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Cutting back on the culture of lavish wining and dining created a slimmer workforceThere's lots of chat about slimming down the UK's civil service - it's grown by 25% since the Brexit referendum (albeit only back to its pre-austerity size).In the UK, this trimming talk doesn't usually refer to helping Whitehall mandarins drop a dress size. In contrast, a recent study finds that the Chinese government's anti-corruption campaign is slimming not only bureaucrat's wallets, but their waistlines.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...

Israel's response to the 7 October Hamas attacks has emboldened many to say the once unsayableWhen is a genocide a genocide? The word is much in vogue, though its precise meaning - the intentional destruction of a people - is hard to justify in the case of Israel's bombardment of Gaza, which, though without doubt brutal in execution and heartbreaking in effect, falls a long way short of any ambition to exterminate an entire population.Genocides don't leaflet the populations they want to destroy with warnings to stay out of harm's way, and Hamas, which Israel avowedly does want to see the back of, is not the Gazan people. For all the sensationalist pronouncements of academics who specialise in genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, settler-colonialism, etc, the words simply flutter like so many pennants at a medieval joust. Denoting, in the fading light, which side you're on, no more.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...

Reflections on America's role in the world and, as a Jew, his negotiations with Arab leaders from 1977 interviewIn 1977, Douglass Cater, vice-chairman of the Observer, and Kenneth Harris, associate editor, called on Dr Henry Kissinger in his 10th-floor office at the Georgetown Centre for Strategic and International Studies where he was professor of diplomacy. This is an extract from that exclusive interview.Did your early years, up to the age of 15 in Germany, have a formative influence on your thinking? Continue reading...

Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, had already been in custody for the robbery and killing of a fourth manA Los Angeles man who had already been arrested in another shooting investigation has been identified as the suspect in three recent killings of unhoused men, police said Saturday.The Los Angeles police chief, Michel Moore, said 33-year-old Jerrid Joseph Powell was identified as the suspect in the three killings after authorities determined that a firearm found in the vehicle he had been driving when he was arrested earlier was linked to the shootings. Continue reading...

September decision finding Republicans discriminated against Black voters with reconfigured districts overruled on appealA Florida appellate court ruled on Friday that lawmakers do not have to redraw the state's congressional map, reversing a September decision that found Republicans discriminated against Black voters when it reconfigured districts in the northern part of the state.The ruling from the first district court of appeal is the latest development in a long-running legal battle over Black representation in the state. In 2015, the state supreme court imposed a district that stretched from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee to give Black voters there a chance to elect the candidate of their choosing. From 2015 until 2022, voters in the fifth congressional district elected Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, to represent them. But in 2022, Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, went out of his way to dismantle the district, chopping it up into four majority-white districts that all elected Republican candidates. Continue reading...

Our writer pays tribute to the fiercely authentic Pogues frontman he first met selling records in the 1970sLast week, as the weather turned cold in the wake of Shane MacGowan's passing, some lines from the Pogues' first single, Dark Streets of London, kept echoing in my head.Now the winter comes down, I can't stand the chill Continue reading...

After months of Republican investigations, Mike Johnson told Fox he believed GOP conference has enough votes to launchThe US House speaker Mike Johnson signaled on Saturday that Republicans are nearing holding a formal vote to launch an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.I think it's something we have to do at this juncture," Johnson said during a Saturday appearance on Fox and Friends Weekend. Continue reading...

Beach volleyball and rowing team members say shabby facilities and inadequate supplies violate equal-treatment lawThirty-two female athletes filed a lawsuit against the University of Oregon on Friday that alleges the school is violating Title IX.The plaintiffs, who are all either on the varsity beach volleyball team or the club rowing team, are accusing the school of depriving women of equal treatment and benefits, equal athletic aid, and equal opportunities to participate in varsity intercollegiate athletics". Continue reading...

One man died in a shooting that resembles recent murders in Los Angeles, where three unhoused men were killed in one weekFive unhoused people were shot in Las Vegas on Friday, one of them fatally, and police were searching for a lone suspect, authorities said.The shooting occurred around 5:30pm near a freeway overpass in the north-eastern part of the city, according to Lt Mark Lourenco of the Las Vegas metropolitan police department. Continue reading...

Controversial EagleAI program connected to Trump supporter uses public records to flag people who shouldn't be on the rollsA Georgia county on Friday agreed to use a controversial program to identify ineligible people on its voter rolls that is connected to one of the most prominent election deniers and a key figure in Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Columbia county, which is just outside Augusta, is believed to be the first place in the US to use the program, which is called EagleAI, the New York Times reported. The software matches voting data with publicly available information like post office and death records to flag people who should no longer be on the rolls. Continue reading...

