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Swift endorsed Biden in 2020 but has yet to back anyone in 2024, and Trump says she benefitted from act passed in his presidencyDonald Trump, who attempted to overturn the democratic vote of the American people in 2020, on Sunday accused the pop star Taylor Swift of being disloyal" should she endorse Joe Biden for president.With the rightwing conspiracy theory machine fretting that Swift is a Pentagon plant whose relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his team's victory yesterday in the Superbowl, was designed to give Swift a platform to swing the election for Biden, Trump weighed in with his own thoughts. Continue reading...

Several earthquakes, the largest of which registered a magnitude of 5.0, struck El Centro in the Imperial ValleyParts of California were hit by more than a dozen earthquakes overnight, with 13 shaking the state during a span of just 25 minutes.Good morning Southern California! Did you feel the magnitude 4.8 earthquake about two miles north-west of El Centro at 12.36am? The #ShakeAlert system was activated," the United States Geological Survey Shake Alert account posted on X. Continue reading...

The undeclared race to be the former president's running mate has sent leading figures into new paroxysms of sycophancyI just love you!" Tim Scott bleated at Donald Trump.The South Carolina senator, who three months earlier had said Trump could not beat Joe Biden in the presidential election, was speaking on stage at a rally in New Hampshire. Continue reading...

If the president is serious about recognising Palestinian statehood, defunding the settlements would be a great first stepIsrael and its settlement enterprise are getting a crash course in coercive diplomacy. In the first few hours and days after the Biden Administration announced it was placing financial sanctions on four extremist Israeli settlers, there was a bit of confusion in Israel about what it all meant. Demonstrating the absurdity of the moment, Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich told fellow parliamentarians that, it is not possible for an Israeli citizen with Israeli money in an Israeli bank to be deprived of rights and assets due to an American order."Within a day, one of the sanctioned settlers, a violent extremist named Yinon Levi who the Biden Administration said was involved in forcing Palestinian communities off their land, had his personal and business accounts frozen by Israel's Bank Leumi. A state-owned bank followed suit and froze the account of a second sanctioned settler. The banks understood something the Israeli finance minister didn't seem to grasp - the United States is a very powerful country.Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man is the director of research for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn). He worked as a journalist in Israel-Palestine for over a decade, including as editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine Continue reading...

I've had some amazing experiences in Boston. But I want fun from my holiday meals, not joyless refuellingI almost never leave Europe, so spending a month in Boston is expanding my provincial horizons and blowing my tiny mind. Wild turkeys (huge!) wander the streets, there are rodeo bouts on TV and everyone drinks iced coffee even though it's absolutely Baltic. I feel more foreign here than in places I've visited where I didn't speak the language, and I keep getting things wrong. I think I rode the bus illegally yesterday.Mostly, though, I'm baffled by bowls. In this corner of the world full of twentysomething Stem graduates wearing Patagonia and Lululemon activewear, with earning potential many multiples of mine, meals seem almost all bowl-based, composed of grain, protein, greens and some kind of sauce.Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Short-term lodgings, pet-sitting ... it's taken me everywhere from Dorset to Tbilisi, and I've (mostly) enjoyed itI'm typing this while sitting at a very nifty, handmade foldaway desk in a compact, one-bedroom flat in Kentish Town. The cosy apartment's dark wooden floorboards are overlaid with thick, Bhutanese woven rugs depicting tigers and mandalas. When I make toast on weekends, miniature, primary-coloured Tibetan prayer flags, strung above the toaster, dance in the rising heat. Bedroom bookshelves are stacked with intriguing travel guides, musings on Buddhism, and titles extolling the benefits of cold-water swimming; a good thing since Hampstead Heath's Kenwood ladies' pond is just a 35-minute walk away. Parliament Hill Lido is even closer.This feelgood flat has been the ideal winter bolthole, and a place I felt immediately at home when I moved in three months ago. But come spring I'll be living somewhere entirely different, in a completely new flat or house, most likely in a new borough, perhaps a new city, maybe even a new country. These are the exciting unknowns in my transient life.Lydia Swinscoe is a freelance travel writer Continue reading...

