In the early fray of foreign interventions, evidence is largely circumstantial. But here the circumstances tell a powerful storyAs late as Saturday afternoon, fires continued to smolder in parts of Caracas. Residents throughout the city, stunned and anxious, filled grocery stores and gas stations, stocking up before a future unknown. Everywhere the question hung in the air like the smoke still clouding Venezuela's capital: what next?After months of military buildup, deadly strikes at sea and a looming ground war, the United States made good on its threats to attack Venezuela in a dramatic overnight raid that ended with Nicolas Maduro in a New York City jail cell. Yet 48 hours later, little else appeared different in Caracas: Maduro's inner circle remained in place; state institutions remained in their control; streets were calm, if tense, while authorities called on people to return to their daily lives. In other words: move along, nothing to see here.Alejandro Velasco is an associate professor of history at New York University Continue reading...

Given his rise during the ego joyride of the 1980s, it's no shock that Trump's foreign policy is to emulate that decade's belligerent cinemaThe box office barnstormer of 2026 arrived early this year. A sleazy banana-republic dictator flooding the American streets with blow. The over-the-border Delta Force extraction squad sent to pluck this schmo out of his impregnable fortress. The bronzed tough-talker who's firing an RPG up the tailpipe of the international rules-based order - but who gets the job done. Call it: Caracas Thunder.Sounds like a bit of a throwback, you might be thinking. But, judging by his press conference after the US military's abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump seemed to have finally achieved his dream of directing his own 80s action movie. Continue reading...

The postseason consistently serves up enthralling football. But there are ways to make it even more compellingNo legitimate Super Bowl champion should have a losing record in the regular season. The Panthers, crowned NFC South champions at 8-9, are not an outlier. Since 2010, five teams with losing records have made the postseason. The 2022 Bucs were the first team to make the dance with a losing record since the league instituted a 17-game schedule. This season, the NFC South has done it again. Continue reading...

Images from the Eaton fire, which began on the evening of 7 January in the Altadena community of Los Angeles - and what remains a year later. The fire was one of several that tore through the county in a disaster that killed at least 31 people

A federal enforcement operation ended with a woman dead and the facts contested. The NBA cannot treat state violence in a residential neighborhood as background noiseThe SUV sat motionless against a tree on a south Minneapolis street, its engine quiet, angled as if it had simply run out of gas. Except the windshield bore a small shattered star, delicate and sharp, like a snowflake pressed into glass. Cold Minnesota air leaked through the fracture, settling over the still body inside. The car became a sealed room, a thin shell holding death in place, surrounded by the stuffed animals of the woman's children.In the street, witnesses screamed. Not in words, but in sounds that come before language, as reality breaks faster than thought. Continue reading...

Dozens of people were attending a funeral inside the church as the shooting happened, police saidTwo people were killed and several injured in a shooting outside a church in Salt Lake City, Utah police said on Wednesday.The shooting took place in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church. Continue reading...

The US president's grotesque theatrics on the world stage are an opportunistic distraction from his falling domestic ratingsOf all the commandments for living under Donald Trump, the first is always this: don't believe him. Nothing he says can be taken at face value; everything should be fed into a polygraph. Those of scrupulous courtesy can wrap it up in red ribbon, or uncork that aphorism about how the man must be taken seriously but never literally. All the same, scratch a Trump promise and underneath will glint a pretext. Scrutinise his grand plans and you find only shabby tactics.The Manhattan Democrat turns into a Florida-dwelling Republican; the troll who demanded Barack Obama's birth certificate will hem and haw over releasing the Epstein files. From real-estate deals to Trump University, all that this guy swears is solid gold soon settles into so much bullshit.Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Trump praises Petro's tone' during call and says they will meet soon. This blog is now closed