State to receive extra congressional district after winning court battle - but advocates must convince Black voters to turn outTuskegee resident Elise Tolbert hasn't had a hospital in her city in her lifetime. Macon county, where her family has lived for generations and where four out of five residents are Black, once had two hospitals, but both were closed by the late 1980s.That has forced locals to travel a half hour or more to other larger towns to get treatment - a long trip during a medical emergency, especially since calling for an ambulance can lead to a long wait. Residents often have to drive themselves, or find someone to take them if they don't own a car - which is common in a town where 29% of residents live in poverty. Continue reading...

He shaped a world of superpowers but to those without power he was ruthless. How did one diplomat hold sway for so long?Henry Kissinger was a complicated, insecure man who believed the US alone could impose order in a complicated, insecure world. For almost a decade from 1969, at the height of cold war instability, he became the international face of America - a very political diplomat almost as well known as his patron, Richard Nixon, the then president.Kissinger was also a Harvard academic and self-styled grand strategist, a student of Castlereagh and Metternich who put his amoral theories of realist" foreign policy into practice with often horrific results. He viewed peoples and nations as movable, disposable pieces on a giant global chessboard. He was the burgermeister of realpolitik. Continue reading...

Encouraging return at the Hero World Challenge raises prospect of 15-time major champion being a force next yearA recent victory in a high school golf event for Charlie Woods felt like it would accelerate a changing of the guard. The 14-year-old has made quiet but steady progress in the sport where his father, Tiger, has iconic status. It will be easier for the golf world to accept the departure of Woods Sr from mainstream competition if the prospect of his son taking on the mantle is a realistic one.Characteristically, Tiger has other ideas. His return at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas has been his most encouraging since the car accident of early 2021 that threatened far more than his career. By the time Woods cut short his visit to Augusta National in April, it felt as if professional closure was finally upon us. There seemed little point in Woods placing his body through the most severe strain without being able to complete 72 holes. He was not seen between April and November. Continue reading...

Sunset Boulevard is notorious for pedestrian and cyclist accidents and parents are campaigning to make the street saferSchool had recently let out, summer was almost here. But Terence Heuston and his sons - then five and nine - still had work to do. Heuston, a lead organizer for Sunset4All, a grassroots organization advocating for a road redesign on a dangerous 3.2 mile (5.15km) stretch of Sunset Blvd - roughly between Fountain Ave and Dodger Stadium - wrangled his kids for yet another Saturday of community activism.In June 2022, the family joined about 20 other volunteers gathered in front of Woodcat Coffee in Echo Park and set out for what they called the last mile" - walking the boulevard, talking to businesses that could be impacted by a redesign. In Spanish and English, volunteers took their time - talking about the 40 severe and fatal collisions on this part of the road in the past decade, and discussing fine points of the group's nearly six-year effort to get the city to change the roadway. A couple of hours in, Heuston's boys lagged behind a bit but were still in decent spirits. Continue reading...

Berlin steps up assistance as Kyiv faces relentless Russian attacks, low morale at home, and splits in the EU and NatoOlaf Scholz, Germany's safety-first chancellor, has been harshly criticised for foot-dragging on military assistance for Ukraine. As Russia's invasion loomed, he was ridiculed for offering 5,000 helmets instead of heavy weapons.Early German doubts and prevarications delayed delivery of missiles and Leopard tanks. It got so bad that, in April last year, Germany's president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was bluntly told he was not welcome in Kyiv. Continue reading...

You don't go to this Bonaparte biopic for a history lesson or authentic settings - but shouldn't it at least be entertaining?To the laments of military historians about the accuracy of Ridley Scott's film Napoleon, one could add some about the architecture. Christopher Wren's Royal Naval College in Greenwich gets digitally spliced with classical architecture from France and Malta, so they all look as if they are in the same place, while Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire gets to represent both Paris and Moscow.But such complaints miss the point. The film is entertainment - to expect factual precision is like going to Macbeth for an informative lecture on Scottish history. And, as in any lavishly produced period drama, there's a problem with the fourth wall: even if the costumes and settings and turns of phrase were completely of their time, such authenticity would still jar with the awareness that it's recorded with state-of-the-art, 21st-century technology. Continue reading...

