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Rescuers were concerned about the man drowning, but were able to extricate him by using micro-explosives to break apart rocksA California man who became trapped on the side of a cliff for days was finally rescued by first responders after a daring, nearly 24-hour rescue effort.Rescue crews finally freed the man on Friday morning after he had been trapped in a hole for days near the side of the Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, California, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Continue reading...

Festive tunes may be ringing out but Russians will pay more for their traditional feast and only pop stars loyal to Putin are on TVDown at my local Moscow supermarket, western Christmas carols and songs are playing on a loop. This year Ding Dong Merrily on High and All I Want for Christmas Is You sound curiously out of place. That's because from morning till night Russian TV channels have been telling the public that the west is out to destroy their country, that leaders in the west (not in the Kremlin) are to blame for the war in Ukraine, and that Russian values are more spiritual" than western ones.At least they still like our music. As I push my trolley down the bread aisle, Abba's Happy New Year strikes up, sung in Russian. In Russia it's new year, rather than Orthodox Christmas (7 January), that is the main national holiday. Continue reading...

Former South Carolina governor still trails the ex-president, but has made strides in polling ahead of the New Hampshire primaryThe former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has pulled within four percentage points of frontrunner Donald Trump in New Hampshire's 2024 Republican presidential primary, a contest which could prove closer than expected for the ex-president, according to a new poll.In an American Research Group Inc poll released on Thursday which had asked voters whom they preferred in the New Hampshire primary scheduled for 23 January, Haley earned 29% support to Trump's 33%. That meant the gap between Haley and Trump was within the survey's 4% margin of error after the former president had long held dominating polling leads in the race for the 2024 Republican White House nomination. Continue reading...

Kelsey Hatcher, 32, delivered healthy daughters after 20 hours of labor, one day apart - giving each twin a separate birthdayAn Alabama mother with a rare double uterus has delivered a set of twins, the hospital treating her announced on Friday.In what doctors are calling a one-in-a-million" pregnancy, 32-year-old Kelsey Hatcher delivered a set of twin daughters, one of whom was in each womb, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) hospital. Continue reading...

Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips says he's running to ensure that we do not torpedo the entire country' by re-electing TrumpDemocratic congressman Dean Phillips, who is challenging incumbent president Joe Biden, will keep running his long-shot bid for the White House through the summer after he's had more time to introduce himself to voters across the US.Phillips initially planned to run in a few states for his party's presidential nomination, focusing especially on the crucial early-voting state of New Hampshire, which was seen as a trial balloon for his candidacy. But now, Phillips told the Guardian in an interview, he is aiming for a much longer campaign. Continue reading...

Republican presidential candidate is catching up to Trump in the polls as business heavyweights have flocked to herDonald Trump is ending 2023 on quite the low. On Tuesday a Colorado supreme court ruling barred the former president from the state's presidential ballot, which drove him predictably bonkers. Then, to add insult to injury, he got some bad news from New Hampshire: Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and the woman Trump appointed to be his ambassador to the United Nations, is catching up to him in the polls. A new Saint Anselm College survey shows Haley with 30% support among likely Republican primary voters in the state, 14 points less than Trump. Continue reading...

Robin Vos, the state assembly speaker, worked hard to consolidate GOP power by all means, only to find himself under attack from his own partyIn early December, a rightwing Wisconsin organization called HOT Government sent out a breathless email: Mike Lindell, the pillow salesman turned election conspiracy theorist and staunch Donald Trump ally, had nominated an important Wisconsin politician for a dubious award.The prize would go to the person who exemplifies leadership in BEING AN OBSTACLE TO STOPPING ELECTION CRIME", the email declared. Continue reading...

A little imagination and confidence in the kitchen can turn remnants into treasures - just try my dregs of the peanut butter' salad dressingLeftover roast potatoes? There's no such thing!" exclaimed people on social media when I shared a suggestion for using up surplus spuds. Not in my house - they just get eaten!"This sentiment is common whenever I propose ideas for ingredients considered delicious" or a treat: wine, hot cross buns, Easter eggs, clotted cream. One person's trash is another person's treasure and all that - but the way we handle leftovers has to change.Elly Curshen is an author, columnist and content creator Continue reading...

