After losing homes, heirlooms and decades of memories, Angelenos are piecing together new rituals this seasonMichael Holland and his wife, Anne Louise Bannon, built up an extensive collection of Christmas decorations, including heirlooms from their respective childhoods over the 27 years they lived in their Altadena home.We tried to buy a new ornament every year as part of our tradition," Holland told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Man charged with attempted murder less than four months after Iryna Zarutska was killed in unrelated knife attackPolice in North Carolina have charged a 33-year-old man with critically injuring another person in a stabbing on a Charlotte commuter train, just a few months after a Ukrainian refugee riding one of the city's trains was killed in an unrelated knife attack.Oscar Solarzano, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes stemming from the Friday afternoon attack in which he wielded a large knife, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said in a news release. Continue reading...

For young Americans, not being able to buy a house is more than a sob story. It's the symbol of a broken social contract and a generational betrayalAlmost every couple that I know in their 20s, 30s or even 40s has had the same argument with their parents before getting married.The parents say to open a wedding registry. The couple responds that they do not want one. They don't expect gifts from wedding guests (their presence is enough"), and they have been cohabiting for years and already have plates, bedsheets and a blender. In fact, since they live in a small rented apartment, they barely have room for the plates that they do have - let alone a set of china. Continue reading...

Kyiv may be approaching its last chance to end the war with its sovereignty intact. If a peace deal includes two key elements, it should acceptThe negotiations over the war in Ukraine are frustrating and tragic. On the one side, a victim of aggression whose plight is more and more desperate. On the other, a brutal aggressor, willing to go to extraordinary lengths to win the war. In the middle, a transactional American president eager for a deal.It's no surprise that so many observers have railed against the proposals recently put forward by President Donald Trump and his emissary Steve Witkoff. These proposals appear to offer much to Russia and little to Ukraine - other than an end to the violence. If the negotiations produce a plan that offers Ukraine no hope of security after the war, no Ukrainian leader will accept it. Security is the core of sovereignty, and it would be political suicide to trade Ukraine's sovereignty for peace.Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow and director of the American statecraft program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...

Eldest son of Donald Trump makes speculative comments during tirade against Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EUDonald Trump may walk away from the Ukrainian war, the US president's oldest son has said in comments to a Middle East conference.In a lengthy tirade against the purpose of continued fighting in Ukraine, Donald Trump Jr also said Ukraine's corrupt" rich had fled their country leaving what they believed to be the peasant class" to fight the war. Continue reading...

Conservatives warned of a mass exodus if the democratic socialist won, but experts, and property data, paint a very different pictureThe warnings were stark. If Zohran Mamdani were to win the New York City mayoral election, his plans to raise taxes - slightly - on the city's wealthiest residents would cause millionaires to bolt en masse, decamping to lower-tax states such as Florida and Texas.The New York Post, a conservative tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, told readers on an almost daily basis through October that New York would effectively become a ghost town under Mamdani's mayoralty, a propaganda campaign that concluded the day before the election with the bombastic claim that nearly a million" people were planning to flee". Continue reading...

The movement's success was never a given. It took much longer and required repeated action and tremendous sacrifice, without any certainty it would workThe Montgomery bus boycott, which began 70 years ago on 5 December 1955, is now understood as one of the most successful American social movements. And yet, much of how it is remembered is romanticized, inaccurate and even dangerous - distorting how we imagine social change happens.In the fable, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat, Black Montgomery residents rise up, a young Martin Luther King Jr is introduced to the world, and injustice is vanquished. The right action is all it takes - furthering a mythology that, without deep preparation or sacrifice, Americans can make great change with a single act. Today, in the face of rising injustice, many criticize young activists for being too disruptive, too disorganized, too impractical. But, in fact, the Montgomery movement began much earlier and took much longer than we imagine and entailed tremendous sacrifice. It required hard choice after hard choice without evidence these actions would matter, and was considered too disruptive by many at the time - all of which gives us important lessons for how to challenge injustice today.Jeanne Theoharis is a distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the author of King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr's Life of Struggle Outside the South and The Rebellious Life of Mrs Rosa Parks. Continue reading...