The president has vowed to kill off woke' in his second term in office, and the venerable cultural institution a few blocks from the White House is in his sightsOn 30 May last year, Kim Sajet was working in her office in the grandly porticoed National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. The gallery is one of the most important branches of the Smithsonian Institution, the complex of national museums that, for almost 200 years, has told the story of the nation. The director's suite, large enough to host a small party, has a grandeur befitting the museum's role as the keeper of portraits of the United States' most significant historical figures. Sajet was working beneath the gaze of artworks from the collection, including a striking 1952 painting of Mary Mills, a military-uniformed, African American nurse, and a bronze head of jazz and blues singer Ethel Waters.It seemed like an ordinary Friday. Until, that is, an anxious colleague came in to tell Sajet that the president of the United States had personally denounced her on social media. Upon the request and recommendation of many people I am herby [sic] terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery," Donald Trump had posted on Truth Social. According to the post, Sajet was a highly partisan person" and a strong supporter" of diversity and inclusion programmes, which by an executive order on his inauguration day, 20 January, he had eradicated from federal agencies. Her replacement will be named shortly," continued the message. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Continue reading...

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Operations mark latest demonstration of brazen US military power and reach - key US politics stories from 7 January 2026US European Command said on Wednesday that it had boarded the Marinera, a Russian-flagged oil tanker, over alleged sanctions violations, bringing to an end a dramatic two-week pursuit that began in the Caribbean and concluded in the Atlantic.Separately on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard announced it had intercepted another dark-fleet tanker that is under sanctions, the M Sophia, in a pre-dawn operation in the Caribbean. Continue reading...

Pratt, who lost home in Palisades fire and has been vocal critic of city leaders, says system is fundamentally broken'Reality television personality Spencer Pratt is running to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.Pratt announced his campaign on Wednesday at a rally to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Palisades fire. Continue reading...

Networks brought on former federal and police officials, with varying reactions and responses to Minneapolis killingCable news networks sprung into action on Wednesday to cover the breaking news of a woman killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis, rushing correspondents to the scene and bringing on former government officials and legal analysts to offer commentary.The three main cable networks' on-screen graphics framed the incident slightly differently. Fox News referred to it as a Deadly ICE-involved Shooting", while CNN said more plainly: ICE Officer Kills Woman in Minneapolis." Continue reading...

Mayor says ICE claims incident was self-defense are not true, and tells agency to get the fuck out of Minneapolis'

Democrats Chris Murphy and Chuck Schumer decried the forcible capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, while Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth defended the military operation. Speaking on Wednesday after briefing US senators on the Trump administration's plan for the Latin American country, Rubio said the US is about to execute on a deal to take all the oil that is stuck in Venezuela".

President says he wants to raise military budget to $1.5tn and accuses US defense companies of delivery failuresDonald Trump has claimed he plans to crack down on executive compensation and shareholder payouts at military defense contractors, as his administration looks to dramatically ramp up spending on the armed forces.In a series of posts on social media, the US president said he wants to increase the military budget to $1.5tn - and complained that defense giants had been failing to swiftly deliver vital" equipment to the US and its allies across the world. Continue reading...

Footage supplied to the Guardian appears to capture the moment a federal immigration agent shoots and kills the female driver of a dark red SUV in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The incident occurred during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey disputed federal officials' account of the shooting, and demanded ICE agents leave the city.

Newspaper's closure follows two decades of financial losses totaling over $350m and legal ruling favoring its unionThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has announced it will cease operations, with its final edition scheduled for 3 May.The decision to shutter the newspaper - with its origins dating back to 1786 - was disclosed on Wednesday by Block Communications, the newspaper's parent company based in Toledo, Ohio. Continue reading...

Footage posted by US Southern Command and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, appears to show the US military intercepting a Venezuela-linked tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday. It was released on the same day US forces also intercepted and seized the Russian-flagged Marinera in the north Atlantic

The US has dramatically seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker between the UK and Iceland, with the support of the UK government. The operation comes after US attacks on Venezuela, the abduction of Nicolas Maduro, and threats against Greenland.Lucy Hough speaks to the Russian affairs correspondent Pjotr Sauer Continue reading...

Median sale price was at $410,800 last year, according to the Census Bureau, even as Trump campaigned on affordabilityDonald Trump said his administration was moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in a bid to reduce home prices.In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the US president said he will be asking Congress to codify the measure and will be discussing additional housing and affordability proposals in a speech at the Davos World Economic Forum. Continue reading...

