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Christopher Day was fired barely a month into the job after granting asylum to migrants at a high rateA US army reserve lawyer detailed as a federal immigration judge has been fired barely a month into the job after granting asylum at a high rate out of step with the Trump administration's mass deportation goals, the Associated Press has learned.Christopher Day began hearing cases in late October as a temporary judge at the immigration court in Annandale, Virginia. He was fired around 2 December, the National Association of Immigration Judges confirmed. Continue reading...

Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, says release of files won't include full set, prompting outrage from lawmakers

What we know about the deal with TAE Technologies so far - from why it is happening to what fusion energy isTrump Media & Technology Group, owner of Donald Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, announced a merger on Wednesday with a company developing fusion energy technology.TAE Technologies, an energy company founded in 1998, will join with Trump Media via a $6bn merger that it promises will propel it to build the world's first utility-scale fusion power plant" next year. Continue reading...

Children's Health Defense using familiar playbook to defend health secretary as it downplays dangers of disease and exaggerate risks of vaccines, public health experts sayThe non-profit group that Robert F Kennedy Jr built into a giant of the anti-vaccine movement is defending its old boss even as the US health secretary presides over the worst year for measles in more than 30 years.Three people have died and 1,958 people have been reported infected with measles in the US this year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In South Carolina, 224 people are in quarantine amid an outbreak that has sickened 144 people. Most are unvaccinated children. Continue reading...

Exclusive: federal document reveals children arriving as undocumented immigrants being threatened with detentionBorder officials are pressuring unaccompanied children who arrive in the US as undocumented immigrants to quickly agree to return to their countries of origin, even if they express fear for their safety there - or else face prolonged" detention and other consequences, a federal government document reveals.The document, which emerged as an attachment in a court filing made by immigration attorneys, is understood to be presented or read to children within the first few days of them entering the US while they are still in the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), before they can see any relatives in the US. Continue reading...

The US Department of Justice is expected to release files relating to the disgraced late financier and sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, this evening. The Trump administration is obliged to publish a massive archive of documents that could shed further light on Epstein's misdeeds and his connections with key public figures - including Donald Trump Jonathan Freedland joins Lucy Hough to discuss why it is such a big moment Continue reading...

From a world-shifting meeting in the Oval Office to the human stories that shaped our year, here's how Guardian journalism told the story of a year unlike any other

Man known as John' expected to be eligible for $50,000 reward from FBI for providing details on the suspectThe authorities dealing with the mass shooting at Brown University hailed on Friday a member of the public who came forward with information that helped crack the case and lead to the suspect.A man known publicly so far only as John" posted key information on the Reddit platform about an encounter with the suspect that caught the attention of investigators, while Reddit users urged him to go to the police with his tips. Continue reading...

Huge archive - set to shed fresh light on Epstein's misdeeds - legally obliged to be released before midnight deadlineSpeculation surrounding the affairs of Jeffrey Epstein is expected to reach a defining moment of revelation on Friday with the much-anticipated publication of files relating to the disgraced late financier and sex trafficker.The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said Friday morning that the Department of Justice (DoJ) plans to release documents Friday from the government's files, but added they won't all come out at once. Continue reading...

Chicago can edge closer to sealing the NFC North in a sepia-toned Soldier Field showdown that headlines a pivotal week in the NFL playoff raceAnother week as the NFL winds up for the postseason offers a fresh look at contenders building for the Super Bowl. Jacksonville v Denver, yes please. Baltimore v New England, bingo. Pittsburgh v Detroit, hmm ... OK. Still not satisfied? The strange lights of Saturday night over in the NFC North should do the trick with a sepia-toned showdown between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. A win for either and a Detroit defeat confirms a playoff slot while victory for the Bears gets them close to sealing the division (even in defeat the Packers still will be ahead for the seventh seed). The gaping hole left by Micah Parsons in Green Bay's defensive front may have Chicago fans edging to the side of expectation that their Bears can put together a deep playoff run if home-field advantage is on their side. Continue reading...