Heather Jones, now 33, went public with allegations after Robert Sullivan continued to work with childrenThe woman who publicly alleged that she was 17 when a longtime Roman Catholic priest in Alabama successfully offered her financial support in exchange for sex and other forms of private companionship - recently prompting him to resign from the clergy - says there is no real winner in this situation".In her first remarks since Robert Bob" Sullivan's self-imposed removal from the priesthood was announced by his church superiors, Heather Jones wrote in a statement that the only thing she gained was truth finally coming to light after years of gaslighting myself into thinking it wasn't a big deal". Continue reading...

A soaring stock market rewards the already well-off but Trump's handling of the economy has caused his approval ratings to plungeEntering Printemps in downtown New York City feels like an escape. A slight smell of musk hangs in the air as shoppers weave carefully around racks of coats and shelves of handbags and shoes. For the holidays, the store set up a small ice rink on its second floor where skaters perform on weekends.The French luxury retail emporium opened its first New York outlet earlier this year and has said it wants shoppers to feel so comfortable that it feels like their own chic French apartment". The store has a bar upstairs, along with a roving champagne cart, and encourages shoppers to sip on their drinks while they browse. Plush carpeting in the dressing room, full of orange and reds, is reminiscent of a Wes Anderson movie set. Continue reading...

The war against Ukraine has hit ordinary Russians hard, and the deteriorating situation is likely to inflame tensionsPeople in Britain who think they are governed by fools should take a closer look at the Russian and US presidents. Vladimir Putin is systematically ruining his country. His war of choice in Ukraine is an economic, financial, geopolitical and human calamity for Russia that worsens by the day. For his own murky reasons, Donald Trump, another national menace, offered him a lifeline last week. Yet Putin spurned it. These two fools deserve each other.On the table in Moscow was a peace" deal that, broadly speaking, rewarded Russia's aggression by handing over large chunks of Ukrainian land, compromised Kyiv's independence and weakened its defences against any future attack. The Trump deal, if forced through, would have split the US and Europe; ruptured Nato, perhaps fatally; reprieved Russia's pariah economy; and probably toppled Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth under siege over mishandling of classified military intelligence and Caribbean boat attacks. Key US politics stories from 6 December 2025Pete Hegseth is facing the most serious crisis of his tenure as defense secretary, engulfed by allegations of war crimes in the Caribbean and a blistering inspector general report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence.But Hegseth shows no signs of stepping down and still holds Donald Trump's support. Continue reading...

Inter Miami survived a remarkable double-post escape before Messi and friends sealed the club's first MLS Cup, giving Busquets and Alba a storybook farewellThe ball was going over the line. Surely. Definitely. Inter Miami would be behind. Lionel Messi's chance at capturing the trophy he most wanted to win would be teetering on a knife's edge. And perhaps most distressingly to Inter Miami, two retiring legends, Sergi Busquets and Jordi Alba, would be closing in on ignominious ends. They would have come to MLS to accompany Messi, their friend, but would end their time on the field as losers of a final, the type of game they so often won at club and international level.All that ball had to do was cross the line. The Vancouver Whitecaps' Emmanuel Sabbi had imbued it with a seeming destiny after a virtuoso run into the heart of the Inter Miami defense. His left-footed effort wrapped around the outstretched hand of Miami goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo. It smacked the inside of the far post. It bounced on the line. Continue reading...

George Strait, Sly' Stallone and Kiss accept medals from president, who says he was 98% involved' in choosing themDonald Trump on Saturday evening hosted the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees in the Oval Office for a medal-presentation ceremony, celebrating country music singer George Strait, actor-singer Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester Sly" Stallone and the members of the rock band Kiss.This is a great evening, it's a great honor," Trump said. And I'm delighted to welcome to the Oval Office - the world-famous, most famous office in the world, most powerful office in the world - our truly exceptional 2025 Kennedy Center honorees." Continue reading...

White House decision is part of $140m settlement over flight chaos during busy December travel periodThe Trump administration said on Saturday it will waive an $11m fine imposed on Southwest Airlines as part of a $140m settlement over the carrier's meltdown in December 2022 during a busy holiday travel period.Southwest in December 2023 agreed to pay a $35m cash fine over three years over the airline's handling of the meltdown that stranded more than 2 million passengers. It also agreed to provide $90m in travel vouchers of $75 or more to passengers delayed at least three hours getting to final destinations because of an airline-caused issue or cancellation. Continue reading...

