At least two people were killed and nine others injured in Saturday attack that occurred in engineering building on Providence, Rhode Island campusA person of interest detained after a mass shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured nine has been released after the investigation took law enforcement authorities in a different direction", officials said Sunday night.
In at least half a dozen states, librarians have joined forces with civil rights groups to oppose book bans, often facing personal and professional repercussionsFor decades, libraries served as a safe haven for many queer and marginalized youths in eastern Texas, says former county library director Rhea Young. Unlike the school cafeteria, the library was a space where they could explore and find acceptance in who they wanted to be.There were books where they can find characters like them, and realize it's okay to be who they are," Young said. There needs to be more places like that, not fewer." Continue reading...
Thousands of Jamaican workers who come to the US on an H-2A visa aren't sure if they'll be able to return from one year to the nextFarm worker Owen Salmon has picked apples in upstate New York for almost a decade, some 1,500 miles (2,400km) from home. In the midst of harvest season this year, Hurricane Melissa, a record-breaking category 5 hurricane, made landfall in Jamaica.It was terrifying," said Salmon, whose wife and two children were at home near Black River, a town on the country's south-western coast. For days, I couldn't hear from them. When I finally did, I heard my roof was completely gone. My wife and kids had to run for their lives, but thank God they're alive." Continue reading...
by Chris Stein in Bogalusa, Louisiana with photograph on (#725VS)
Federal funds helped Bogalusa address the deep roots of crime - but with the grant pulled, has momentum been lost for ever?Before the street outside her mother's home filled with gunfire, before panicked partygoers sprinted through the front yard, before she discovered that the body on the ground was a young man she had watched grow up, Khlilia Daniels knew something in Bogalusa had to change.It was December of 2022, and Daniels had spent the year watching her home town on Louisiana's border with Mississippi become a steadily more frightening place. Murders, once rare, now seemed to be happening almost every month, shootings every other week, and in a city of just over 10,000 people, that violence felt close, the losses personal. The victims and perpetrators were predominantly Black, usually young and too often cousins, neighbors or the children of friends, people whom Daniels would see around, until suddenly they were gone. Continue reading...
One alleged shooter was known previously to security agencies, the Australian PM said. Plus, what we know about the Assad family's new life after fleeing Syria last year
Congress must work to stop the president from leading us further into a South American quagmireDonald Trump seems determined to have a military confrontation with Venezuela. He has deployed a massive military arsenal in and around the Caribbean Sea and taken a series of provocative actions off the Venezuelan coast, justifying it as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.The Council on Foreign Relations says that deployment includes an aircraft carrier, destroyers, cruisers, amphibious assault ships, and a special forces support ship. A variety of aircraft have also been active in the region, including bombers, fighters, drones, patrol planes, and support aircraft." This is the largest display of American military might in the western hemisphere since we invaded Panama in 1989.Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty Continue reading...
The Colts quarterback was coaching high school football before his surprise return. And he showed brains are almost important as brawn at his positionIs quarterback the most demanding position in sports? It's close enough to make no difference: players must memorize a complicated playbook, orchestrate an entire offense, scan for open receivers while 280lb opponents sprint toward them with violent intent, and then thread a pass to a target who could be 30 yards downfield amid a crowd of defenders. Now try doing all that as a 44-year-old grandfather, exactly 1,800 days since you last started an NFL game.Philip Rivers broke that historic streak for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The longest layoff before then belonged to another 44-year-old quarterback who returned to action after years out of the game, and some time in coaching - Steve Deberg for the Atlanta Falcons in 1998. Continue reading...
Culture is not immune from the advances of the hard right - but it isn't too late for resistanceInto the pale stone wall of the Kennedy Center, above its elegant terrace on the edge of the Potomac river, are carved bold and idealistic sentiments. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. To further the appreciation of culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art - this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days." Those are the words of John F Kennedy, after whom the US's national performing arts centre is named. The impulse to build it came from Dwight D Eisenhower; it was given JFK's name after his assassination; and it opened in 1971, to the music of Leonard Bernstein and the choreography of Alvin Ailey, in the presidency of Richard Nixon. The Kennedy Centre, in short, was designed to be bipartisan, a place of gathering for Democrats and Republicans alike, a proud showcase of the best of America's dance, opera and music.For 50 years it carefully trod that line, its board balanced by members of Congress from both sides of the political divide. But it turns out it can take just months to unravel half a century of high-minded purpose.Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian's chief culture writer Continue reading...