From 1920s Salford to teaching disabled children, via a stint on an Israeli cooperative, Marje gave so many people hope

The scrutiny is inevitable given he has used his past to political benefit. But he should stand up for the system he was part ofKeir Starmer has had a target on his back since he became the leader of the Labour party. So far, potshots taken by the Tories attacking his legal career before he entered parliament have made no impression on Labour's poll ratings.Next year, Conservative party HQ hopes to change that with a barrage of personal attack ads, newspaper stories and negative briefings all aimed at the Labour leader's record as director of public prosecutions (DPP) and his time as a human rights barrister. The first port of call for the political diggers is Lord Ashcroft's recent biography of Starmer, Red Knight, considered an encyclopedia of potentially incendiary material.Robert Verkaik is an author and covered legal affairs for the Independent and the Mail on Sunday Continue reading...

EMTs Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper injected 23-year-old with high dose of ketamine in a case that sparked mass protestsTwo Colorado paramedics have been convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain after he was stopped by police in 2019.The jury's guilty verdicts on Friday for Aurora EMTs Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper mark an extraordinarily rare case of paramedics being found criminally liable for a civilian's death in police custody and follow years of protests. Cichuniec was also found guilty of second-degree assault. Cooper was acquitted on the assault charges. Continue reading...

Many young voters disapprove of how the US president is handling the conflict in Gaza, a new poll suggestsIt was a messy compromise. On Friday, after a week of wrangling, the United Nations security council (UNSC) staggered across the finish line, approving a watered-down bid to boost aid to Gaza and calling for urgent steps to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities".The US, a staunch ally of Israel, abstained to allow the 15-member council to adopt the resolution. Joe Biden's allies will claim that it represents progress of sorts. But it will have little impact on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe as Israel's bombardment continues. Continue reading...

Decision gives Trump a crucial victory as he seeks to delay as much as possible his trial, currently scheduled for next MarchThe US supreme court on Friday rejected a request by the special counsel to expeditiously decide whether Donald Trump has immunity from federal prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, before a lower appeals court issued its own judgment.The one sentence denial means the case is returned to the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit, where a three-judge panel is scheduled to hear oral arguments in January, and the case against Trump remains frozen pending the outcome of the appeal. Continue reading...

Far-right council members in Huntington Beach introduce agenda item to switch focus to US wars and America's independenceThe southern California city of Huntington Beach, a bastion of conservative voters, has made the move to block diverse monthlong celebrations of Black history, women's history and Pride, in favor of observing the revolutionary and civil wars, California's history and America's independence.An agenda item introduced on 19 December forbids any programming that pertains to previously established honorary celebrations for women, people of color and LGBTQ+ groups from taking place on city-owned property, including libraries, or of being featured in city communications such as social media posts, according to Natalie Moser, a city council member who voted against the action. Continue reading...

Arab and Muslim students decry lack of leadership on Islamophobia at City University of New YorkOn the morning of 12 October, a crowd of about 100 members of the Brooklyn College chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and neighborhood residents gathered outside the school's campus for a rally in support of the Palestinian people.The atmosphere was tense, with a heavy police presence on the ground, police helicopters hovering overhead and campus security turning out in large numbers. Inna Vernikov, an avid Israel supporter who represents southern Brooklyn on the New York City council, flashed a gun in the waistband of her pants. Tweeting from the sidelines, she called the students Hamas supporters" and accused them of wanting to bring the terror here to rid the world of the Jewish people". Continue reading...

Recording shows Trump asked canvassers not to sign official document confirming Biden had won, Detroit News saysDonald Trump made a phone call in November 2020 in which he put pressure on two Republican election officers in Michigan not to sign the official document from the state confirming that Joe Biden had won the presidential election there, according to an exclusive report by The Detroit News late on Thursday.The Detroit News outlet has obtained recordings of the call, made on 17 November 2020, where Trump, who was refusing to accept that he had just lost the White House to Joe Biden, and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel talked to Wayne county election officials Monica Palmer and William Hartmann and told them they would look terrible" if they signed to endorse Trump's defeat in the crucial swing state, according to the report. Continue reading...

Overturning a US election in 2024 depends on more believers in powerful positions using these well-documented tacticsTwo Republican officials in Arizona got charged for delaying approval of 2022 election results - and GOP state lawmakers vowed to retaliate against the Democratic attorney general who filed the charges.Rudy Giuliani faces millions in damages for defaming two Georgia election workers in 2020 - and continued to defame them outside the courtroom. Continue reading...