Alliance Defending Freedom has ramped up its global spending on litigation and other campaigns to push its ultra conservative Christian valuesAlliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal advocacy group behind the overturning of Roe v Wade, has ramped up its global spending on litigation and other campaigns, in what appears to be an attempt to export what critics call its hard-right Christian theocratic values beyond US borders.ADF and ADF International, a separate legal entity, spent a combined $10.9m on international grants and programs for the year ending June 2024, according to its most up to date public tax records, and appears to have increased by 70% year-on-year spending on Europe-related issues. Continue reading...

Claudio Neves Valente, who was found dead in a storage facility, also killed an MIT professor. Plus, what will your life look like in 2035?Good morning.A man suspected of killing two people and wounding nine others at Brown University before going on to kill a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, where he had rented a unit, officials said.How has the White House responded to the incident? The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, has ordered the suspension of the green card lottery program at Donald Trump's direction, saying it had enabled the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to enter the US.What did Volodymyr Zelenskyy say about the deal? The Ukrainian president wrote on social media that the deal is significant support that truly strengthens our resilience", adding: It is important that Russian assets remain immobilised and that Ukraine has received a financial security guarantee for the coming years." Continue reading...

Retailer targets 7m in bonuses as FCA examines scandal in North American armWH Smith will try to take back as much as 7m in bonuses from former executives after revealing the UK's financial watchdog has launched a formal investigation into a devastating accounting error linked to its US business.Almost 600m was wiped off the books to paperclips retailer's stock market value overnight in August after it identified errors with accounting for supplier income and provision for lost stock going back to 2023 in its North American arm. Continue reading...

US president has been blatant in his appointment of relatives, close friends and big donors - almost none of whom have diplomatic experienceWhen your goal is to help Europe correct its current trajectory" because it is weak", decaying" and facing civilisational erasure", your choice of highly trained operatives for the mission is plainly of paramount importance.In Donald Trump's case they include: a former burger magnate; his eldest son's former fiancee; the owner of the Houston Rockets basketball team; a producer of Broadway musicals; PayPal's co-founder; and a convicted felon who is also his son-in-law's father. Continue reading...

Internal report shared with Guardian shows FBI has launched cases in 23 regions, some linked to Trump memo on thwarting terroristic activities'The FBI has launched criminal and domestic terrorism investigations" into threats against immigration enforcement activity" in at least 23 regions across the US, according to an internal report shared with the Guardian.The two-page FBI document, dated 14 November, says some of the investigations are related to the countering domestic terrorism" memo issued by Donald Trump in September. Continue reading...

After a traumatic brain injury, Rita Buckley worries the skills she worked hard to regain will atrophy as the largest healthcare provider in the area closes clinicsAfter Rita Buckley slipped on a sidewalk, hitting her jaw so hard she broke four teeth and sustained a traumatic brain injury, she struggled to tell red and green apart. Turning her head could make her lightheaded or, worse, spark a devastating headache. She fought to remember basic daily tasks. Driving became impossible, as did the idea of continuing to work as a nurse.But at Buffalo Therapy Services, a clinic near her home in the suburb of East Aurora, New York, Buckley felt hopeful. For more than a year, she worked diligently with the clinic's cognitive and occupational therapists. They took her into the darkened staff room and flashed red and green lasers so she could relearn the difference. They taught her to write everything down, to help with her lack of short-term memory. They made a list of what she wanted to accomplish, and told her: We're not going to work on what you can't do any more. We're going to work on what you can do." Continue reading...

The former Liverpool winger speaks about his hot start at Bayern, playing with Harry Kane, and hopes for the 2026 World CupAfter leaving Liverpool this past summer, Luis Diaz has had a strong start at Bayern Munich under Vincent Kompany, having accumulated 18 goal contributions (12 goals, six assists) in all competitions. Bayern manager Vincent Kompany gave Diaz a few days off to press the reset button after his sending off against PSG, but now the 28-year-old winger is back and ready to wrap up the year as Bayern play their final game of 2025 this Sunday when they travel to Heidenheim. I spoke to the Colombian star about his new club, life in Germany and next summer's World Cup, which includes a headline matchup against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Continue reading...