The first alternate Super Bowl telecast for kids was a brilliant feat of marketing aimed at stoking a younger generation's interest in the sport. It was also a legitimately compelling riotThis alternate Super Bowl program is, per a production company statement, intended for lovers of slime and really good sports time". Can't say I'm in either camp. But nevertheless I find myself parked in front of - or should I say glued to? - Nickelodeon's and CBS Sports' slime-soaked Super Bowl simulcast, while the other members of my family are across the room, watching the extra-tense sport showdown like normal people.Super Bowl LVIII Live from Bikini Bottom, as the wackadoodle extravaganza is called, is streaming from an official broadcast booth overlooking Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Seated in front of the cameras is a pair of humans, sports commentators Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson; as well as partners-in-slime Tom Star and Bill Fagerbakke, who voice SpongeBob SquarePants and his starfish sidekick, Patrick Star, respectively. Thanks to the miracle of reality-augmented animation, the latter gentlemen appear on my screen as blobby animations in the commentator booth. A menagerie of other inhabitants of SpongeBob's underwater world pop up on the football field, such as Larry the Lobster and Sandy Cheeks, the bucktoothed Texan SpongeBob character who pulls her weight as (a hilariously biased) sideline commentator. Dora the Explorer cameoed as a rules expert. And let's not forget the enormous purple pelicans who sporadically materialize on the sidelines to burp up whole cheeseburgers by the dozen. Continue reading...

Kyle Shanahan's edition of the 49ers have had Patrick Mahomes on the ropes twice. They've been unable to finish him off both timesLosing a Super Bowl always stings. For the San Francisco 49ers, losing 25-22 to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime on Sunday will hurt more than most. It will leave a lifetime of ifs'.If not for Jake Moody's missed extra point. Continue reading...

She was six years old Continue reading...

It was surreal when Szymon Hoownia, our answer to Simon Cowell, became speaker. But he has made the legislature a YouTube hitWho is the most popular politician in Poland today? Not, as you might expect, the new prime minister, Donald Tusk, nor is it the defeated leader of the opposition, Jarosaw Kaczyski. It is not the president, Andrzej Duda, an ally of Kaczyski's arch-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ran Poland for eight years before elections last October. No, the most popular politician in Poland is the newly elected speaker of the parliament, Szymon Hoownia.Even keen observers of Polish politics can be excused for not having heard of Hoownia, as he is a newcomer to Poland's legislature, the Sejm. He is famous in Poland but not, until recently, for political reasons. For more than a decade, he was the co-host of the TV show Poland's Got Talent!. Continue reading...

Super Bowl LVIII lived up to the hype as Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers played out an all-time classic that went into overtime at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, USA.

Starmer and Biden see themselves as custodians of stability. But their support for this bloody conflict shows nothing but weaknessSomething odd is happening. A sort of glitch or malfunction. Liberal politicians who refuse to call for a ceasefire in Gaza or halt support for Israel's assault are no longer making sense, and increasingly seem as though they are going through a crisis. Garbled language and contradictory statements are becoming common among establishment figures. When Keir Starmer was asked if cutting off water and supplies are actions that fall within international law, he said on live radio that Israel does have that right". Then, his party claimed he never said this at all. When Starmer said that Labour would not recognise Palestine unilaterally, his own shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, told the Financial Times that Labour would consider it.Nowhere are these contradictions clearer than when politicians express unequivocal support for Israel's actions while also expressing concern for civilians in Gaza. In a post on X, Lisa Nandy, the shadow international development secretary, appeared to support the suspension of funds to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, because allegations this serious demand a serious response", while also seeking reassurances" from the prime minister that aid could still be provided. I had to read her statement several times to try to understand what she was getting at. Meanwhile, David Cameron said he was worried" that Israel may have broken international law, but that this did not change the UK's stance on exporting weapons to Israel. Riddle me that. Continue reading...

