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China will be the ghost at the gathering of America’s allies next monthJoe Biden’s foreign policy doctrine views the future relationship between democracies and authoritarian regimes as a competitive one, accompanied by a battle of narratives. Nondemocratic regimes have become brazen in their repression and many democratic governments have regressed by adopting their tactics of restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law. The US, under Donald Trump, was not immune to such trends. One European thinktank warned last week that there remains a risk that the US could slip into authoritarianism.The Biden administration has announced the first of two virtual “summits for democracy” next month to bring together government, civil society and business leaders from more than 100 nations. This might seem a bit rich, given America’s history of befriending dictators and overthrowing elected leaders it did not like. Invitations have gone out to a group so broad it includes liberal democracies, weak democracies and states with authoritarian characteristics. Mr Biden deserves a cheer for seeking a renewal of democracy, asking attendees to reflect on their record of upholding human rights and fighting corruption. Continue reading...

New York investigation of Trump Organization is one of a number of sources of legal jeopardy for the former presidentProsecutors in New York could “indict Donald Trump tomorrow if they really wanted and be successful”, the ex-president’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said on Sunday, discussing investigations of Trump’s business affairs.Asked if he was “confident you did help Donald Trump commit crimes”, Cohen told NBC’s Meet the Press: “I can assure you that Donald Trump is guilty of his own crimes. Was I involved in much of the inflation and deflation of his assets? The answer to that is yes.” Continue reading...

The past decade in Ohio shows how bad it can get – and how quickly. Despite the state’s voters often swinging Democratic, 75% of its congressional delegates are RepublicanThe long-term health of American democracy is in peril, to a degree far worse than people imagine. But not where most people are looking.While many eyes go to Washington DC or Mar-a-Lago, the attack on democracy is actually most concentrated and coordinated in state capitals. Whether it’s gerrymandering or voter suppression or attacks on offices that provide needed checks and balances – the states have become widely undemocratic. As I outline in my book Laboratories of Autocracy, the consequences of this anti-democratic movement are only getting worse. Continue reading...

The revered lyricist and composer has died at 91, but his search for new ways to express ideas still influences wider culture todayIf you’ve ever used the phrases “everything’s coming up roses” or “the ladies who lunch”, you have Stephen Sondheim to thank. He coined them in his lyrics for Gypsy (1959) and Company (1970), two of his most celebrated musicals. But for all the felicitousness of his work as a lyricist, he saw himself as a composer. In truth, not only was he both, the combination catapulted him into a league of his own.Within moments of news breaking of his sudden death in the early hours of Friday after a Thanksgiving dinner with old friends, shocked tributes began flooding social media. This wasn’t only theatreland in mourning. Sondheim’s remarkable influence across popular culture was startlingly current for an artist still working at 91. Continue reading...

Paul Gosar was censured for a video depicting a colleague’s murder but physical assaults were a feature of the pre-civil war eraAs the House debated whether the Republican congressman Paul Gosar should be censured for depicting the murder of his colleague, one Democratic leader took a moment to reflect on the chamber’s long history of violence.Speaking on the House floor last week, the majority leader, Steny Hoyer, argued that Gosar had grossly violated the chamber’s rules of conduct by sharing an altered anime video showing him killing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden. Continue reading...

The Democratic senators have received a flood of money from conservative donors, leading some to raise concerns of corruptionTwo Democratic senators threatening to derail Joe Biden’s agenda have been condemned by anti-corruption watchdogs for accepting a flood of money from Republican and corporate donors.Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema present the last hurdle to the US president’s social spending and climate package after it was passed by Democrats in the House of Representatives earlier this month. Continue reading...

Among my neighbors in the bluest region of the bluest county of the bluest state in America, many don’t trust big pharma or the government – or simply choose to put themselves firstIs there a relationship between Covid and politics? Sure seems so.By the end of October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of counties Donald Trump won by wide margins had died from Covid. That was more than three times higher than the Covid death rate in heavily Biden counties, of 7.8 per 100,000. Continue reading...

British socialite faces six counts alleging that she helped recruit and groom teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuseGhislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial is scheduled to start in earnest in federal court in Manhattan on Monday with opening statements about the eagerly awaited case.The first arguments will set the stage for a six-week trial in which the British socialite’s alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes will be aired in grueling detail, outlining how prosecutors and defense attorneys will approach the proceedings. Continue reading...

The Guatemalan man was taken to hospital by immigration officials after emerging from the plane on the tarmacA stowaway hidden in the landing gear compartment of an American Airlines jet survived a flight from his home country of Guatemala to Miami, where he was turned over to US immigration officials and taken to a hospital for evaluation.The US customs and border protection agency confirmed the incident in a statement initially cited by Miami-based television station WTVJ, which posted video taken of the man at Miami international airport shortly after the plane landed on Saturday. Continue reading...

