years before. They were convinced that JFK's son, John F Kennedy Jr, was about to return, to take his place as vice-president alongside a reinstated Donald Trump, to battle the satanic paedophile cabal that had taken over Washington. Some even waved Trump-Kennedy 2024" banners. Never mind that JFK Jr died in a plane crash in 1999: these people were credulous enough to believe the QAnon conspiracy theory.When JFK Jr failed to materialise, they promised he would appear at the Rolling Stones' concert in Dallas that night. Some also reckoned JFK Jr would be accompanied by other not-really-dead figures, including Robin Williams, Michael Jackson and a 104-year-old JFK. Continue reading...

The defeat of Poland's Law and Justice party and Turkey moving towards ratifying Sweden's Nato bid have further isolated Hungary's PMViktor Orban is more isolated than ever - but he is still fuelling frustrations across Europe.The Hungarian leader, one of Europe's most prominent far-right politicians, has long been an outlier on the European stage. But, as he arrives in Brussels on Thursday for a summit of EU leaders, he will be even more lonely than usual. Continue reading...

At least 16 reported killed, dozens wounded in Lewiston shooting; police warn residents to stay inside as they search for gunman

US president calls for end to attacks by West Bank settlers and accuses Hamas of hiding behind civilians in Gaza, but that Israel also must follow the laws of war'. Speaking at a joint press conference with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the president said US support for Israel's defence was ironclad, but criticised the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank by some Israelis. Continue reading...

Australian contingent at black-tie affair included singer Vance Joy and Indigenous voice co-designer Prof Tom Calma, with a notable absence from News Corp chair Lachlan Murdoch

Agreement is pending union leadership approval and is the first settlement in the strike against big three automakersFord Motor Company and the negotiators of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union reached a labor deal on Wednesday, pending union leadership approval.A deal would be the first settlement of strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Continue reading...

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The relatively little-known Louisiana Republican has been thrust into the spotlight and the attention has fallen on his extreme beliefsMike Johnson's emergence as the new speaker of the US House of Representatives has earned the relatively little-known Louisiana Republican a turn in the national spotlight.In turn, that spotlight has illuminated positions and remarks many deem extreme.You think about the implications on the economy. We're all struggling here to cover the bases of social security and Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest. If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy, we wouldn't be going upside down and toppling over like this ... I will not yield I will not. Roe was a terrible corruption of America's constitutional jurisprudence." Continue reading...

The previously little-known rightwinger from Louisiana shows all the hallmarks of the ex-president's voiceAfter engineering this month's unceremonious defenestration of the hapless Kevin McCarthy, some far-right Republicans openly dreamed of installing their hero Donald Trump to replace him as speaker of the House of Representatives.Trump himself, meanwhile, suggested that only Jesus Christ was certain to be elected to the role - apparently overlooking practical concerns of presumed unavailability. Continue reading...

Louisiana congressman known as Maga Mike', elected House speaker Wednesday, is staunch Trump supporter and election denierThe Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson, whom Republicans in Congress elected as their speaker after more than three weeks of leaderless chaos, played a key role in Donald Trump's attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.Johnson amassed enough support to win the speakership because of his allegiance to Trumpian ideals, earning him the nickname on the far right of Maga Mike". A litmus test of sorts for the speakership was alignment with rightwing views, including believing in a stolen election, though the firebrand approach of failed speaker candidate Jim Jordan soured moderate members, despite his election-denying bonafides. Continue reading...

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Louisiana congressman - and the party's fourth nominee - wins support of all 220 Republicans who cast a ballotRepublican Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected speaker of the House on Wednesday, winning the top job in a party-line vote and ending a standoff that had stretched on for more than three weeks.In the floor vote, Johnson won the support of all 220 Republicans who cast a ballot, while all 209 Democrats present voted for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Due to four absences in the chamber, Johnson needed 215 votes to become speaker. Continue reading...

In court on Wednesday, Judge Arthur Engoron tells former president: Don't do it again, or it will be worse'Donald Trump was briefly forced to testify at his civil fraud trial in New York and fined a further $10,000 after the judge found that he had breached a gag order.The former president, who had already been fined $5,000 over a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer, was reprimanded for comments he had made outside court but denied he had violated the order, wherein he had been ordered to cease posting about court staff. Continue reading...