Top Trump officials briefed 100 US senators on weekend raid while defending military operation and US presidentTop officials from the Trump administration arrived on Capitol Hill this morning to defend one of the most audacious military operations in recent US history: the forcible capture of a sitting head of state from his own capital.Secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, attorney general Pam Bondi, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Gen Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, briefed all 100 US senators on Operation Absolute Resolve, the lightning raid that plucked the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, from his Caracas residence and deposited him in a New York City jail cell. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Letter decries stunning abdication of basic responsibilities' and demands to know how many officers divertedThe Trump administration has abandoned efforts to combat child exploitation, human trafficking and cartels as it diverts thousands of law enforcement personnel to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Democratic senators said in a letter to the White House.Ruben Gallego of Arizona, along with 28 other Democratic senators and one independent, wrote to the president, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) on Monday demanding that federal officials provide a full accounting" of officers who have been redirected to immigration enforcement and a list of all investigations affected by the reassignments. Continue reading...

US to remove some sanctions to allow it to keep selling country's supplies after laying claim to blockaded crudeBusiness live - latest updatesThe US plans to control Venezuela's oil sales indefinitely" after laying claim to 50m barrels of blockaded crude and seizing a Russian oil tanker linked to the South American country.The White House already plans to sell up to $3bn (2.2bn) worth of Venezuelan crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities into the oversupplied global market after the American military's capture of Nicolas Maduro. Continue reading...

By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhereWe do need Greenland, absolutely," Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, We need it for defence." His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? ... The US is the power of Nato ... obviously Greenland should be part of the United States." His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption soon". It's hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning?Still, we're right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: Maybe they're just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela", or surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?"Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Lindsey Halligan was installed in the position by the president to prosecute Letitia James and James ComeyA judge has ordered the Donald Trump-appointed lawyer who led failed prosecutions of two of his political opponents to explain why she is still representing herself as US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, after another judge ruled she was in the position unlawfully.In an order filed in the district's Richmond division on Tuesday, Lindsey Halligan was given seven days to explain why she had engaged in professional misconduct" by continuing to sign indictments. Continue reading...

After their lives were upended last year, they're finally regaining their footing - but memories of the fires still haunt themFew among the nearly 10 million people who live in Los Angeles county were left untouched by last year's disastrous firestorm. Driven by strong winds through parched vegetation, multiple fires exploded in quick succession last January, and devoured roughly 16,000 structures on all sides of LA.Thirty-one lives were lost and thousands more were forever changed. For many, a new chapter of the disaster began to unfold when the flames were extinguished, while the slow road to recovery started to take shape in the year that followed. Continue reading...

A slew of high-profile names have resided in Metropolitan detention center, accused of unsafe, inhumane conditionsAfter US military forces seized Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas during a controversial pre-dawn raid, they were ultimately spirited to one of this country's most infamous jails: Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, New York.The deposed Venezuelan president and Flores will almost certainly reside in Metropolitan detention center (MDC) until their federal trial on drugs and weapons charge - inducting them into a notorious group that counts Sean Diddy" Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo" as either current or previous members. Continue reading...

Administration has alleged fraud in decision to halt grants from California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New YorkDonald Trump's administration said Tuesday that it is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud.The US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds.The child care and development fund subsidizes day care for low-income households, enabling parents to work or go to school.Temporary assistance for needy families provides cash assistance and job training so parents in poverty can afford diapers and clothes and earn paychecks.The social services block grant, a much smaller fund, supports several different social service programs. Continue reading...