Sean Mathias has reimagined his 2021 production of the tragedy as a movie, inventively using Windsor's Theatre Royal and capturing McKellen's subtle performanceHow best to film a stage production? You can, of course, simply have multiple cameras present at a performance as in NT Live. You can recreate the original as in Richard Eyre's fine film of his Almeida version of Ibsen's Ghosts. Or you can reimagine the whole thing, as Sean Mathias has done in his film of the Ian McKellen Hamlet first staged at Windsor in 2021. I not only find the film far more cohesive and exciting than the stage production: it also raises big issues about the relationship between theatre and cinema.Mathias's method is to film Hamlet in every nook and cranny of the Theatre Royal, Windsor. The one exterior shot shows McKellen roaming round the building as if anxious to be part of the action within: what follows could plausibly be seen as an ageing actor's dream of once more playing Hamlet. But what really hits you is Mathias's inventive use of the theatrical space. Hamlet has his own retiring-room complete with exercise bike and foils. Claudius wines and dines Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in a hospitality suite. Having publicly mocked Polonius in the theatre foyer, Hamlet, after killing the old man, is held captive in one of the toilets. Continue reading...

The R&B star went shirtless, rollerbladed and brought out Alicia Keys, Ludacris and Lil Jon for a career-spanning setlist

From the stands to the stage, the Las Vegas Super Bowl draws some of America's biggest names, with R&B star Usher going shirtless, in-line skating and bringing out Alicia Keys, Ludacris, will.i.am and Lil Jon for a career-spanning setlist in his half-time show

Traditionally the most expensive ad slots of the year, the star-studded Super Bowl commercials featured Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce, Ben Affleck, Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Walken - and Jesus (yes, Jesus).

Who's tipped to win as the 49ers take on the Chiefs? And what about those Taylor Swift conspiracy theories? We (mostly) have the answers

Passenger returning from the DRC said luggage contained dried fish, but inspection revealed four dead monkeysA US customs and border protection dog has caused a stir at Boston's often bustling airport after sniffing out something unusual in luggage from a traveler returning from Africa: mummified monkeys.The passenger returning from a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported that the luggage contained dried fish. But an inspection at Boston Logan Airport revealed four dead monkeys whose bodies were dehydrated, agents said. The traveler said he brought the monkeys into the US for his own consumption, customs and border patrol spokesperson Ryan Bissette said Sunday.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

The Joe Biden White House rebuked the former president's comments as appalling and unhinged'Donald Trump has said he would encourage" Russia to attack any of the US's Nato allies whom he considers to have not met their financial obligations.The Joe Biden White House immediately rebuked the former president's comments, saying in a statement: Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged - and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home." Continue reading...

UN officials and Biden have said an offensive in city, where about 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering, would lead to a bloodbath'In a call Sunday with Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden told the Israeli prime minister that Israel should not launch a military operation in Rafah without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there".The call between the US president and Netanyahu was the first between the two leaders since Biden on Thursday used the phrase over the top" to describe Israel's military strikes in Gaza in response to the 7 October attack by Hamas. Continue reading...

Prosecutors allegedly turn over exhibit on threats made against potential witness to Trump's lawyers after judge ordered them toSpecial counsel prosecutors have produced to Donald Trump a sealed exhibit about threats to a potential trial witness after the federal judge overseeing his prosecution for retaining classified documents ordered the exhibit turned over despite the prosecutors' objections, people familiar with the matter said.The exhibit was a point of contention because it detailed a series of threats made against a witness who could testify against the former president at trial, and the matter is the subject of a criminal investigation by a US attorney's office. Prosecutors had wanted to withhold it from Trump's lawyers. Continue reading...