Kevin Nishita shot dead while protecting Kron-TV crew covering smash-and-grab theft in California cityA security guard died after he was shot while protecting a San Francisco Bay Area TV news crew covering a smash-and-grab theft, part of a rash of organized retail crime in the region.“We are devastated by the loss of security guard and our friend, Kevin Nishita,” Kron-TV’s vice-president and general manager, Jim Rose, said in a statement on Saturday. “Our deepest sympathy goes to Kevin’s wife, his children, his family, and to all his friends and colleagues.” Continue reading...

Criticism of vice-president over French cookware purchase backfires as people point out Donald Trump’s spendingAn attack on Kamala Harris for buying expensive French cookware rebounded on the Republican party over Thanksgiving, moving social media users to compare the vice-president’s culinary outlay with the cost to taxpayers of Donald Trump’s four years in power.On a visit to Paris earlier this month, Harris reportedly spent more than $500 on cookware at E Dehillerin, a shop near the Louvre museum. She told reporters she was making the purchase with Thanksgiving cooking in mind, prompting laughter when she said her husband, Doug Emhoff, was her “apprentice” in the kitchen. Continue reading...

American Christmas Tree Association, which represents artificial tree industry, makes pledge amid reports of looming problemsDays after reports of shortages of Thanksgiving turkeys proved premature, the American Christmas Tree Association was moved to promise Americans that “Christmas will not be cancelled”, amid reports of looming problems.The statement from ACTA, which represents the artificial tree industry, came amid concern that supplies of both plastic trees and live Noble, Frazer and Balsam firs will be subject to supply chain issues and the effects of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul orders elective operations to be postponed until at least 15 January in state where two-thirds are fully vaccinated

The Last Duel director has blamed flighty ‘millennians’ for his latest epic film tanking, but maybe we’re not blockbuster-readyRidley Scott is responsible for many of the best proper films in the history of cinema and by proper I mean the massive, blockbuster, event-type ones, the ones you’d make an effort to go to the cinema to see, the ones that practically smell like popcorn. Thelma & Louise? Ridley Scott. The Alien movies, Blade Runner, Gladiator and I would make a case here for GI Jane, all directed by him. It must help with the hit rate that his work ethic is astonishing: he’s had two films out in the UK in six weeks.His latest, House of Gucci, out now, has divided critics so sharply that seeing it has become a matter of urgency: is it “boring”, “audacious”, “so bad it’s bad” or “stylish”? Is anything better than Lady Gaga in the trailer, saying: “Father, son and house of Gucci”, a line that gets stuck in my head like the chorus of a catchy pop song? The big question is whether it will do better than Scott’s The Last Duel, which was released in cinemas last month and effectively bombed. Continue reading...

Republicans’ muted response to Paul Gosar’s behavior has intensified fears about where incendiary rhetoric may leadAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood on the House floor and implored her colleagues to hold Paul Gosar accountable for sharing an altered anime video showing him killing her and attacking Joe Biden.“Our work here matters. Our example matters. There is meaning in our service,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her speech last week. “And as leaders in this country, when we incite violence with depictions against our colleagues, that trickles down into violence in this country.” Continue reading...

A record crowd pointed to a bright future, but the same old problems remain for the MatildasAlmost as soon as it was locked in, Saturday afternoon’s meeting between Australia and the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) was positioned as a celebration of the present and future of Australian women’s football. But in downing the Matildas 3-0 the United States provided another potent reminder to Australian football that, despite the great expectations it holds with a home World Cup on the horizon, the future is never guaranteed.As 36,109 fans watched on - the highest ever crowd for a women’s football match in Australia - the United States proved quite happy to spoil their hosts’ party, proving to be simply the better team in the moments when it counted; taking advantage of some calamitous errors and naivety in approach to claim a clinical win behind goals from Ashley Hatch, Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan (who made good on her goal of “shutting up” a hostile home crowd). Continue reading...

Congress members float the idea of offering the 18-year-old internships as experts say their use of him is ‘a very dangerous thing’Wearing suits and ties, the two men give the camera smiles and thumbs up. One is Donald Trump, former president of the United States. The other is Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people at an anti-racism protest. And behind them is a framed photo of Trump meeting the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.The mesmerizing tableau emerged from the ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida earlier this week. It was, in effect, the coronation of Rittenhouse as a future star of the rightwing media, Republican party and “Make America great again” (Maga) movement in their crusade against liberalism. Continue reading...