The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes GreenlandWhen a bleary-eyed Trump explained the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro this past Saturday, he invoked the Monroe doctrine: while the US president sounded like he was reading about it for the first time, historians of course recognized the idea of Washington as a kind of guardian of the western hemisphere. Together with the national security strategy published in December, the move on Venezuela can be understood as advancing a vision for carving up the world into what the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt called great spaces", with each effectively supervised by a great power (meaning, in today's world, Washington, Moscow and Beijing). But more is happening than a return to such de facto imperialism: Trump's promise to run the country" for the sake of US oil companies signals the internationalization of one aspect of his regime - what has rightly been called the logic of the mafia state. That logic is even more obvious in his stated desire to grab Greenland.The theory of the mafia state was first elaborated by the Hungarian sociologist Balint Magyar in 2016. Such a state is less about corruption where envelopes change hands under the table. Instead, public procurement is rigged; large companies are brought under the control of regime-friendly oligarchs, who in turn acquire media to provide favorable coverage to the ruler. The beneficiaries are what Magyar calls the extended political family" (which can include the ruler's natural family). As with the mafia, unconditional loyalty is the price for being part of the system.Jan-Werner Muller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...

In Vallejo, California, trad sons' report feeling trapped by family obligations, slim job prospects and the fear of violence - leaving little room for romanceAre boys becoming men later? In recent decades, the markers of adulthood have shifted for young American men: they are almost twice as likely to be single, less likely to go to college and more likely to be unemployed. Most significantly for their parents, they are also less likely to have fled the nest, with the term trad son" springing into social media lexicon in recent months. In the 1970s, only 8% of Americans aged 25 to 34 were living with their parents, but by 2023, that figure had jumped to 18%, with men more likely to live at home than women, according to a Pew survey.But not everywhere in the US has the same rates of adults living in their familial home. The living arrangement is least common in the midwest and most common in the north-east. Topping the list was Vallejo, where 33% of young adults live with their parents. How were they making it work? Continue reading...

Democrats should go on the offense against Republicans, but they should also lay out a vision for renewing the promise of a middle-class lifeBy January 2029, Donald Trump will be capping off a nearly 14-year stretch at the helm of American politics. While he will no longer serve as president of the United States, his shadow over the future of American politics will continue to loom large across both sides of the aisle. Following Trump's popular-vote victory in the 2024 election, the Democratic party has been forced to wrestle with what went wrong and how they can regain the support of an American majority to win back the White House. To win back Americans' trust, Democrats have to prioritize affordability, broaden their cultural appeal, and reconnect with disaffected voters beyond their base.Trump's political success has long been defined by his willingness to take on elite institutions and buck convention, putting distance between himself and weaknesses in the Republican brand while simultaneously undermining advantages in the Democratic brand. He's ignored the wrath of editorial boards and economists while offering policy ideas and messaging that speaks to what voters think.Colin Seeberger is a senior adviser for communications at the Center for American Progress Continue reading...

Trump demands Venezuela open up to US oil companies or risk more military action. Plus, justice department has released less than 1% of Epstein files

Scientists predict increased disease outbreaks after Trump officials no longer recommend third of childhood vaccinesThe bombshell announcement that the Trump administration no longer fully recommends a third of childhood vaccines means the US moved from leading globally on vaccination to lagging behind other high-income nations in preventing disease, experts say.The move is the latest and most significant escalation against vaccines from Robert F Kennedy Jr, a longtime vaccine skeptic and current secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Continue reading...

After the devastating fires, neighborhoods pledged to build back stronger and better than before. A year later, they're still untangling issuesFog shrouded the ruins still standing at the center of the Pacific Palisades on a morning in December, a once-vibrant Los Angeles community decimated by flames. Melted newsstands that distributed the Palisadian-Post, an almost century-old paper that ceased operating in the fire's wake, sit on crumbled concrete. Weeds spread over an expanse of emptied lots, painting the blackened foundations and chimneys with swaths of green.It's been a year of recovery and reckoning in Los Angeles since the unprecedented wildfires erupted in the parched southern California hillsides and cascaded into the surrounding suburbs with shocking ferocity, killing 31 people. Continue reading...

This summer's tournament is seen as a culmination, but in truth it's the next World Cup where the USMNT may have the most successWhen the US was confirmed as a future World Cup co-host on the eve of the 2018 tournament in Russia, the USMNT were still stuck under the rubble of their shocking failure to qualify. Mauricio Pochettino was just establishing himself among European club soccer's managerial elite, taking Tottenham to the Champions League final a year later.Few could have imagined that he'd be leading the USMNT into the 2026 World Cup, and perhaps fewer believe he'll stick around for the next cycle. Nevertheless, after a 2-1 win over Australia in Commerce City, Colorado to end the October window, Pochettino noted he's building a team with 2030 in mind, too. Continue reading...