Haley had appointed Scott to the US Senate in 2012 when she was governor of South CarolinaThe son of longshot Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley referred US senator Tim Scott - their fellow South Carolinan - as senator Judas" while criticizing Scott's endorsement of Donald Trump.Senator Judas - excuse me, senator Scott," Nalin Haley said during a campaign rally in Gilbert, South Carolina. Continue reading...

Stephen Curry made a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to help the Golden State Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns 113-112 for their sixth victory in seven games. With the Warriors down 112-110 and 3.3 seconds to play, Curry caught the inbound pass from Brandin Podziemski, turned and hit a 29-footer for his ninth three-pointer of the night

In email to donors first lady adds to chorus of critics who have condemned Robert Hur for disparaging Biden's memoryFirst lady Jill Biden has expressed disbelief that the author of the US justice department's report clearing her husband of criminal charges over his handling of classified documents prior to his presidency would invoke the death of the couple's son to score political points".Believe me, like anyone who has lost a child, Beau and his death [in 2015] never leave him," she wrote late Saturday in an email to donors supporting Joe Biden's re-election campaign, days after special counsel Robert Hur's report asserted that the president could not remember when his and Jill Biden's son died. Continue reading...

Access Bank CEO Herbert Wigwe, his wife and son die in crash, along with former group chairman of Nigeria's stock exchangeThe chief executive of Nigeria's largest bank, his wife and his son were among six people killed in a Friday night helicopter crash in a remote part of the Mojave desert along the California-Nevade border, according to officials.Access Bank CEO Herbert Wigwe, his wife, Doreen Chizoba, and son Chizi, died in the crash along with the former group chairman of Nigeria's stock exchange, Abimola Ogunbanjo. Those identities were first released by the director general of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in a post on X. Continue reading...

Event has already been widely used as PR opportunity for notorious Chechen unit accused of war crimes in UkraineLed out by a beaming Adam Kadyrov, the son of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a group of muscular men sporting black beards strode on to the brightly illuminated stage in Dubai last week to receive gold medals and a $5,000 (3,960) cheque.The men were members of the notorious Chechen Akhmat Kadyrov special police regiment, a group that Ukrainian officials have said was responsible for some of the worst atrocities in the war with Russia. The unit had just won one of the contests at the international Swat Challenge games, which are held each year in the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading...

The once-exalted attraction is threatened by financial troubles, animal rights activists and federal and local authoritiesFor decades, Miami Seaquarium was a jewel in Florida's well-polished crown of popular tourist attractions, known to millions worldwide as the home of the beloved aquatic television superstar Flipper the dolphin.But these are tough times for the once-exalted aquarium, mired in a battle for its survival against the weight of animal rights activists, federal inspectors, financial troubles and now the Miami-Dade commission, which says it is behind with the rent and has begun eviction proceedings. Continue reading...

Will Patrick Mahomes win his third NFL title with Kansas City? Or will Brock Purdy help San Francisco capture the championship in Las VegasRun the ball. The Niners' run defense has been poor all season. Over the past two months, they've sunk to near unplayable levels of suckitude. For all the flaws of this version of the Chiefs' offense, one thing they've been able to do is plow forward with the run. Thanks to the unique style of Isiah Pacheco, a running back who runs like a llama that's escaped from its pen, they're able to grind out tough yards. If KC can run the ball early, they'll be able to establish the flow of the game and limit the exposure of their undermanned receiving corps. OC Continue reading...

Lessons learned from anti-Arab attacks in the early 2000s help a new generation respond to hateful rhetoric and threatsOn the main street of Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, it's common to see business signs in both Arabic and English script. A Lebanese grill sits across from a Yemeni coffee house, and next door a store sells hijabs. The Arab American National Museum, the only such institution in the US, is a half mile away from a playground and public elementary school in the third largest district in Michigan.The Arab American presence touches every corner of Dearborn - more than half of its nearly 110,000 residents are of Middle Eastern or north African origin. And that unique cultural blend is what draws many to this growing city just 10 miles west of downtown Detroit. Continue reading...