The Maui wildfires illuminated the ongoing failures of the Hawaiian Homes Commission ActOn a one-acre farm at the foot of Maui's dormant Haleakal volcano, Kekoa Enomoto grows dragonfruit, pineapples, yuzu, avocado, kabocha squash and chilli peppers. She tends to a laying chicken, two honeybee hives and an aquaponics system that spawns Mexican oregano, lemongrass and tilapia.As a beneficiary of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, a century-old program to return Native Hawaiians to their ancestral lands, Enomoto, 77, pays just $600 a month in mortgage fees for the farm and three-bedroom house where she's lived for the past two decades. The average mortgage payment in Hawaii exceeds $2,500, the second-highest among all US states. Continue reading...

Facing book bans and laws like Florida's don't say gay' measure, educators describe threats against them - and what keeps them goingA fifth-grade teacher who showed her class a Disney film. A children's book author whose graphic novel about a Boy Scout shot to the top of the banned books list. A 27-year veteran of Florida's public school system who was accused of Marxist" indoctrination of his students for teaching an AP African American history class.These are some of the people with livelihoods threatened by what's been called the ed scare" - a coordinated attempt by conservative-backed groups like Moms for Liberty and Citizens Defending Freedom to prohibit instruction about race, sexuality and gender in US public education. Continue reading...

Tanisha, 36, and Barbara Wiggins, received degrees in human services together from Onondaga Community College in SyracuseA New York mother and daughter duo have earned their college degrees together on the same day, fulfilling a lifelong dream for both of them.With her toddler in tow, Tanisha Wiggins, 36, walked across the stage alongside her mother, Barbara Wiggins, 58, at their college, Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York. They were both awarded degrees in human services. Continue reading...

The disgraced ex-congressman seems to be trying to remake himself as a campy gay icon. Too many people are falling for itGeorge Anthony Devolder Santos was born in 1988 with a serious congenital condition which means he is incapable of feeling shame or embarrassment. I'm not sure what the name of the affliction is or whether it's recognized by the medical establishment - but many of his former colleagues in government seem to suffer from the same thing.Still, the disgraced New York Republican, who was expelled from Congress three weeks ago and pleaded not guilty in October to a total of 23 federal felony charges ranging from wire fraud to money laundering, clearly has an extreme case. Santos, who was elected to represent parts of Long Island and Queens last year, has been dogged by controversy throughout his short political career. It turns out he lied about pretty much everything in his life - including his mother surviving 9/11.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Rhetoric that was widely seen as echoing Hitler was not enough for some senior Republicans to break ranks with the former presidentDonald Trump has the tacit blessing of senior Republican figures as he seeks to put border security front and center of the 2024 election by deploying fascistic language to fire up his support base, political analysts warn.The frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 has called for a sharp crackdown on immigration and asserted at a weekend rally that migrants are poisoning the blood of our country". Continue reading...

Even if the Colorado justices don't prevail, they've reminded us that Trump has gone far beyond what's acceptableShould there be a political price to pay for a president who refuses to engage in a peaceful transfer of power and incites a violent coup to stay in office?Common sense says yes.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Boredom, nostalgia, good cheer ... there are all sorts of reasons we send the Long time no speak, how are you?' message at this time of yearThere's a chill in the air, but it's not just the December cold. As inevitable as the twinkling lights or gingerbread men, an unmistakable urge is making itself known. My fingers are twitching. I'm crafting the perfect opener in my head. That's right: I'm starting to wonder whether I should text my ex-partner.Since the last time we saw each other, earlier this year, I have been strict with myself. I drew a solid, impassable line between us, and I was happy about it - tearing our lives apart was difficult enough without the added confusion of staying in touch. But surrounded by a sea of hand-holding couples in matching Christmas jumpers, tunes that celebrate happy twosomes and twinkling skies of fairy lights, I might be having doubts. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to wish him a merry Christmas? Check in? Catch up? Reminisce together about the good times?Anya Ryan is a freelance journalist Continue reading...

Around the world, the people fighting for the survival of our planet are being shamefully silenced and villifiedInjustice is easy to oppose after it has receded into the past, and there is no cost to imagining yourself as a hero long after the event. Everyone celebrates the suffragettes now, but at the time they were vilified as hateful spinsters and terrorists. McCarthyism is a pejorative political label on right and left alike now, but at his peak, more Americans approved of Senator Joseph McCarthy than frowned on his witch-hunt. Most people would like to believe they'd have stood up against the homophobia of 1980s Britain - yet, by 1987, only 11% of the British public believed same-sex relations to be not wrong at all".Which takes us to climate activism. This year has seen a global onslaught against people agitating for more action to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. Courts can issue stern judgments, but so can history, and you have to wonder its future verdict on how the persecution and silencing of those raising the alarm only escalated when the scientific evidence had become so cast-iron, and when extreme weather events hammered home the imminent danger facing the human species. Here in Britain, a government which is reneging on its climate commitments - not least by expanding oil and gas licences - is simultaneously introducing repressive legislation to silence those holding them to account.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Pressure is mounting on Biden to strike the Houthis, but that could mean war across Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and IranSince 7 October the world has been horrified by the gruesome fighting between Israel and Gaza. But the war could still get much worse.Iran's proxy in Yemen, the Houthis, have been firing missiles and drones at commercial shipping and naval vessels and at southern Israel for weeks now. Global markets are spooked as the danger to shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait rises.Christopher S Chivvis is the director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...