Meetings in Gibraltar are the latest twist in worldwide campaign that is enriching the US president's familyOne Friday in November, armed police blocked off the road that runs beside Gibraltar's medieval city walls to clear the way for a convoy of blacked-out BMWs. The vehicles pulled up at the offices of Hassans, a law firm.The British enclave in the Mediterranean is a hub for the international ultra-rich, and Hassans counts many of them as clients. But few as highly placed as that day's visitor: Donald Trump Jr, the man running the family business while his father is in the White House. Continue reading...

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem pauses high-profile visa program, saying shooting suspect Claudio Neves Valente gained green card in 2017The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, has ordered the suspension of the green card lottery program at Donald Trump's direction, saying it allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the US.Suspect Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, initially entered the US on a student visa in 2000 and later became a permanent resident in 2017, according to Oscar Perez, the police chief in Providence, Rhode Island. Valente was found dead on Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Continue reading...

US military declares five alleged drug traffickers killed in Pacific OceanThe US military said it killed on Thursday five more alleged drug traffickers aboard two vessels in the Pacific Ocean, bringing the divisive campaign's death toll to over 100.The Trump administration has carried out such strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September but has provided no evidence that the boats are involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the operations' legality. Continue reading...

Claudio Neves Valente, who was found dead in a storage facility, also killed an MIT professor at his Boston-area homeA man suspected of killing two and wounding nine others at Brown University, and then killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility where he had rented a unit, officials said.Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and a former Brown student, was found dead on Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said at a news conference. Perez said as far as investigators know, the suspect acted alone.' Continue reading...

Sidelined by Trump, preoccupied with Ukraine and damaged by its immoral stance on Gaza, Europe can still help stabilise its eastern Mediterranean neighboursA year after the overthrow of Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad, the former jihadi fighter turned Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa addressed the Doha Forum earlier this month, deftly parrying questions about his controversial past and outlining his country's complex journey toward a participatory, rules-based system. As I listened, it struck me that, while Europe's role in the Middle East has been severely damaged by its immoral stance on the Gaza war and its self-inflicted exclusion from Iran nuclear diplomacy, Europeans still have a role to play when it comes to its neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean.Europe's world has been turned upside down by Washington's alignment with Moscow in the Ukraine war and the transatlantic rift as the Trump administration treats Europe as an adversary. Another dimension of this upheaval is Europe's growing irrelevance in the Middle East. Only if Europeans accept that the past is behind them can they hope to regain a constructive independent role in the region.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

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Advocates call for removal of machines and demand that company speak out against ICE raids in parking lotsA Home Depot in Los Angeles installed three high-pitch noise-emitting machines outside to deter day laborers from seeking work there, causing them to suffer headaches and nausea, advocates alleged at a press conference on Wednesday.The Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (Idepsca), an advocacy organization that helps day laborers, called for the removal of these machines from Home Depot's Cypress Park location, according to the Los Angeles Times. Continue reading...

Latest batch includes photos of famous people in Epstein's orbit, copies of foreign passports and screenshot of text messages - key US politics stories from 18 December 2025Files on the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, including documents on the investigation into his death in prison in 2019, are expected to be released on Friday after a lengthy political saga.The US Department of Justice must make all files related to its investigation into Epstein public by 19 December to comply with a legal deadline. Continue reading...

National Defense Authorization Act authorizes record $901bn in spending, $8bn more than Trump requestedDonald Trump on Thursday signed into law a nearly $1tn annual defense policy bill, despite provisions inserted by Congress providing new aid to Ukraine and reining in his ability to dial down US involvement in the defense of Europe.The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, authorizes a record $901bn in annual military spending, $8bn more than Trump requested. Continue reading...