Mike Johnson, a rightwing Louisiana congressman, won a floor vote to be speaker of the House on Wednesday, ending weeks of deadlock after Republicans ousted former speaker Kevin McCarthy. The vote came out at 220-209, with every House Republican voting for Johnson

Louisiana congressman is solid part of party's right wing and played role assisting Trump's efforts to overturn 2020 election

The actions taken by Spears in response to the madness around her were, in the circumstances, only proof of her sanityThe rollout this week of Britney Spears's memoir, The Woman in Me, seeks, among all the usual aspirations of the celebrity memoir, to execute a strange brief: to prove, finally and decisively, just how competent the 41-year-old is. Spears, who for 13 years toiled under the Grimms' Fairy Tale-like curse of a conservatorship overseen by her father, has been legally in control of her life for 18 months. With the exaggerated care of someone trying to prove they're not drunk, her appearances this week have seemed, at times, contrived to illustrate independence", fun", and an occasionally grim-looking levity in the service of convincing everyone she's free and in charge.The irony is that from the outside, the trajectory of the singer's life and career looks like a classic catch-22 in which the central trauma is so profound that no single position in regards to it is preferable to another. In the book, Spears recounts how, from her earliest success as a 16-year-old pop star to her relationship with Justin Timberlake and the birth of the two children she had with Kevin Federline, she was harassed, taunted and belittled at every turn. The abuse took place within her own home and more resonantly without. Even after seeing the details of Spears's life recalled and documented multiple times in recent years, this latest retelling still triggers incredulity: of the double standard between Spears's and Timberlake's early interviews (he is taken seriously as a music person, which is hilarious - it's Justin Timberlake - while she is asked whether she's had a boob job) and the unbelievable level of goading she suffered from paparazzi. Who, in these circumstances, wouldn't freak out?Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Rescuers had to abandon attempt at freeing man due to safety concerns over using torches to cut through steel platingA man was trapped inside a steel-reinforced concrete jewelry vault in New York City overnight after firefighters had to abandon an attempt to rescue him for safety reasons. Fortunately, the vault was on a timer and opened on its own on Wednesday morning, officials said.The fire department was called to the midtown Manhattan building on Tuesday evening after the man became trapped while trying to access his safe deposit box, said John Sarrocco, the assistant fire chief. The building at 580 Fifth Avenue is known as the World Diamond Tower and houses several jewelry businesses. Sarrocco did not explain how the man became trapped. Continue reading...

Cohen sparred with Trump lawyer Alina Habba and said former president told him to inflate assetsDonald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen continued giving evidence at his fraud trial on Wednesday in another combative day in which the disgraced lawyer alleged the former president instructed him and other executives to inflate his apparent fortune.In an often theatrical performance, Trump's attorney Alina Habba painted Cohen as a serial liar and a perjurer who was angry to have been spurned by Trump. You have made a career of publicly attacking President Trump, haven't you?" asked Habba. Yes," replied Cohen. Continue reading...

Residents of Franklin turn out in force to rebuff Gabrielle Hanson, who failed to denounce support of white supremacist groupMiddle Tennessean voters have soundly rejected a mayoral candidate who refused to to denounce the support of neo-Nazis in a poll that drew four times as many voters than in a similar ballot four years earlier.Gabrielle Hanson's bid to become mayor of Franklin, Tennessee, had been dominated in its final months by controversies. Those included an investigation in September that revealed she had posted a photo of a group of women she claimed to be supporters, though at least one later said she had no idea who the candidate was. Continue reading...

I felt a deep need to join this unbelievable meeting of women and non-binary people. I am worried, I am tired and I am angryWhen I was an infant, my mother, then 26 years old, took me with her to the first women's strike in downtown Reykjavik. It was a momentous day in 1975, with 90% of Iceland's women stopping work in protest at gender inequality. Today I am an educated, middle-class woman living in the country that has been No 1 on the global gender gap index for years. So why go on strike again, as thousands of women and non-binary people did on Tuesday? Didn't my mother's generation fix everything?There has been much talk here among both men and women who say they don't really get it. They argue that the strike is just about ungrateful middle-class feminists who have it all but stay angry over everything and nothing. That this is us taking a day off to meet our friends and play victims of an imagined injustice. I admit that I was looking forward to meeting my friends downtown yesterday, but more importantly, I felt a deep need to be there, to be part of the unbelievable force of a meeting like this. And it really was powerful - an estimated 100,000 people took part, including the prime minister. That's more than a quarter of the entire country. Continue reading...