Three-person escape is second for state in a year, after 10 people crawled through a wall at a different prisonTwo inmates accused of violent crimes, including second-degree attempted murder, are on the run after escaping from a south-western Louisiana jail on Wednesday by removing pieces of a deteriorating interior wall and using sheets to scale another outside wall, officials said.A third inmate who joined in the breakout died by suicide after he was tracked down. Continue reading...

Patty Murray of Washington state said ICE agents lied to Wilmer Toledo-Martinez to lure him outside before dog attacked himA US senator has condemned the Trump administration after she alleged that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attack dog" mauled one of her constituents.Democratic senator Patty Murray of Washington state said Wilmer Toledo-Martinez suffered horrific" injuries while ICE agents detained him in November. Continue reading...

Andrew Wolfe was shot in the head on 26 November, while Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuriesThe West Virginia national guard soldier who was wounded in the 26 November shooting that killed a colleague of his in Washington DC is slowly healing", according to West Virginia's governor.Andrew Wolfe, 24, was shot alongside fellow West Virginia national guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom, 20, while they patrolled the US capital as part of the Trump administration's push to deploy military members on to the city's streets. Beckstrom died of her injuries the day after she was shot while Wolfe was hospitalized in critical condition. Continue reading...

Another escaped inmate killed himself after being recognized by a tipster and police respondedTwo inmates accused of violent crimes, including second-degree attempted murder, are on the run after escaping from a south-western Louisiana jail on Wednesday by removing pieces of a deteriorating interior wall and using sheets to scale another outside wall, officials said.A third inmate who joined in the breakout died by suicide after he was tracked down. Continue reading...

The former president gave a speech expressing support for LGBTQ+ rights at an LGBTQ+ leaders conference on FridayJoe Biden has criticized Republicans for turning transgender rights into a political football" in a speech that the former US president delivered at an LGBTQ+ event.Speaking at the International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference in Washington on Friday, Biden urged LGBTQ+ people to get up and fight back" against Donald Trump's second presidential administration. Continue reading...

State court made ruling against ex-lawmaker now serving 11-year sentence for bribery and acting as an agent of EgyptFormer US senator Bob Menendez has been permanently disqualified from seeking or holding public office in his home state of New Jersey after being convicted of federal corruption charges, according to officials.An order on Friday from New Jersey superior court judge Robert Lougy banned Menendez from any position of honor, trust, or profit in state or local government", the state's attorney general, Matt Platkin, said in a statement. Menendez would face a fourth-degree charge of contempt of court if he applies for public office or employment or takes any steps to campaign, run for or be appointed" to such a post, Platkin's statement also said. Continue reading...

Obama, Trump, and Biden stood by their man in Tegucigalpa for the eight vicious, destructive years he was in powerSince President Trump first announced the pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez last Friday, the media has been wading through the long list of criminal acts that led to Hernandez's 2024 conviction for drug trafficking, money laundering and arms dealing. Trump's outrageous pardon is being contrasted with his unlawful, aggressive attacks on boats allegedly trafficking drugs for the government of Venezuela. Missing from the narrative, though, are the other illegal acts committed by Hernandez that weren't about drug trafficking, and thus didn't fall under the justice department's anti-drug mandate when it charged and convicted him in the southern district of New York. Many are the crimes of Juan Orlando Hernandez, and ruinous.And long is the history of US support for him in full knowledge of those crimes. Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden all stood by their man in Honduras for the eight vicious, destructive years he was in power. They ignored his drug connections, supported the military and police that kept him in power through state terror, and countenanced his illegal re-elections. Hernandez was only able to rise to power, and stay there, because of the United States government.Dana Frank is research professor and professor emerita of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of The Long Honduran Night: Resistance, Terror, and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup Continue reading...

The right has found a new pitch for young women: conservatives are better-lookingForget expensive moisturizers or designer clothes. Ladies, if you want a quick and easy glow-up, you may want to try Republicanism. This one weird trick of voting against your own reproductive rights will instantly make you 10 times hotter.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Pentagon press passes once held by credentialed journalists are now in the hands of rightwing pundits and Trump alliesBeing a member of the Pentagon press corps was once one of the more prestigious assignments in US journalism, a position reserved for heavy hitters from venerable newspapers and news channels, reporters at the peak of their powers.Not any more. A press conference last week - held at a crucial time for a Pentagon embroiled in scandal - was instead attended by more than a dozen rightwing activists, with the government being held to account by a close ally of Donald Trump, an employee at Turning Point USA and someone from a pillow salesman's nascent media company. Continue reading...