Mike Johnson's links to key leaders prompts alarm he might try to erode elements of constitution on separation of church and stateLinks between the new Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and key Christian nationalist leaders have sparked fears the devout Louisiana congressman might seek to erode elements of the first amendment, which protects key US civil liberties including freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.Long before th eevangelical conservative Johnson became speaker, he had forged close ties with Christian nationalists like David Barton, whose writings claiming the country's founders intended to create a Christian nation have been widely debunked by religion scholars. Continue reading...

US sportswear brand announces job cuts and simplification of product ranges in streamlining' of operationsNike is to cut hundreds of jobs, simplify its product ranges and increase its use of automation as part of attempts to save $2bn (1.6bn) in costs over the next three years amid poor sales.The US sportswear brand said it was taking steps to streamline the organisation" and would be spending up to $450m on the changes, mainly on payoffs for employees. Continue reading...

It was Diwali in New York and I was out of my comfort zone. But then two Carrie Bradshaws in saris made me feel at home

A pair of AFC contenders guided by second-string quarterbacks meet on Christmas Eve with massive ramifications for their playoff chancesAs the regular season draws to a close, we'll take a look each Friday at a game likely to affect the playoff race, along with the teams whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don't neglect the also-rans, we'll see which teams are in the hunt for next year's No 1 pick. Continue reading...

The deleted social media post, which also called for the execution of Hunter Biden, led some to wonder if Schneider could be chargedActor John Schneider called for the executions of Joe Biden and the president's son Hunter in a now-deleted social media post that drew ridicule and questions about whether he should be criminally charged.Schneider, perhaps best known for his role as Bo Duke on the TV series Dukes of Hazzard as well as his recent runner-up finish on The Masked Singer, fired off the post on X at 2am local time on Thursday. Continue reading...

Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who killed Niani Finlayson, 27, previously had killed another civilian under similar circumstancesA Los Angeles county sheriff's deputy shot and killed a 27-year-old woman who had called 911 to report that she was under attack by a former boyfriend, police officials and lawyers for the victim's family said on Thursday. Records show the deputy had killed another person in similar circumstances three years ago.On 4 December, Niani Finlayson called police and reported that her boyfriend would not leave her alone and then screaming and sounds of a struggle could be heard", the LA sheriff's department (LASD) said in a statement. When deputies arrived at the apartment in Lancaster, a city in the northern region of LA county, they could hear screaming, LASD said. Continue reading...

Mayor turned Trump lawyer turned debtor has extensive list of claimants clamoring for his assets, which he valued at $1m-$10mPaperwork submitted in Rudy Giuliani's filing for bankruptcy protection reveal the daunting extent of debts faced by the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer. It is a mountain added to this week by a $148m award to two former Georgia election workers.Giuliani, 79, claimed Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Shaye" Moss were involved in electoral fraud as part of Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in 2020. Continue reading...

Torrents of rain on Wednesday night submerged streets and prompted rescues of people and petsA strong, slow-moving storm unleashed torrents of rain on southern California on Wednesday night, submerging streets and prompting water rescues, and residents across the region are bracing for more wet weather.Evacuation orders were issued in parts of Ventura county due to the extreme rainfall, where the deluge dumped more than 3in of rain in a single hour, and emergency responders were inundated with calls for help through the night. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Oxnard and the city of Ventura at 1.28am due to the high-intensity thunderstorm; it expired an hour later as the risks calmed. However, the rain continued. Continue reading...