Fabulist says he will file ethics complaints against ex-colleagues and accuses others of affairs and missing votes due to hangoversGeorge Santos, the disgraced New York Republican who was expelled from the US House on Friday, spent his first hours as a former congressman railing against his former colleagues and saying he would file ethics complaints against four of them on Monday.Santos told reporters after his expulsion he was done with Congress. Continue reading...

Tahseen Ali Ahmad, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Hisham Awartani, all 20, are childhood friends and incredibly tight' - especially nowIn Ramallah, in the West Bank, in the spring of 2021, three school friends huddled round their computer screens.Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad had all applied to study at American universities. Responses from the colleges tended to come through by email, usually between midnight and 2am Palestinian time. Continue reading...

But frontrunner Trump's shadow falls wide as former president rallies supporters just 100 miles away in Cedar RapidsRon DeSantis plans on Saturday to complete his campaign promise to visit each of Iowa's 99 counties, a timeworn tactic for presidential candidates hoping to make their mark in the leadoff state over months mingling with voters at the state's diners, cookouts and Pizza Ranches.But the Florida governor's moment, like much of his campaign, will take place under the towering shadow of former president Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Workers at the remote Lukeville crossing with Mexico will process new arrivals instead of watching over vehicle and foot trafficSo many asylum seekers are crossing from Mexico into the United States around remote Lukeville, Arizona, that US officials say they will close the port of entry there so that the operations officials who watch over vehicle and pedestrian traffic going both ways can help border patrol agents detain and process the new arrivals.The US Customs and Border Protection announced on Friday that the temporary closure of the crossing will start on Monday as officials grapple with changing migration routes that have overwhelmed border patrol agents stationed there. Arizona's US senators and governor called the planned closure unacceptable". Continue reading...

High turnover in the election office in Luzerne, Pennsylvania, exacerbated human errors, fueling anger and distrust - and is emblematic of a larger crisis facing electionsIt was the perfect story and Donald Trump pounced.In the final weeks of the 2020 election, officials in Luzerne county in north-east Pennsylvania had discovered nine mail-in ballots in the trash. Several of them were cast in favor of Trump, who had been railing for months that the election was rigged against him. William Barr, then the attorney general, briefed Trump on the matter before it was public and Trump immediately began spinning it. Continue reading...

Democrat Paul Tonko is pushing to halt a public health crisis' from engulfing the country - starting with a nationwide ban on adsAs Las Vegas prepares to host Super Bowl LVIII sports betting is preparing to celebrate its remarkable shift from the illegal fringes of American sports to the heart of its establishment. In Congress, one man is not cheering.Congressman Paul Tonko fears the industry has already gone too far. There's no limit to this," he told the Guardian. You can't have this wild west environment." So far Tonko is a rare voice of dissent in Washington, another arena where the new gambling establishment is gaining ground. Continue reading...

Macron is calling for unity, but the Israel-Hamas war has sparked a rise in hate crime that threatens a fragile social peaceFrench Jews were only partly reassured when more than 100,000 people, including the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, and two former presidents, turned out to demonstrate in Paris last month against antisemitism and in defence of the secular republic. Why did the president, Emmanuel Macron, not attend, many asked? Where were the leaders of France's Muslim community? And where were the cultural, intellectual and sports celebrities so often eager to take a public stance on a worthy cause?Since Hamas fighters poured into Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, slaughtering around 1,200 Israeli men, women and children, a wave of antisemitic attacks and hate speech has swept over France, home to Europe's biggest Jewish community (of around 440,000 people) and its largest Muslim population (of around 6 million people).Paul Taylor is a senior fellow of the Friends of Europe thinktankDo 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...

The Israeli government is stripping away our freedoms - economic, physical, even the ability to celebrate. Yet the world looks awayIn the eyes of the world, there seem to be two kinds of violence against the Palestinian people. There are the genocidal horrors that have been unfolding in Gaza, in which Israel is erasing families, neighbourhoods and livelihoods. Then there is the other kind: the violence that Palestinians have been subjected to since the 1948 Nakba, overlooked and barely commented upon.Violence in the West Bank always seems to be placed into the second category, no matter how extreme. Yet in recent weeks, we have seen a marked escalation from Israel. Politicians seem to have decided they have free rein while this latest war plays out and all eyes are on Gaza. But look at the West Bank and you will see the actions of an increasingly totalitarian regime that is detaining Palestinians without charge, torturing prisoners and limiting physical and economic freedom in order to consolidate settler dominance.Layth Hanbali is a health researcher working independently and at Birzeit University in Ramallah, PalestineDo 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...