From West Side Story to Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George to Into the Woods, Sondheim’s works have been performed – and loved – by the stars of musical theatre and cinema alike Continue reading...

District attorney names victim and suspect in incident in suburbs of Philadelphia on ThursdayA man eating Thanksgiving dinner inside a home in the suburbs of Philadelphia was killed by a stray bullet that pierced a window, authorities said.Edilberto Miguel Palaez Moctezuma, 25, was shot in the torso just before 9.30pm on Thursday, the Montgomery county district attorney, Kevin Steele, said in a press release. Palaez Moctezuma was flown to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Continue reading...

‘River of boxes’ numbering up to 400 found dumped, prompting rush to rescue and deliver the mail – and to find culpritAn Alabama sheriff was on Friday trying to figure out how hundreds of FedEx packages ended up dumped in the woods.An estimated 300 to 400 packages of various sizes were found in a ravine near the small town of Hayden on Wednesday, the Blount county sheriff said. Continue reading...

‘Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout,’ says Omar after Boebert claims to have joked about terrorism when sharing elevatorThe Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar called the Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert a buffoon, a bigot and a liar for claiming to have joked about terrorism when sharing an elevator in Congress.“Fact,” Omar wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “This buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up. Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout. Continue reading...

British socialite is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 to have sex with disgraced financier Jeffrey EpsteinBefore opening arguments in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial for allegedly aiding the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minor girls, the Briton’s brother protested over what he called “the most over-hyped trial of the century”.A family member would be in court at all times from Monday to show support, Ian Maxwell told the Associated Press. A woman who identified herself to court staff as a family member has attended all recent proceedings. Continue reading...

FDA scientists consider possible toxicity and birth defects before public meeting next weekUS federal health regulators say an experimental Covid-19 pill from Merck is effective but will seek input from outside experts on risks of birth defects and other problems during pregnancy.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted its analysis of the pill before a public meeting next week where academic and other experts will weigh in. The agency isn’t required to follow the group’s advice. Continue reading...

Industry expects 53.4 million people to travel over long weekend, versus 47.1 million last yearThanksgiving holiday travel in the US is expected to reach near pre-pandemic levels, with industry insiders predicting that 53.4 million people will hit the road over the long weekend, compared with 47.1 million in 2020, the largest year-on-year increase since 2005.The travel boom comes amid rising Covid cases, as public health authorities fear another winter surge. Continue reading...

It’s time to revive an old fave. Among a packed field this week: Nick ‘Doctor Who’ Fletcher and Jon ‘dead cat’ TrickettWhen I first started on this newspaper’s Diary column (still this millennium, but only just), we had a rolling competition called Stupidest MP, which aimed to celebrate Westminster’s non-finest minds. So many memories – too many to choose from, in some ways. But Archie Hamilton, then Tory member for Epsom and Ewell and a former 1922 committee chairman, was a perennial candidate. The Diary had previously contacted Sir Archie asking if he would sit an intelligence test, to which he had tentatively – and indeed bizarrely – agreed, as long as others did it with him. Alas, what we might politely term a “peer group” could not be found for some years.But everything changed when news emerged of a “talking” chimpanzee named Panbanisha that resided at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa. A call to Hamilton’s office was immediately placed. When he came to the phone, Sir Archie was asked whether he had seen the stories about this creature. He had? Very good. In which case: would he be willing to participate in an intelligence test against the chimp? Very regrettably, Sir Archie declined the opportunity, forcing the Diary to make a subsequent call to Conservative Central Office. “We can’t say to him ‘You must do it’,” fretted a press officer there. “If it’s something he feels he couldn’t do well, we can’t make him.” Understood. Had she any other suggestions? “What about someone from our education team? There’s Theresa May ... ”Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Which of NFL’s first-year signal-callers have made the grade? New England’s Mac Jones and Chicago’s Justin Fields are among the leadersIt’s that most wonderful time of the year: Where we start to get a real sense of where would-be rookie saviors are at once they’ve played some real, actual games.The five quarterbacks selected in the first round of last year’s draft were, as ever, the point of much debate. Let’s check in on where they’re at 11 and a bit weeks into their careers. Continue reading...

Miniature Mount Rushmore with ex-president’s face on it was given to him by South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem, last yearPictures released before the Thanksgiving holiday showed Donald Trump with Kyle Rittenhouse, with the head of a martial arts organisation – and with his own miniature Mount Rushmore, his own visage visable next to those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.The internet duly lit up. Continue reading...