Republicans boo Rachel Scott of ABC News for asking the latest speaker pick, Mike Johnson, questionHouse Republicans booed and heckled a reporter who asked their latest choice for speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, about his support for Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.Late on Tuesday, Republicans held a press conference to announce Johnson as the fourth candidate for the role since rightwingers made Kevin McCarthy the first speaker ever thrown out by his own party. Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer previously failed to attract sufficient support. Continue reading...

At least 63 people injured on I-55 interstate as search for victims continues and governor calls for blood donorsAt least eight people were killed after a superfog" of smoke from south Louisiana marsh fires and dense fog caused multiple car crashes on Monday morning involving a total of 168 vehicles, authorities said.As of Tuesday evening, the death toll from the huge pileup increased from seven to eight people, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...

Ex-president interrupted briefing to ask why he should give a fuck' about Kurds amid US troop withdrawal, Adam Kinzinger writesDonald Trump surprised his own national security adviser and a group of Republican congressmen and women when he interrupted an Oval Office briefing to ask why he should give a fuck" about the fate of Kurds in Syria.Nothing we said worked," Adam Kinzinger, until this year a Republican representative from Illinois, writes in a new book. Continue reading...

Evan Gershkovich's sister says family wants to see more action' to free Wall Street Journal reporter charged with spyingAs the Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich prepared to spend his 32nd birthday on Thursday in a Moscow lockup, Joe Biden has assured the reporter's family that the White House will ultimately get him back to the US from Russia, the journalist's sister said.Danielle Gershkovich remarked on Tuesday in an interview on Newsmax that the president promised our family personally that he's going to get Evan home". Continue reading...

Connor Bowman, a poisoning specialist, is also accused of researching drug found in wife's bloodstreamA poison specialist and former medical resident at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota is charged with fatally poisoning his wife, a 32-year-old pharmacist who died days after she went to a hospital in August with stomach distress.Authorities say Connor Bowman, 30, tried to stop the autopsy on his wife, Betty Bowman, arguing she should be cremated immediately and claiming she had a rare illness, which hospital tests did not confirm. The medical examiner's office halted the order for cremation, citing suspicious circumstances, according to a criminal complaint, and an autopsy showed Betty Bowman died from toxic effects of colchicine, a medicine used to treat gout. Continue reading...

The IDF's three-phase' operation would increase Hamas's influence in the region rather than extinguishing it

The road to the MLS Cup kicks off this week. Our writers predict the dark horses, the key players and who will wind up as championsWould a much-loved attacker in his mid-thirties who's achieved so much in the game still have the hunger to perform and score, or was he joining MLS simply for the money and a beachfront lifestyle? Arriving from Europe during the season, could he adjust quickly? Would his brilliance almost single-handedly haul his struggling club into the playoffs? Yes, the Billy Sharp storylines were compelling all right. Lionel Messi was also fairly interesting. Tom Dart Continue reading...

After a student's death was blamed on a Panera drink, experts say brands making misleading health claimsA 21-year-old student died after drinking a Charged Lemonade from Panera Bread, drawing more attention to the energy drink market, which remains popular among young people.The family of Sarah Katz alleged in a lawsuit that the University of Pennsylvania student was not properly alerted through Panera's marketing that the drink contained 390 milligrams of caffeine - more than a can of Red Bull and a can of Monster Energy combined. Katz lived with a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1, and her roommate told NBC News that she was very, very vigilant" about avoiding high doses of caffeine that could endanger her. Katz died of cardiac arrhythmia. (The FDA says 400mg of caffeine a day is generally safe for healthy adults".) Continue reading...