In stinging opinion, judge Tanya Chutkan rejects idea that being commander in chief confers lifelong get-out-of-jail-free' passA federal judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to dismiss his federal criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, ruling that he enjoyed no immunity from prosecution simply because it was based on actions he took when he was still president.The order by the presiding US district judge Tanya Chutkan simultaneously denied two of Trump's motions to dismiss - on presidential immunity grounds and constitutional grounds - setting the stage for Trump to appeal to the DC circuit and ultimately the US supreme court. Continue reading...

District attorney George Gascon says police believe the same person shot and killed three victims this weekLos Angeles officials say they think one person has targeted unhoused people after three back-to-back slayings. Although the mayor, police chief and district attorney stopped short of calling the suspect a serial killer, all of the victims were killed by someone who walked up to them during pre-dawn hours as they were sleeping, shot them and walked away.These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community and are being singled out - it appears to be - because of their status," George Gascon, the Los Angeles county district attorney, said during a press conference on Friday. Continue reading...

Trump's trial in Fulton county could be delayed until 2029 if he won re-election because of the US constitution, Steve Sadow saidDonald Trump's trial on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia would be delayed until 2029 if he won re-election next year because the US constitution prohibits states from interfering with federal government functions, his lawyer argued at a court hearing on Friday.I believe that the supremacy clause and his duties as president of the United States - this trial would not take place at all until after his term in office," the former president's lawyer Steve Sadow said. Continue reading...

The person, who is as yet not been identified, is in critical condition and a guard who attempted to intervene was injuredA protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated on Friday outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, injuring a security guard who attempted to intervene, authorities said.The person, whom officials did not identify, is in critical condition, the Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. The guard's condition was not immediately clear. Continue reading...

Adam Smith of Washington state calls spray-painting of garage sadly reflective of the coarsening of the political discourse'A Democratic congressman says his home was vandalized on Thursday night by people advocating for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza".Adam Smith, a US House member from Washington state, called the vandalism to his home in the city of Bellevue sadly reflective of the coarsening of the political discourse in our country, and is completely unwarranted, unnecessary, and harmful to our political system". Continue reading...

John Turscak, 52, accused of stabbing Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd's murder, 22 times in prison in Tucson, ArizonaA detainee at a federal prison was charged on Friday with attempted murder in the prison stabbing of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times in the law library at the Tucson federal correctional institution in Arizona with an improvised knife, prosecutors said. Turscak, 52, told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, according to prosecutors. Continue reading...

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Local Democratic and Republican parties will choose their candidates for special election to fill vacant Long Island seat

Christian Ziegler mentioned in heavily redacted police documents that includes the word raped', reports sayThe chairman of Florida's Republican party, Christian Ziegler, is reported to be under investigation for sexual battery - a potential political bombshell in a state that Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis call home.According to heavily redacted police department documents, Ziegler is mentioned in the context of an active criminal investigation" after an individual reported being sexually battered" at home in Sarasota on 2 October. Continue reading...

The trailblazing judge, attorney and politician became, in 1981, the first woman to serve on the US supreme court Continue reading...

Republican congressman, who was expelled from Congress, had an ability to evade when called out for factual inaccuracies

Sharing walls or floors in apartment buildings means sharing noise, but it doesn't have to lead to conflictSix years ago, in the haze of new motherhood, Adrianne Wright found herself facing an unexpected problem: a disgruntled neighbor.Her daughter had been born nine weeks premature. There was a lot going on, understandably, from getting used to this new chapter to dealing with some of the health complications that she was experiencing, with [...] noisy machines at home to monitor breathing." The last thing Wright, the founder of the communications agency Think Rosie, wanted was to receive noise complaints from the neighbor living below her brownstone apartment in New York City's Park Slope neighborhood. Continue reading...

Empire actor loses bid to overturn conviction after he was found to have lied to police about 2019 hate crime attack he orchestratedAn appeals court upheld the disorderly conduct convictions on Friday of the actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and then lying about it to Chicago police.Smollett, who appeared in the TV show Empire, challenged the role of a special prosecutor, jury selection, evidence and many other aspects of the case. But all were turned aside in a 2-1 opinion from the Illinois appellate court. Continue reading...

The House voted on Friday to expel the Republican George Santos, of New York, after a critical ethics report on his conduct that accused him of converting campaign donations for his own use. He was just the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues. The expulsion push is the latest chapter in what has been a spectacular fall from grace for Santos, a first-term lawmaker initially celebrated as an up-and-comer after he flipped a district from Democrats last year and helped Republicans win control of the House. Here is a look back at some of his claims which proved untrue

At the US-Mexico border site, called open-air detention centers by some, migrants face harsh weather in makeshift tentsIt's 8am on a chilly fall morning when the U-Haul pulls up at the US-Mexico border wall in Jacumba Hot Springs, California.Dozens of people emerge from makeshift tents and from around small bonfires to welcome it, and line up for some of the water bottles and peanut butter jelly sandwiches its volunteers are carrying. Continue reading...