The director and actor, who has been found dead at home with wife Michele Singer Reiner, had a celebrated career spanning Stand By Me, All In The Family, The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap and the beloved romcom When Harry Met Sally
Donald Trump addressed shooting as politicians urged action to improve gun controls - key US politics stories from Sunday at a glanceDonald Trump on Sunday paid his respects to two people killed and nine who were injured in a shooting at Brown University.Before we begin, I want to just pay my respects to the people, unfortunately two are no longer with us, Brown University, nine injured and two are looking down on us right now from Heaven," the president told guests at a holiday reception at the White House. Continue reading...
Trump praises Vince Haley, his ex-speechwriter tasked with creating Arc de Triomphe knockoff amid affordability crisisAmid concerns that he has failed to address a worsening affordability crisis, with health insurance premiums about to spike dramatically for over 20 million Americans, Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that his domestic policy chief's main priority is building a triumphal arch for Washington DC.Speaking at a White House holiday party, the president praised Vince Haley, his former speechwriter and a longtime aide to Newt Gingrich who now leads the White House Domestic Policy Council. Continue reading...
As federal agents target families, teens are left to care for siblings - from accessing bank accounts to medical recordsVilma Cruz, a mother of two, had just arrived at her newly leased Louisiana home when federal agents surrounded her vehicle in the driveway. She had just enough time to call her oldest son before they smashed the passenger window and detained her.The 38-year-old Honduran house painter was swept up in an immigration crackdown that has largely targeted Kenner, a New Orleans suburb with a large Hispanic population, where some parents at risk of deportation had rushed to arrange emergency custody plans for their children in case they were arrested. Continue reading...
JetBlue pilot calls incident outrageous' and says US military refueling tanker didn't have transponder turned onA JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curacao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.We almost had a midair collision up here," the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. They passed directly in our flight path ... They don't have their transponder turned on, it's outrageous." Continue reading...
Senator Bill Cassidy urges collaboration between Democrats and his party after Senate rejected dual healthcare billsUS senator Bill Cassidy said on Sunday that there's a deal to be had" on tackling the rising cost of healthcare, suggesting he remained optimistic over bipartisan cooperation on the issue despite the recent failure of two competing proposals in the Senate.Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, the Louisiana Republican and chair of the Senate healthcare committee encouraged collaboration, saying there has to be a meeting of the minds between Democrats" and members of his party. Continue reading...
The US president's claims to have ended eight conflicts look shakier than ever as conflict reignites in south-east Asia and the Democratic Republic of CongoWhen the hastily confected Fifa world peace prize was bestowed on Donald Trump last week, the ceasefire in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute was among the achievements cited. Mr Trump also boasted of having ended war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He brags of having brought eight conflicts to a close and has just had the US Institute of Peace renamed in his honour.Yet the truce between Thailand and Cambodia has already fallen apart. Half a million residents along the border have fled renewed fighting and civilians are among at least 27 people killed. Meanwhile, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at least 200,000 people have fled the advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels - days after a peace deal was signed in Washington. Continue reading...
In an economy that rewards confession and self-labeling, pain is no longer something to survive - but something to brand, sell, and curateIn March 2023, Dr Gabor Mate, a retired family physician and among the most respected trauma experts in the world, boldly diagnosed Prince Harry with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), during a live interview.Having read the Duke of Sussex's ghost-written memoir, Spare, Mate said that he had arrived upon several diagnoses" that also included depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. These were not evidence of disease per se, Mate went on to elaborate. Rather, he said: I see it as a normal response to abnormal stress." Continue reading...
The coming tech boom is about to launch a boom in people who do things with their hands and mindsWhen I was in college and didn't know what to do with my life, my dad offered this career advice: be a certified public accountant. Why?Because," he said. People will always need their taxes done. They'll always need financial advice. With a CPA license, you can always hang out a shingle and put food on the table." Continue reading...
With cheap drinks and friendly locals, Jimmy's Corner is a New York institution. But a real-estate developer has ordered its closure - can it survive?Founded by Jimmy Glenn, a former boxer turned trainer, in 1971, Jimmy's Corner has stood, defiantly unchanged, as Times Square has boomed around it.The neighborhood bar, a New York City institution which attracts locals and tourists alike, has had the same pictures on the walls for decades - some of the bar's regulars have been coming almost as long - kept the same furniture, and maintained remarkably low pricing. In a perhaps unintentional nod to its history, there is also several years' accumulation of dust in some areas. Continue reading...