Ambassador vows to teach the UN a lesson' after remarks by the secretary general. Plus the carrot wars of Cayama ValleyGood morning.Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, has vowed to teach the UN a lesson after the organisation's secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said in a speech that the appalling attacks" by Hamas against Israel on 7 October that killed 1,400 people could not justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people".The Palestinian Authority's foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, a rival of Hamas, denounced inaction by the UN security council. The ongoing massacres being deliberately and systematically and savagely perpetrated by Israel - the occupying power against the Palestinian civilian population under illegal occupation - must be stopped. It is our collective human duty to stop them," he said.Meanwhile, the US and Russia put forward rival plans at the UN to help Palestinian civilians. While both countries seek UN security council resolutions to address shortages of food, water, medical supplies and electricity in Gaza, the US, which opposes a ceasefire, has called only for pauses to allow aid to enter.Hospitals in Gaza are ceasing to function because they are running out of water and fuel for generators, while being overwhelmed by huge numbers of casualties and civilians seeking shelter from Israeli bombing.Israel has dropped leaflets in Gaza offering rewards and protection for information in its latest effort to free more than 200 people seized during the terrorist attacks on 7 October. Continue reading...

Why we must remember Maurice Bishop and the Grenadian revolutionYou wouldn't have guessed he was in enemy territory. Addressing 2,500 people at New York's Hunter College one June night in 1983, Maurice Bishop won the crowd over with ease, covering everything from the Palestinian struggle to Ronald Reagan's Medicaid cuts. At one point, the 39-year-old prime minister of Grenada described a secret report" from the US state department warning that the revolution he fronted was even worse for US interests than the Cuban and Nicaraguan ones.Why? Because its leaders were young, Black, socialist and, most crucially, English-speaking. The thousands of people who chanted: Forward ever! Backward never!" with Bishop on that night showed the outsized importance that events on the tiny island of Grenada had taken on.Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of The Nation, the founding editor of Jacobin and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in An Era of Extreme Inequalities Continue reading...

An Ohio election ballot, if passed, would safeguard abortion access - but groups tied to anti-abortion figures like Leonard Leo are trying to influence the outcomeThe fight for abortion access in the US continues to be threatened by the same dark-money, anti-abortion operatives that helped overturn Roe v Wade. Chief among them is the Leonard Leo-affiliated group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA-PLA) and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).One of the fiercest fights is currently focused on an amendment at the center of a November Ohio election ballot, that, if passed, would safeguard abortion access by enshrining reproductive rights in the state's constitution. Continue reading...

Costs are slashed, entire departments of doctors are laid off, and patients' bills go up. I would knowEarlier this year, I stood outside the hospital in New Mexico where I worked as an emergency physician. I was, for the first time, picketing. The next day I would be fired, another first. At least I wasn't the only one - all of my colleagues would also be terminated.Why would a hospital fire an entire department of doctors? Continue reading...

Exclusive: Records and interviews suggest the California prison system let Gregory Rodriguez get away with rampant sexual abuse, while his victims were punishedOn 15 May 2022, Gregory Rodriguez, a guard at the Central California Women's Facility, ordered a 30-year-old woman in his custody to come to a hearing room at the prison.He told her there were no cameras in the room, prison investigators allege, and gave her a choice: she could have sex with him or get a write-up for a rules violation, risking a lengthened prison term, revoked privileges and solitary confinement. Continue reading...

Support for political violence increased over past two years, poll finds, offering snapshot of America's deepening polarisationNearly one in four Americans believe that political violence may be justified to save" the country, a national opinion poll has found.The 14th annual American Values Survey, carried out by the non-profit Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in partnership with the Brookings Institution thinktank, offers a snapshot of America's deepening polarisation and willingness to contemplate taking up arms. Continue reading...

Italy's prime minister wasn't afraid to take a day off when her relationship ended, and neither was I. It should be the normOne Monday morning, many years ago, I was riding the bus to work. As it came to a stop at the corner where I always got off, I found I remained seated. I stayed on the bus all the way to the end of the line where I finally alighted and caught the next bus straight home.The day before, I had been dumped by my boyfriend of a year. And the day before that, I had introduced him to a group of my colleagues. The thought of showing up at the office and forcing a smile through their debrief - or, worse, dissolving into tears - felt impossible. Continue reading...