Sandra Day O'Connor, the former US supreme court justice, died at 93 in Phoenix on Friday of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness, the court has announced. O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the US supreme court, paving the way for future female justices. She voted on a range of issues including abortion, affirmative action and campaign finance

The Israelis' goal of destroying the enemy risks slipping further out of reach the more they pursue itAnd on the eighth day, the war began anew. After a week of joy and relief for those Israeli families reunited with loved ones held hostage by Hamas, and of respite from Israeli bombardment for the people of Gaza, seven days of rolling ceasefires came to an end this morning. No more hugs, no more quiet. Instead, the war between Israel and Hamas is back on, presenting once more what moral philosophers refer to as a tragic choice" - a dilemma where there are no good options, only two different routes to disaster. In fighting Hamas, Israel faces just such a predicament - and yet there are too many, among both those who defend Israel and those who denounce it, who refuse to see that.Start with those who believe that the massacre by Hamas of more than 1,200 Israelis on 7 October gives Israel the moral licence to respond however it sees fit, subject to almost no limitations. In this view, the horror of the October attacks, the sadism and cruelty of the killing, torture and rape, crossed every moral red line and so Israel can do whatever it takes to defeat those to blame. Not as revenge, but as prevention - to ensure that Hamas cannot make good on its vow to stage another 7 October, and another and another, until Israel is eradicated.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Actor paid $15,000 for an exam proctor to change her daughter's answers on the SAT and spent 11 days in prison in 2019The actor Felicity Huffman says she paid to have her daughter's college testing scores raised - breaking federal law and getting imprisoned over it - because she felt pressed to give her child a chance at a future".Huffman, an Emmy winner who starred in the TV series Desperate Housewives, expressed that sentiment in an interview published Thursday by the Los Angeles news station KABC. The interview marked the first time Huffman discussed her role in the 2019 scandal that ensnared dozens of prominent, well-connected parents across the US accused of illicitly plotting to get their children into college. Continue reading...

UAW, representing 400,000 in the US and over 580,000 retired workers, makes announcement as military operations resumeThe United Auto Workers, one of the US's largest labor unions, has come out in support of a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine as a temporary ceasefire ended on Friday with Israel resuming military operations in Gaza.The UAW is now the largest union to have called for a ceasefire. It represents 400,000 workers in the US and more than 580,000 retired workers. Continue reading...

The fight between two of America's most powerful governors, billed by Fox as The Great Red v Blue State Debate', mostly hurt DeSantisOn Thursday night, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, reminded the US why he will never be president. His voice grates, his visage a cross between a squinted grimace and scowl. He looks like Manuel Noriega, the ex-Panamanian dictator, without the scarring. On a personal level, he lacks humor, warmth, wit, or uplift. He is ham-handed, an awkward social warrior.DeSantis comes across as too hot. This is the guy who picked a fight with Mickey Mouse, his state's largest employer. He holds degrees from Yale and Harvard, but repeatedly flashes clouded judgment. In other words, there are plenty of reasons why he is getting walloped among Republicans by Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Ruling clears way for Trump to face lawsuits from police and lawmakers seeking to hold him responsible for violenceA US appeals court on Friday ruled that Donald Trump must face civil lawsuits over his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, rejecting the former president's claim that he is immune.A panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit found that Trump was acting in his personal capacity as a presidential candidate" when he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol. US presidents are immune from civil lawsuits only for official actions. Part of the lawsuit was filed under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law, which makes it illegal to prevent an officer of the United States from performing their duties through threats or intimidation. Continue reading...

State attorney general Ken Paxton files suit despite medical consensus that vaccine prevents severe infection and deathThe attorney general of Texas is suing the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, alleging that it exaggerated the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine and deceived the public.Ken Paxton announced the lawsuit on Thursday after filing it in Lubbock state district court in north-west Texas, the Texas Tribune reported. Continue reading...

Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose the bans in the next few weeksThe Biden administration has informed Israel that Washington will impose visa bans in the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers engaged in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, a senior state department official said.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, in his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his war cabinet have let them know that the United States will take its own action against an undisclosed number of individuals. Continue reading...