Agency added Mary Carole McDonnell to Most Wanted list for loan fraud tied to phony heiress storyWhen Nigel Bellis went to work as a show runner for Bellum Entertainment in 2017, a friend gave him a warning: They have a habit of not paying on time."Bellis spent the next several months in New Orleans, helping churn out more than 50 episodes of a true-crime TV show called Murderous Affairs. Though his payments came late, they always arrived. So when the company's owner, Mary Carole McDonnell, offered him a new role in Los Angeles, he took it. Continue reading...
At least two people were killed and nine others wounded at Brown University in the US on Saturday, after a man dressed in black opened fire during final exams at one of the country's most prestigious colleges.Hundreds of police spent the night scouring the campus in Rhode Island and nearby neighbourhoods as the suspect remained at large Continue reading...
The president announces non-existent emergencies to invoke extraordinary powers - and neutralizes the oppositionThis month, we learned that, in the course of bombing a boat of suspected drug smugglers, the US military intentionally killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage after its initial air assault. In addition, Donald Trump said it was seditious for Democratic members of Congress to inform members of the military that they can, and indeed, must, resist patently illegal orders, and the FBI and Pentagon are reportedly investigating the members' speech. Those related developments - the murder of civilians and an attack on free speech - exemplify two of Trump's principal tactics in his second term. The first involves the assertion of extraordinary emergency powers in the absence of any actual emergency. The second seeks to suppress dissent by punishing those who dare to raise their voices. Both moves have been replicated time and time again since January 2025. How courts and the public respond will determine the future of constitutional democracy in the United States.Nothing is more essential to a liberal democracy than the rule of law - that is, the notion that a democratic government is guided by laws, not discretionary whims; that the laws respect basic liberties for all; and that independent courts have the authority to hold political officials accountable when they violate those laws. These principles, forged in the United Kingdom, adopted and revised by the United States, are the bedrock of constitutional democracy. But they depend on courts being willing and able to check government abuse, and citizens exercising their rights to speak out in defense of the fundamental values when those values are under attack.David Cole is the Honorable George J Mitchell professor in law and public policy at Georgetown University and former national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. This essay is adapted from his international rule of law lecture sponsored by the Bar Council. Continue reading...
Black and brown former employees from CBS, NBC and Teen Vogue talk about the effects of being let goTrey Sherman was traveling to work on the New York subway when he received an email from David Reiter, a CBS News executive, about an imminent meeting on 29 October. Sherman, an associate producer of CBS Evening News Plus at the time, suspected that he would be laid off. CBS News's parent company, Paramount, had closed a merger with the Hollywood studio Skydance in August, and planned to slash more than 2,000 jobs as part of corporate restructuring.Sherman, who is Black, and Reiter, who is white, had an amicable conversation, according to Sherman. Reiter told Sherman that he was being laid off because his show was being eliminated, Sherman said, and that Reiter was unable to assign the team to other positions. Sherman accepted the news and the two men wished each other good luck. Continue reading...
While acting on your moral convictions can be risky, it can also feel profoundly goodIn the eleven months since Donald Trump took office - during which he has unleashed unprecedented assaults on the checks and balances of American democracy - there has been a wave of warnings and advice from activists, writers and scholars who have either fought against authoritarian regimes or studied them closely. A common thread runs through much of their guidance: Americans, especially those in positions of power, must find the courage to stand up for what is right, even when doing so carries personal risk.Yet few have addressed the harder questions: how does one become courageous? How much of courage is innate, and how much is learned? And what can we do to help people find the courage to act?Yaqiu Wang is a Chinese human rights researcher and advocate. She is currently a fellow at University of Chicago's Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. Continue reading...
by Aram Roston, and Cate Brown in Washington on (#7258H)
Exclusive: group behind notorious Florida immigration detention center created bid for reconstruction dealTrump administration insiders and well-connected Republican businesses have been jostling to dominate pending humanitarian aid and reconstruction logistics in the shattered Gaza Strip, according to sources and documents reviewed by the Guardian.With three-quarters of Gaza's structures damaged or destroyed by two years of Israeli strikes, the rebuilding effort to come - estimated at $70bn by the United Nations - could be a rich prize for companies that specialize in construction, demolition, transportation and logistics. Continue reading...