Every fighter with a modicum of power has a chance of victory, even when they're struggling in the ring. Here are a few highlights from boxing historyOne of the things that makes boxing so compelling is that at any moment - BOOM! - one punch can end a fight. For the winner, there's elation. For the loser, despair. The roar of the crowd is deafening.I've compiled a list of one-punch knockouts that are a treasured part of boxing lore. There are three criteria for inclusion: Continue reading...

Fellow tech company Intel reviewing regulations' as timing of move brought forward

A Lebanese front is unlikely: it wouldn't be in Iran's interests, as it would probably spark US interventionSince 7 October, questions have been posed over whether Hezbollah would intervene in the fight against Israel in aid of Hamas, and on the extent of Iran's involvement in Hamas's attack on Israel. Iran backs both Hamas and Hezbollah: they are military partners and have coordinated training and battles with support from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah take decisions to declare war or peace without explicit prior agreement from Iran.However, battles are not the same as full-on war. To date, Hamas and Hezbollah have never been involved in a war on two fronts against Israel. This is a scenario that neither the two groups nor Iran take lightly, because such a scenario amounts to regional war in the Middle East, which is in no one's interest.Lina Khatib is director of the Soas Middle East Institute and associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham HouseDo 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...

Hungary's leader is at the heart of EU institutions - so Russia is, in effect, there too. Europe must take swift actionThe image of a smirking Vladimir Putin clasping hands with Viktor Orban sent shockwaves around western capitals, and rightly so. Putin, wanted for war crimes, with an active arrest warrant from the international criminal court, stood side by side with Orban, representing a European Union and Nato member state.The Orban-Putin in-person talks, their first since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, came as the pair attended a state ceremony in China to mark 10 years of Beijing's belt and road initiative. The Beijing gathering showcased a shocking tableau: a gathering of authoritarian leaders, including Putin and the Taliban leadership - and in the middle of them, Orban, prime minister of a supposedly democratic EU member state.Katalin Cseh is a Hungarian member of the European parliament for the Renew Europe GroupDo 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...

We tolerate a sclerotic system that allows the rise of people you wouldn't trust with your wallet - or to babysit your children

The Louisiana congressman was named Tuesday night after Tom Emmer withdrew from his bid hours after getting approvalMike Johnson was nominated to lead the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, though it was unclear whether he would merely become the latest hopeful to fall victim to party infighting that has paralyzed Congress for more than three weeks.Johnson, of Louisiana, is the fourth Republican this month to win the party's nomination for the speaker's chair, which has sat vacant since a small faction of party rebels ousted Kevin McCarthy on 3 October. Continue reading...

Meadows testified to a grand jury about the ex-president's efforts to overturn 2020 elections after being forced by a court orderDonald Trump's former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows testified to a federal grand jury about efforts by the former president to overturn the 2020 election results pursuant to a court order that granted him limited immunity from prosecution, according to two people familiar with the matter.The immunity - a powerful tool that forces witnesses to testify on the promise that they will not be charged on their statements or information derived from their statements - came after a legal battle in March with special counsel prosecutors, who had subpoenaed Meadows. Continue reading...

Band known for hits Love Shack and Rock Lobster dropped from entertainment line-up at state dinner for Anthony Albanese

The actor, whose career spanned more than four decades in Hollywood, died in Los Angeles from pancreatic cancerRichard Roundtree, known for playing the suave lead role in the 1971 film Shaft died on Thursday, the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, have reported.Roundtree, 81, died in Los Angeles after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Patrick McMinn, Roundtree's longtime manager told the Hollywood Reporter. Continue reading...

Joseph David Emerson has pleaded not guilty and says he'd taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time, court documents showAn off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines on a regional jet mid-flight on Sunday told police after his arrest that he believed he was having a nervous breakdown, thought he was dreaming when he pulled fire handles in the cockpit, and that he had experimented with psychedelic mushrooms recently as his mental health worsened, according to a federal complaint made public on Tuesday.Just before trying to cut the engines, Joseph David Emerson, 44, who was riding in an extra seat in the cockpit said: I'm not OK" and later told police he had recently taken psychedelic mushrooms, according to charging documents. Continue reading...