A body-positive yoga studio in the historically Black neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, breaks the moldIt’s no secret that the health and wellness sector is booming, with a current global valuation at $1.5tn. But for Paris Alexandra and Alicia Ferguson – co-owners of BK Yoga Club in Brooklyn, New York – providing a healing space for Bipoc bodies is more than just a savvy business venture. Their body-positive, inclusive yoga studio is an urban sanctuary where people of color can nurture their bodies without shame.It’s a calling that Alexandra and Ferguson take seriously, especially in light of the white-dominated world of North American yoga. “Our bodies might look different than the traditional European body shape,” says Ferguson. “We want to be in places where we see other Black and Brown bodies moving and breathing and coming together around the idea of creativity.” Continue reading...

B.1.1.529 threatens to reverse recent gains as travel and economic activity had begun to recover

College football is a competition whose framework does its best to deny outsiders like Cincinnati the opportunity to win, even if they finish the season undefeatedAbout 30 minutes into episode two of the Amazon Original series LuLaRich – the latest addition to a growing catalog of popular documentaries and exposes exploring the compellingly kooky, if ethically dubious, world of multi-level marketing – viewers are finally clued into the unsettling logic at the center of this most American of business models. In the world of MLMs, success has very little to do with selling products (in this case colorful leggings produced by a California-based company called LuLaRoe), and everything to do with selling a promise. One that, by design, must go mostly unkept.“There was always a huge push to recruit, recruit, recruit,” relates Courtney Harwood, one of a handful of affable former LuLaRoe retailers who provide the narrative heart of the series, referring to multi-level marketing’s characteristic focus on enlisting new members over simply selling product to a third party. “Buy, buy, buy. Recruit, recruit, recruit,” she adds “you will get there.” Continue reading...

The country has been scarred by violence on all sides, but there may be much worse to come as Tigrayan civilians are targetedGenocide happens when warning signs are not heeded. The world looks away, refusing to believe that mass ethnic killing is possible. We hope that the worst will be avoided. But to prevent genocide, we must sound the alarm before we arrive at certainty.Rarely before has the danger of genocide been so clearly signalled in advance than in Ethiopia. Continue reading...

President wishes Americans a closer-to-normal holiday amid rise in coronavirus infectionsPresident Joe Biden on Thursday wished Americans a happy and closer-to-normal Thanksgiving, the second celebrated in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, in remarks welcoming the resumption of holiday traditions in many homes.In his first holiday message as president, Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, said this year’s celebrations were especially meaningful after last year’s family separations due to the pandemic. Continue reading...

The Republican attorney general is threatening Montgomery after the city renamed Jeff Davis AvenueAlabama’s capital city of Montgomery is facing legal action or a $25,000 fine for changing the name of a street bearing the name of a Confederate president for a prominent civil rights lawyer.The state’s Republican attorney general acted after Montgomery city council voted to switch Jeff Davis Avenue, named for Jefferson Davis, to Fred D Gray Avenue, the 91-year-old lawyer who represented Rosa Parks and others in cases that challenged the state’s segregation practices. Continue reading...

Covid is finally starting to recede into the background to join all the other risks we accept as part of living our livesOne of the hardest things about adjusting to life in late-stage Covid has been the making and seeing through of plans. A sniffle – or, more probably, a child’s sniffle – can get you out of anything and, far from looking like an excuse, still be presented as selfless deference to public health. I have been out twice this week, to Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera, and on both occasions have had to fight the urge to cancel at the last minute. Now it’s Thanksgiving and 53 million Americans – only a fraction fewer than pre-pandemic numbers – are expected to be on the move. It’s a celebration, a reunion, and given the atrophied state of our social muscles, also kind of a drag.For many of us it is strange, simply, to have plans. On the morning of Thanksgiving, my kids and I are travelling 45 minutes north of our home in New York for lunch with friends and extended family. My dad has flown in from London. Other guests are travelling from the midwest, and returning from college campuses. It is the first time we will have attended a party in someone’s house for almost two years, and in the days running up to it, figuring out the rules – or rather, remembering there are rules to figure out – has been hard. Last year, no one was vaccinated. This year, most of the adults present will have had three vaccinations and even the six-year-olds have had one. We’re over the line. Aren’t we?Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The anxiety that results from extreme fame can become a prison, but it can be escapedFame. You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy, particularly not if your enemy was very young.Fame of the extreme kind – when you are a household name and your image is worshipped on bedroom walls and all manner of fantasies are projected on you – can be experienced as a form of trauma. Continue reading...

Five people stole luxury items from the high-end shop as wave of smash-and-grab robberies rocks CaliforniaThieves rushed into a southern California Nordstrom store the night before Thanksgiving and ran off with pricey goods in the latest of a string of organized retail thefts in the state.The robberies have been marked by swift attacks by large groups of people, often as the shops are open. Continue reading...