National Labor Relations Board, the federal watchdog for workers' rights, has been rendered toothless as employees grapple with corporationsOn a cold January day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, workers at a Whole Foods Market store in the heart of the city made history. Organizers won a vote to form a union for the very first time in one of the grocery chain's 530 US stores.Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, which has spent years quashing unionization efforts within its sprawling empire. This result amounted to another blow in the tech giant's armor. Continue reading...
by Jonathan Yerushalmy (now); Nadeem Badshah (earlier on (#7252P)
This live blog is now closed. You can read more on this story herePolice said no weapons were recovered from the scene and the last sighting of the suspect was him leaving the Hope Street side of the building on foot.Timothy O'Hara, a deputy police chief, told a press conference that the suspect is a male dressed in black" who exited the complex at Brown University. Continue reading...
Cuban officials denounce the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast. Key US politics stories from 13 December 2025Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday, calling it an act of piracy and maritime terrorism", as well as a serious violation of international law" that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.The tanker, which was reported now to be heading for Galveston, Texas, was believed to loaded with nearly 2m barrels of Venezuela's heavy crude, according to internal data from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, as reported by the New York Times. Continue reading...
The jailing of a Sudanese militia leader is an anomaly in a world where Putin, Netanyahu and yes, Hegseth, act without fear of international lawIt was a rare success for international courts struggling to resist a rising tide of official lawlessness. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a leader of the notorious, government-backed Janjaweed militia that committed genocide in Sudan's Darfur region from 2003 to 2005, was jailed for 20 years last week by the international criminal court (ICC). He had been found guilty on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.Although hundreds of militia were involved, Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person to be convicted of atrocities in Darfur, now again the scene of terrible violence in Sudan's civil war. The ICC has charged Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president at the time, with genocide and war crimes. Ahmad Harun, a former minister, faces similar charges. But both men have evaded arrest. Continue reading...
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed deal in October, but president says tribe is now trying to exit contractA Native American tribe in Kansas is facing criticism from other tribal groups after its economic development subsidiary secured a $29.9m federal contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to design potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities.The development entity of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed the contract to design the detention facilities in October, leading to criticism that the tribal group, which was uprooted from the Great Lakes region to reservation lands north of Topeka, Kansas, in the 1830s, was itself benefiting from forced removals under the Trump administration. Continue reading...
Kevin Rodriguez Zavala died from blunt-impact trauma on ride at Universal's Epic Universe theme parkA Florida sheriff's office has concluded that the death of a 32-year-old man while riding a high-speed roller coaster at Universal's Epic Universe theme park was accidental.According to a report released Friday by the local medical examiner, Kevin Rodriguez Zavala suffered a deep cut on the left side of his forehead, a fracture to the bone ridge above his eye and bleeding above his skull. Additional injuries included bruises on his arms and abdomen, a broken nose and a fractured right thigh bone. Continue reading...
US Central Command reports an ambush on Saturday, the first attack to inflict US casualties since fall of Bashar al-AssadTwo US army soldiers and one American civilian interpreter have been killed and several other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the Pentagon said.The attack on US troops in Palmyra is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of the former Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, a year ago. Continue reading...
No fatalities reported in flooding, which prompted Trump to approve emergency declaration request from governorRecord-breaking flood waters in Washington state have started slowly retreating after days of devastation that saw neighborhoods inundated, emergency rescues from cars and rooftops, and widespread evacuations.This is not just a one- or two-day crisis," Washington's governor, Bob Ferguson, said during a press briefing. These water levels have been historic, and they're going to remain very high for an extended period of time." Continue reading...
Cuban foreign ministry called US military action maritime terrorism' under a policy of economic suffocation'Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday, calling it an act of piracy and maritime terrorism" as well as a serious violation of international law" that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela's legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba," the Cuban foreign ministry statement said. Continue reading...
Arabella McCormack, 11, died after being tortured and starved by adoptive family and police and church failed to interveneA lawsuit over the death of an 11-year-old California girl who was allegedly tortured and starved by her adoptive family reached a settlement on Friday totaling $31.5m from the city and county of San Diego as well as other groups.The suit was brought on behalf of the two younger sisters of Arabella McCormack, who died in August 2022. The girls were ages six and seven at the time. Their adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and McCormack's parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, are facing charges of murder, conspiracy, child abuse and torture. They pleaded not guilty to all charges, and their criminal case is ongoing. Continue reading...