A shock ruling by the state's supreme court has barred him from its presidential ballotLike so many troubles, the legal cases dogging Donald Trump come not singly but in battalions. News of the bombshell ruling by the Colorado supreme court on Tuesday - barring him from the state's 2024 presidential ballot under the US constitution's insurrection clause - soon jostled for space with the latest wrangles over his indictment by the special counsel Jack Smith for attempting to overturn the last election.Until this year, no president or former president had ever been indicted. Mr Trump now faces 91 felony counts. But he also faces multiple cases directly challenging his candidacy under section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bars insurrectionists from holding office. The Colorado challenge is not only the first to be upheld against Mr Trump, after attempts in other states failed, but it is the first time that the clause has been used against a presidential candidate since its inception in the wake of the civil war. While Mr Trump does not need Colorado, a Democratic state, the case may encourage those bringing suits elsewhere. Continue reading...

Data shows 60,000 unhoused women in the state, among them domestic violence survivors, pregnant women and mothersLynda Reed loved her work in the research office of San Diego's Naval medical center, but when her mother's health began to falter she quit and became a full-time caregiver, moving in with her mother. She cooked her diabetic meals, administered medications, drove to medical appointments, and helped with housekeeping and daily living - full-time work with no pay at all.Then, in 2019, her mother died. Her mother's house was sold - and a combination of a family trust dispute and their inability to keep up with the mortgage payments left her with nowhere to live. At 55 years old, Reed found herself homeless, living in her truck. Continue reading...

Florida congressman Maxwell Frost, who introduced Fight Banned Books Act, says bans are baseless attack on our civil rights'The growing number of book bans in the US are using a so-called parental rights movement as cover for a wide-ranging attack on civil rights in America, a Democratic congressman has warned.Earlier this month, a new study by PEN America revealed that there had been at least 5,894 book bans in US public schools from July 2021 to June 2023, with more than 40% of them in Florida, birthplace of a rightwing parents group called Moms for Liberty. Continue reading...

City's new law guarantees some drivers nearly $30 an hour but bosses are trying to reassert their dominance. I got back on my delivery bike to find out moreI'm straddling my road bike, carrying two boxes of Chinese dumplings in a paper tote. The DoorDash app tells me I need to sprint my payload across Manhattan - cutting across the Holland Tunnel's on-ramp - in the next eight minutes.I'm trying out food delivery under New York City's new minimum wage law on a frigid December afternoon. Before - I was a part-time delivery worker between 2018 and 2020 - an order like this would have paid just a few dollars, making it a frantic rush to finish and move on to the next one. Now the new rules guarantee delivery workers nearly $30 an hour of trip time". So I stop at red lights, yield to pedestrians, and though I end up arriving a couple minutes late, I feel surprisingly relaxed. My customer seems pleased, too. Continue reading...

Jack Smith says court should make decision on whether former president is immune from criminal prosecution on federal chargesJack Smith has urged speed for the supreme court to take up the issue of whether Donald Trump is, as the former president claims, immune from criminal prosecution on federal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.On Thursday the US special counsel submitted a new file to the supreme court in Washington DC, reiterating his argument for urgency in their consideration of such a key element of the federal election interference case, in response to Trump's latest move the day before. Continue reading...

Glynn Simmons, who served US's longest wrongful imprisonment for a 1974 murder, wins rare rulingThe man who served the US's longest wrongful imprisonment for a 1974 murder he has always denied committing has now won a rare ruling declaring him to be actually innocent of the crime.Glynn Simmons's murder conviction was dismissed in July after a judge in Oklahoma determined that prosecutors withheld some evidence in the case, including a police report that documented how a witness may have identified alternate suspects. The 71-year-old was freed from prison, and state prosecutors later said they would not retry him in the case because there was no longer any physical evidence. Continue reading...

Some liberals and leftwingers have joined conservatives in skepticism about the Colorado court decision. But the ruling is carefully consideredThe decision by the Colorado supreme court to ban Donald Trump from the Republican primary has received pushback from some predictable and some not-so-predictable quarters.The former president's supporters of course consider him the great Maga martyr, temporarily hindered by nefarious elites from his rightful return and revenge; in this morality play, the US supreme court, besieged with accusations of being undemocratic, can now play the savior by putting him back on the ballot and making the people Trump's ultimate judge.Jan-Werner Muller is a professor of politics at Princeton University. He is also a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

The official narrative has been that Hamas is weakened, but in reality the IDF's doctrine of massive force is failing

Report finds significant violent rhetoric' against justices and Democrats online after ruling to exclude Trump from ballotJustices on the Colorado supreme court are receiving a barrage of death threats after it ruled to exclude Donald Trump from the state's presidential ballot next year because of his attempts to cause insurrection.A report compiled by Advance Democracy, a non-partisan non-profit organization, said there was significant violent rhetoric" against the justices and Democrats on social media, according to NBC News. Continue reading...