Critics say president is gravitating back towards his comfort zone in the centre ground, and his refusal to call for ceasefire in Gaza has caused particular furyIn front of a giant banner that said Restore Roe", Joe Biden was holding his first rally of the year in Manassas, Virginia, to campaign for abortion rights, a top issue for Democrats in this year's election.But Biden did not receive the universal affirmation he might once have expected. His 22-minute speech was interrupted at least a dozen times by protesters scattered throughout the audience who rose to shout out demands for a ceasefire in Gaza. It was a jarring collision that revealed a president who stands accused of befriending then betraying the left - and now risks losing a critical part of his coalition. Continue reading...

This week Tate Modern is presenting the largest ever exhibition of work by the woman I wrote off after interviewing herTwenty-five years ago, I predicted a low-key future for the world-famous person I had just excitedly interviewed; a woman once at the centre of the avantgarde, but still regularly pilloried in popular culture.Well, as it is fashionable to admit a failure of judgment, I can now say I was quite wrong about what lay ahead for Yoko Ono. Today," I pronounced in 1999 for this newspaper, it is pretty clear that her art will never be seen as establishment, or even be commercially owned, in the way that the work of many of her New York contemporaries has been appropriated by the mainstream". Embarrassingly, I also felt the need to convince readers that Ono had once been highly rated by the art world, before her identity as a Beatle's wife consumed her. Continue reading...

With the royals as ambassadors for these luxury cars, there's little hope for the rest of usIf you have tears - that is, any not used up on MPs struggling to get by, parents forced to choose between skiing and private schools, second homeowners who feel unwelcome, Etonians shut out of Oxbridge, and people cut adrift with unusable city wood burners - prepare to shed them on the latest affluent but afflicted minority: Range Rover owners unable afford their car insurance.Thanks in large part to the Daily Mail, which has been prioritising their plight, a series of distressing cases has recently come to light. One owner, it reports, gave up after being quoted 14,000 to insure his 100,000 Range Rover Sport, and instead bought himself a new Mercedes GLE". Insurers, who say the vehicles are too likely to be stolen, seem to be deaf to the suffering of owners whose only fault was to buy an obese status symbol coveted by many hard-working criminals, as well as by Prince Andrew.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

The story of Jewish suffering means there is a moral necessity to fight oppression everywhereWilliam Zuckerman was born in 1885 in the Pale of Settlement, that part of the Russian empire to which Jews were largely confined, a place of poverty and pogroms. His family managed to escape, emigrating to America in1900.During the First World War, Zuckerman returned to Europe to work with a charity aiding American Jewish soldiers. Later, he settled in London, establishing the European bureau of Der Morgen zshurnal, an influential American Yiddish newspaper. In 1948, having returned to America, he founded the Jewish Newsletter, just as the new state of Israel was born. Zuckerman's columns were syndicated in dozens of Jewish newspapers and he became the New York correspondent of the British Jewish Chronicle.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

A survey says we have lost our appetite, but maybe we're choosing quality over quantityAh, Valentine's Day, that annual orgy of uncomfortable lingerie, scentless roses and meal deal pairings as questionable as any Tinder match. If its imminence has you either bewailing your singleness or wondering where on earth you're going to find the time and energy to fit both romance and sex into one midweek evening, you can take solace from findings that last week sent our Gallic cousins reeling.As it turns out, all is far from well in the land of l'amour, where the response to Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?" is increasingly likely to be non!" - and that's when the question is asked at all. Continue reading...

Mariah Thomas of Kansas City was charged with endangering the welfare of a child on Friday after child pronounced dead at sceneAn infant in Missouri died when her mother mistakenly put her down for a nap in an oven, a prosecutor said Saturday.Mariah Thomas of Kansas City was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Court records do not yet show whether Thomas has an attorney, and no phone listing for her could immediately be found. Continue reading...