Astrid Tuminez, Utah Valley University's first female leader, had to pivot from personal tragedy to address a wounding that happened to all of us'Astrid Tuminez was on her way to Rome, the trip a kind of pilgrimage after months of grief. Her husband, Jeffrey Tolk, had died suddenly earlier in the year, and the loss had left her carrying a weight she couldn't set down. I felt darkness and a rage I'd never known before. It was like a tectonic shift in my reality," she said.Tuminez imagined quiet days walking through old churches, sitting in dim chapels in Rome. As part of her spiritual healing, she hoped her schedule held a meeting with Pope Leo. But as her flight landed in Atlanta for a short connection, her phone lit up. One sentence, again and again: Charlie has been shot." Continue reading...

Defense secretary defiant but allegations of war crimes and blistering watchdog report increase calls for him to goPete Hegseth is facing the most serious crisis of his tenure as defense secretary, engulfed by allegations of war crimes in the Caribbean and a blistering inspector general report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence. Yet despite the long list of trouble and as lawmakers from both parties call for his resignation, Hegseth shows no signs of stepping down and still holds Donald Trump's support.The twin crises have engulfed the former Fox News personality in separate but overlapping allegations that lawmakers, policy experts and former officials say reveal a pattern of dangerous recklessness at the helm of the Pentagon. Democratic legislators have reignited calls for his ouster after revelations that survivors clinging to wreckage from a September boat strike were deliberately killed in a double-tap" attack, while a defense department investigation released on Thursday concluded he violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive details via the Signal messaging app hours before airstrikes in Yemen. Continue reading...

Pediatricians say panel's decision will create confusion and access issues, and condemn parody of public health'The entire US childhood vaccine schedule is now open for scrutiny, experts say, after government vaccine advisers took up discussions of the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and their components and changed its recommendations on one crucial prevention.Several of the vaccine advisers are longtime anti-vaccine activists, and they were all chosen by Donald Trump's controversial health secretary Robert F. Kennedy after he fired the previous advisers in an unprecedented move to enact dramatic changes to US vaccination policy. Kennedy has been a frequent critic of vaccines. Continue reading...

England will face a rematch of their 2018 semi-final in the opening fixture of their World Cup campaign next summer, after they were drawn alongside Croatia in Group L. England will also play Panama, another side they faced at the Russia World Cup, and Ghana.

Each nation's World Cup is defined, for good or bad, by huge, indelible moments. With a favorable draw, the onus is now on the US to create themChristian Pulisic vividly remembers watching it with his family. So does Tyler Adams, who saw it with his friends from soccer camp. Memories of Tim Howard catching an Algerian header in Pretoria, and hurling it upfield to ignite the counterattack that would lead to Landon Donovan's instantly iconic goal. The goal that spared the United States men's national team's blushes at the 2010 World Cup, sneaking them out of the group stage at Algeria's expense. One of the most iconic moments in US socer history.Pulisic was a few months from turning 12. Adams had just turned 10. Matt Turner would be 16 the next day, and Howard's heroics made him wonder if he ought to devote himself fully to becoming a goalkeeper. Continue reading...

The persecution of brown people and mass deportations will not create the white country of far-right fantasyAs Donald Trump deteriorates and his grasp on power fades, he has been lashing out furiously at female journalists and ethnic groups, most recently Somali Americans. His insults land because of their animosity and his power, not their accuracy. Likewise, his administration's attacks on immigrants are sloppy and driven by lies. It's strikingly clear that the target is not individuals with criminal records. It's anyone and everyone guilty of being brown. Native Americans with tribal identification cards, US citizens, people doing crucial work from construction to nursing, military veterans, college students, people sleeping in their own beds, small children: all kinds of residents of this country are under attack.ICE raids are cruel, inhumane, and do nothing to serve public safety," declares Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect. Masked thugs smashing car windows and dragging parents away from their babies, terrorizing whole swathes of the population, and interfering with the ability of schools and businesses to function does the opposite. The rounds of targeted hatred by Trump and his minions - for people from Haiti during the 2024 campaign, for people from Venezuela this spring and summer, and most recently for people from Somalia - rely on defamatory lies and insults, because the facts about these groups don't support the hate.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Continue reading...