Dense, 450-mile-long fog bank lingering over central valley as experts blames unusual combination of weather factorsNew Nasa satellite images reveal the scope of central California's dreary December, caused by an enormous fog formation that has been haunting the Central Valley for weeks, trapping residents in colder-than-usual temperatures.The low cloud formation, known as tule fog, first formed over central California in November and persisted into early December. The Central Valley typically sees this type of fog during the colder months of the year, when the air near the ground is cold and moist, and the winds are calmer, allowing moisture in the air to transform into a thick layer of fog. Continue reading...
The OpenAI CEO gushed about the bot's parental-assistance abilities. Is it really his best child-rearing hack?Just how does he do it all? Every time I look at the news, Sam Altman's face seems to be staring back at me. The CEO of OpenAI, a well-known workaholic, is constantly in the public eye explaining how AI will probably cure cancer and transform the social contract and generally change the world. While doing all that he's reportedly gearing up for OpenAI to file for a stock market listing valuing the company at $1tn, as soon as next year. And he's also a new dad: Altman and his husband, Oliver Mulherin, welcomed their first child into the world in February. So he's got a lot on his plate.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
After Trump ended key repayment plan, 40% of borrowers say their student loans make it harder to cover essentialsA recent survey found that a whopping 40% of student loan borrowers say that their loans have negatively affected their ability to cover their basic needs, such as food, housing and transportation - a financial burden that becomes even more apparent around the holiday season.At first glance, someone like Ben L should not be struggling financially. He attended Georgetown University and Columbia University for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, respectively, and now earns a six-figure salary working at a biotech company. Still, the 36-year-old is drowning in student debt. Continue reading...
The wife of the Trump adviser aims to entice conservative women into Maga - but like much of the rest of the movement, her sales pitch is fundamentally lackingWhen Katie Miller, the wife of Donald Trump's powerful adviser Stephen Miller, interviewed Pete Hegseth on her podcast last week, she didn't ask him about whether the war secretary had ordered the US military to kill the shipwrecked survivors of an airstrike. She didn't ask him about the settlement he paid a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. Nor did she ask about allegations of alcohol abuse, or the accusation that he had made his ex-wife so terrified that she hid in a closet.Instead, when Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, appeared on the Katie Miller Podcast, the titular host asked questions like: If you could write one Hegseth family rule on that whiteboard, what is that?" Continue reading...
Trump's racist remarks on Ilhan Omar and Somali immigrants reveals his vision for the US as a white Christian nationA rally on affordability in Pennsylvania on 9 December devolved into a racist tirade when Donald Trump said to the crowd: We only take people from shithole countries. Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? ... From Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime."Referring to the US representative Ilhan Omar's hijab as a little turban", Trump continued: She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out." His supporters erupted in chants of: Send her back." Continue reading...
The US's national security strategy, shared last week, claims European immigration will cause civilisational erasure'How do you create a foreign policy manifesto for a US president who leads from the gut?The initial draft fell to Michael Anton, a Maga firebrand whom officials have called the lead author behind the US's radical new national security strategy (NSS). The document shocked US allies, warning that immigration to Europe would cause civilizational erasure", reviving the Monroe doctrine in the western hemisphere, and downgrading the US's responsibility for great power competition with China and Russia. Continue reading...
By using music from SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo in ICE videos, the government is playing a game of rage-baitLast week, as the Trump administration was engulfed in controversy over its illegal military strikes near Venezuela (among numerous other crises), a Department of Homeland Security employee - I picture the worst sniveling, self-satisfied, hateful loser - got to work on the official X account. The state-employed memelord posted a video depicting Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting people in what appeared to be Chicago, celebrating the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants as some sort of patriotic achievement. The vile video borrowed, as they often do, from mainstream pop culture; in this case, a viral lyric from Sabrina Carpenter's song Juno - Have you ever tried this one?," referring to sex positions - overlaid clips of agents chasing, tackling and handcuffing people, cheekily nodding to all the methods in ICE's terror toolbox.Carpenter, as a pre-eminent pop star, was caught in an impossible position. Say nothing, as her friend and collaborator Taylor Swift did weeks earlier when the White House used her music in a Trump hype video, and risk appearing as if you condone the administration's use of your art for a domestic terror campaign (the administration hasn't yet used Swift for an ICE video, but I'm sure it's coming); engage, even if to honestly express your utter disgust, and risk bringing more attention to objectionable propaganda designed to provoke a response. Continue reading...
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