Wisconsin congressman Mike Gallagher says Congress is no place to grow old' and backlash over vote played no role in decisionA Republican congressman who broke with his party colleagues and refused to vote to impeach Democratic homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is retiring from his elected office, he announced Saturday.The announcement from Wisconsin representative Mike Gallagher that he won't run for a fifth term means his time spearheading the US House's pushback against the Chinese government will come to an end in early 2025.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Candidate's ailing campaign will use mobile billboard in her home state to highlight her opponents' many verbal gaffesNikki Haley's Republican presidential nomination campaign in South Carolina is set to parade a mobile billboard drawing attention to rival Donald Trump's age on Saturday, as ageing and mental acuity issues continue to dominate the United States' political discourse.The stunt, which was scheduled to pass through Myrtle Beach, comes as Trump begins campaigning in Haley's home state before the primary there on 24 February. It is scheduled to make stops outside a rally for the former president, according to the Hill, and show both Trump as well as Democratic incumbent Joe Biden appearing to fall into moments of confusion during public remarks. Continue reading...

Chiefs quarterback has already won two NFL titles and at 28 is on the road to establishing himself as an all-time greatTwo weeks ago, after dispatching the Baltimore Ravens on the road in the AFC Championship, the Kansas City Chiefs packed into the visitors' locker room at M&T Bank Stadium to celebrate a return trip to the Super Bowl. In the middle of the din, was a shirtless Patrick Mahomes, still looking forward. Like I been saying, we ain't done yet," he roared.But when footage of his rallying cry made it to social media, the focus quickly shifted away from his encouraging words to his much less defined torso. Before long his #dadbod had made its way on to the NFL's X (formerly Twitter) feed and had commenters passing judgment on his fuller frame, some calling him bloated," fat", and accusing him of having a beer gut". Continue reading...

Bombardier Challenger 600, carrying five people, pulverized' a car and slammed into a wall, scattering pieces of it across interstateTwo people have died after a small private jet plane attempted to make an emergency landing on Interstate 75 in south-west Florida on Friday afternoon, colliding with two vehicles and bringing traffic to a halt as a plume of black smoke rose into the air.The crash landing happened near the Pine Ridge Road exit in Collier county, just north of where the interstate heads east toward Fort Lauderdale along what is known as Alligator Alley. Continue reading...

Like the singer, the Chiefs football player is at the top of his field, while his support of BLM and vaccines align with her progressive politicsTravis Kelce's star power has long been known to sports fans. But the rest of the world has caught up since the start of his relationship with the pop icon Taylor Swift.And this pairing actually makes perfect sense - so much so that the Guardian has broken down a couple of big reasons why. Continue reading...

Cake depicts Swift wearing a sweatshirt of the Kansas City Chiefs - her boyfriend Travis Kelce's teamA baker who has created a lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Sunday's Super Bowl said it was the perfect opportunity" to finally get around to making it.The cake sculpture by Lara Mason, from Walsall in the West Midlands, has racked up more than 3m views on TikTok. Continue reading...

As Biden was hit by a brutal special counsel report, Trump seemed set for victory at the supreme court and his only serious Republican rival suffered humiliationFor those campaigning to bring Donald Trump back to the White House, the past week has seen much to celebrate. For those concerned for the health of American democracy, it felt like a disaster.Joe Biden was hit by a brutal special counsel report that painted him as elderly with a failing memory, fans of Trump eager to see him on the 2024 ballot appeared set for victory at the US supreme court, and Trump's only remaining serious challenger in the Republican primary race suffered humiliation at the polls. Continue reading...

The pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 Pac, which the DNC says is in violation of federal finance laws, is tied to Trump donorsThe Democrats' national controlling committee complained on Friday that Robert F Kennedy Jr's third-party presidential campaign and a fund supporting him are colluding against campaign rules to get the dynastic political candidate on election ballots.Kennedy and his Team Kennedy campaign are accused by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of accepting $10m to $15m in in-kind contributions from American Values 2024, a political action committee - or Pac - that supports Kennedy. Continue reading...