The rapper's recent cosying up to the Trump administration has upset a lot of her fans, but is she playing the long game?Starships are meant to fly, but Nicki Minaj's musical career is now doing a Maga-propelled nosedive. For the past few months, the rapper and former gay icon has been horrifying many of her fans by cosying up to the Trump administration.In November, for example, Minaj shared a post by Donald Trump about the treatment of Christians in Nigeria and agreed to collaborate with the administration on awareness around the issue. Then, in December, the rapper made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest convention, where she heaped praise on the late Charlie Kirk (who once said Minaj was not a good role model for 18-year-old Black girls") and the vice-president, JD Vance. She also accidentally called Vance an assassin" while talking to Erika Kirk, Charlie's widow, but was quickly forgiven for her word choice. I love this woman," Erika Kirk proclaimed after the weird gaffe.Do 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 PM won't call out Trump over Venezuela, and won't commit to Europe. His refusal to choose leaves vital choices for Britain to be made by othersFor an inveterate liar, Donald Trump is remarkably honest. The best guide to what he thinks is what he says. When forecasting his likely course of action, start with his declared intentions - removing the president of Venezuela, for example - and assume he means it. When he says the US must take possession of Greenland, he is not kidding.The motives are sometimes muddled but rarely hidden. Trump likes making deals, especially real estate deals, and money. He wants to be great and to have his greatness affirmed with praise and prizes. He craves spectacle. The world as he describes it doesn't always resemble observable reality, but there is an effortless, sociopathic sincerity to his falsehoods. The truth is whatever he intuits it to be in the moment to advance his interests and manipulate his audience.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

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Democrats condemn move in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, calling it vindictive' and cruel'Donald Trump's administration is freezing more than $10bn in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said, citing what it called concerns about fraud and misuse.For too long, Democrat-led states and Governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch," Andrew Nixon, HHS spokesperson, said in a statement. Continue reading...

Deal indicates Venezuelan government is responding to Trump's demand that they open up to US oil companies or risk more military interventionDonald Trump has said Venezuela will be turning over" $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States, a flagship negotiation that would divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!" Trump said in a post online. Continue reading...

White House says using US military to secure arctic territory is always an option' as European leaders push back - key US politics stories from 6 January 2026 at a glanceDonald Trump has renewed his push for the US to acquire Greenland, the territory of Nato member Denmark. Leaders from Greenland, Denmark and several other Nato-member nations are pushing back against the presiden.Trump and his advisers are looking into a range of options" in an effort to acquire Greenland, noting in a White House statement on Tuesday that using the US military to do so is always an option". Continue reading...

Conservative commentator contributed to Newsmax and was known for eponymous talk radio showMichael Reagan, the eldest son of Ronald Reagan and a conservative commentator, has died. He was 80.The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute announced his death in a post on the social platform X on Tuesday, calling him a steadfast guardian of his father's legacy". Continue reading...

In damaging intelligence breach, Ames admitted to passing information to Moscow for nearly a decadeAldrich Ames, the CIA agent who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in US history, has died in a Maryland prison. He was 84.His death on Monday was confirmed by the Bureau of Prisons.Ames is best known as an ex-CIA agent who spied on the US on behalf of the Soviet Union. Ames, along with his wife, Rosario Ames, was arrested in February 1994 and pleaded guilty without a trial to espionage and tax evasion. Aldrich was charged with espionage, and his wife with aiding and abetting his activities. Continue reading...

Justice department translated recordings made in Portuguese by man believed to be behind killingsThe man accused of killing an MIT professor and two students at Brown University left behind video recordings in which he says he had planned the attack for years, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.The shooter in the 13 and 15 December attacks was a former Brown student and Portuguese national, whom law enforcement found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility days after the shootings. Continue reading...