Images, undated and uncaptioned, include Nabokov lines written on woman's body and show Bill Gates and Noam Chomsky

Joe Kennedy III, JFK's grandnephew, said he doubted the Trump-Kennedy Center name change was legalThe board of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC is moving ahead with a proposal to rename the arts and culture-focused institution, named after President John F Kennedy, in honor of Donald Trump, according to an announcement from the White House on Thursday.If the White House move succeeds it would be called the Trump-Kennedy Center, though it is unclear if this change would be legal. Continue reading...

Sources say person of interest identified in attack at university and death of prominent physicist 50 miles awayAuthorities said Thursday that they're looking into a connection between last weekend's mass shooting at Brown University and one two days later near Boston that killed a professor at another elite school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.That is according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss an investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Two of the people said investigators had identified a person of interest in the shootings and were actively seeking that individual. Continue reading...

Videos show people in Minnesota and Illinois throwing snowballs at federal agents trying to arrest residentsICE, meet snow. As federal agents aggressively raid and detain immigrants in cities across the US, people working to prevent these arrests are using the abundant snow on the ground to fight back.In videos of confrontations in Minnesota and Illinois, people have thrown snowballs at federal agents who are trying to apprehend their neighbors, often as agents are using force or wielding weapons. In many instances, the agents then responded with more aggression, using pepper spray or teargas against protesters. Continue reading...

Change will loosen limits on research and certain regulations but stops short of making marijuana legalDonald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to move cannabis out of the most restrictive drug category, a change that would loosen limits on research and certain regulations but stop short of making marijuana legal nationwide.I'm pleased to announce that I will be signing an Executive Order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance with legitimate medical uses," the president said from the Oval Office. Continue reading...

US federal agents were filmed dragging a woman and pinning her down in the snow for several minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Monday. Bystanders pleaded with the agents to let the woman go and threw snowballs at them. The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O'Hara, criticised the ICE tactics after the incident Continue reading...

Ronald Hicks, who endorsed message condemning ICE raids, to lead one of biggest US archdiocesesPope Leo XIV has named a fellow Chicagoan as the next archbishop of New York, one of the biggest US archdioceses, in a signal that the church will continue its stance against the Trump administration on immigration.The US-born pope chose 58-year-old Ronald Hicks, the current bishop of Joliet, Illinois, to lead the church in New York, replacing retiring Cardinal Timothy Dolan who has served for 16 years after being selected by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Continue reading...

With the Christmas recess slowing the political havoc, it's time to hand out the Guardian's parliamentarian of the year awardsYou can hear the sighs of relief. Not from the MPs who are packing up to slope back to their constituencies for the Christmas recess, but from the rest of the country. Finally, the year is coming to an end and there will be few chances for our politicians to do any further damage before they return to Westminster in January.The psychodrama is finally done. We can all go to bed vaguely hopeful that the world won't have taken a further turn for the worse by the time we wake up. Continue reading...

Justice department must release most documents by Friday, and failure to do so would provoke a firestormIn less than 48 hours, Donald Trump's justice department must release most of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein in its possession. Last month, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the release of those materials by 19 December, except in narrow cases where they would jeopardize current investigations, harm national security or foreign policy goals, or reveal information about Epstein's victims.Since Trump signed the legislation, his administration has been silent on its progress. Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked Pam Bondi, the attorney general, for a briefing on the department of justice's progress, but she did not provide one. Two Democratic senators among that group subsequently pledged to block some civilian nominees, because they were concerned the administration is gearing up to disregard the law we led the fight in the Senate to pass, which overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Congress". Continue reading...

Brooks, who dismissed Epstein scandal as stupid story', wrote column expressing lack of interest in developmentsThe New York Times columnist David Brooks appeared in multiple photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein that were released on Thursday by the House committee on oversight and government reform.The photos, which have been rolled out in batches by the minority Democrats in the committee, lack crucial context, including dates and locations. But the photos appear to show Brooks attending a lunch or dinner event. Brooks is shown seated next to Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. Continue reading...

Proposal would prohibit Medicaid funds from being used to cover puberty blockers, hormone treatments or surgical procedures

The 55-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, is the first female head of a major oil companyThe surprise appointment of BP's third chief executive in a tumultuous five years reflects the embattled fossil fuel producer's need for profound change. The hiring of Meg O'Neill appears to offer exactly that.The 55-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, is the first female head of a major oil company, and the first outsider" to be hired to a position usually reserved for company veterans. She joins from the Australian oil and gas company Woodside, where she took up her first chief executive role only four years ago. Continue reading...

Nick Reiner, the son of the actor-director Rob Reiner and photographer-producer Michele Reiner, appears on security footage recorded in Los Angeles on Sunday after his parents were found dead in their home.Reiner is suspected of fatally stabbing them. He appeared in court on Wednesday but did not enter a plea

Comments follow reports that US president discussed idea with constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz

It is clear that the FCC is not an independent agency, but an instrument of the president's political agendaThe Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, admitted at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that there had been a political sea change" and he no longer viewed the FCC as an independent agency. Commissioners, he says, serve at the pleasure of the president.In his case, that president is Donald Trump, whose face Carr wears as a lapel pin, whose agenda he loudly embraces, and who often publicly demands that Carr censor his critics, including revoking their broadcast licenses.Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer. Clayton Weimers is the executive director of RSF USA, the North American branch of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleges that Larry Bushart's first amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and jailed for 37 daysA former law enforcement officer in Tennessee is suing his county and sheriff after he was jailed for more than a month for posting a meme on Facebook related to the 10 September assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.According to the new 30-page lawsuit filed this week, 10 days after Kirk's killing, Larry Bushart, 61, shared a post in the comments of a Facebook post about a vigil for Kirk in Perry county, Tennessee. Continue reading...

DoJ says a group of protesters at an ICE detention center was part of a terror cell; legal experts say it is an effort to crack down on leftwing groups and deter protestersAfter the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September, Donald Trump and others pledged a no-holds barred crackdown on leftwing activists.We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them," Trump said after Kirk's shooting. Top White House officials, including JD Vance and Stephen Miller, repeatedly publicly vowed that a crackdown was coming. In particular, the government focused on Antifa." short for antifascist, is not an organization but rather an ideology that broadly describes a variety of left-leaning beliefs. Continue reading...

As Trump carries out his mass deportation operation, residents are banding together to block raids and distribute groceriesA year into his second term, Donald Trump's pledge to stage the largest deportation operation in American history" has already made an indelible mark on the nation.Nearly 300,000 people have been deported, and a record 65,000 people are being held in detention centers. Aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, sometimes with the backing of federalized national guard units, have terrorized immigrant communities from Charlotte to Chicago, New Orleans to New York. Enabled by a supreme court ruling that effectively legalized racial profiling", immigration enforcement has separated families, forced targeted individuals to miss work, school and doctors appointments, and caused communities to cancel festivals and gatherings. Continue reading...

Longest federal government shutdown meant data was only collected for second half of NovemberUS prices rose 2.7% in the year to November, according to federal data released a day after Donald Trump claimed they were falling very fast" on his watch.The latest consumer price index, released on Wednesday morning, was down from 3% in September, and short of economists' expectations of about 3.1% for last month. Continue reading...

A Guardian study of past ticket prices for the men's World Cup, compared with current 2026 figures, shows how the barrier for entry has been raised for most fansIn the past, a fan's ability to attend a World Cup hosted in their nation hinged more on bid books than their checkbooks. For 2026 in the US, Mexico and Canada, even the least expensive tickets are a luxury commodity by comparison.An analysis by the Guardian of men's World Cup ticket pricing shows that amid the general rise in ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, the most extreme of those hikes have often applied to the cheapest tickets. The analysis is based on official Fifa pricing dating back to 1994, with more robust data available starting in 2006. Prices for 2026 games are accurate as of 16 December 2025, and do not include the 1.6% of sellable tickets for each game that Fifa recently made available for a fixed $60 price. Continue reading...