Whether using frozen Russian assets, ramping up defence production or deepening the relationship with the EU, it is up to us to secure Ukraine's future - and our ownEurope, you have been warned. President Vladimir Putin has waged a full-scale war against Ukraine for nearly four years and this week threatened that Russia was ready right now" for war with Europe if need be. President Donald Trump has demonstrated that the US is ready to sell out Ukraine for the sake of a dirty deal with Putin's Russia. His new US National Security Strategy prescribes cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations". How much more clarity do you need?Now it's up to us Europeans to enable Ukraine to survive armed assault from Moscow and diplomatic betrayal from Washington. In doing so, we also defend ourselves. For a year now, people have been telling me that Trump will eventually get tough on Russia. It's been the geopolitical version of Waiting for Godot. Then his personal real-estate emissaries come up with a 28-point peace plan" that is a Russian-American imperial and commercial deal at the expense of both Ukraine and Europe. Continue reading...

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Settlement one of US's largest and comes after officer killed Konoa Wilson, who was running from teen shooting at himThe city of San Diego has agreed to pay a $30m settlement to the family of Konoa Wilson, the 16-year-old boy fatally shot in the back by a police officer while running away after narrowly missing another shooting by an unknown third party at a train station.The payout is the result of the wrongful death lawsuit Wilson's family filed against the city in June, claiming the officer who shot the teen acted with racial violence". Wilson is half Black, family attorneys said. Continue reading...

US Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem says list will expand to more than 30 countries - key US politics stories from 5 December 2025The US plans to expand the number of countries covered by its travel ban to more than 30, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, has announced.The bans apply to both immigrants and non-immigrants, such as tourists, students and business travelers. It expands on the list of 19 countries already facing travel restrictions, which includes Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen. Continue reading...

Move from CDC advisers mirrors Trump team's regressive approach to longstanding vaccine guidance

Joint statement comes as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow on US-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of warDonald Trump's advisers and Ukrainian officials said Friday they'll meet for a third day of talks after making progress on creating a security framework for postwar Ukraine and are urging Russia to commit to peace.The officials, who met for a second day in Florida on Friday, issued a joint statement that offered broad brushstrokes about the progress they say that's been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of war. Continue reading...

A manageable World Cup draw hands the co-hosts matches with Australia, Paraguay and a European playoff winner - familiar opponents posing very different challengesThe United States were placed in a World Cup group with Australia, Paraguay, and the winner of a European play-off between Turkey, Romania, Kosovo, and Slovakia in Friday's 2026 World Cup draw in Washington DC. Here's what to know about the co-host's opponents. Continue reading...

Justices to take up case amid legal fight over order to heavily restrict right to birthright citizenship in US

Our live report from a ceremony that was part intriguing spectacle and part prolonged fever dream featuring Donald Trump dancing to the Village PeopleFrance, Senegal and Norway meet in Group of Death'

Ruling compels unsealing of documents from 2006-2007 federal investigation into Epstein in FloridaA federal judge in Florida ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking cases on Friday, citing the recently enacted federal law that overrides traditional secrecy protections.US district judge Rodney Smith ruled that the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law last month by Donald Trump, overrode federal rules prohibiting the disclosure of grand jury materials. Continue reading...

Advisers for the CDC voted to limit the vaccines - here's what happened and why the vote is so significantVaccine advisers for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted on Friday morning to limit hepatitis B vaccines in a major move signaling the Trump administration's regressive approach to vaccines that have been given safely and effectively for decades.What is the situation now and what does this mean? Continue reading...

These deadly US boat strikes are the latest example of a president corrupting both the law and moralityThe Trump administration looks ever more like a criminal enterprise - and now it seems to have added war crimes to its repertoire. Though even that may be too generous a description.On Thursday, word came that the US military had launched yet another deadly strike on a small boat moving through international waters. This time the attack killed four people, bringing to at least 87 the number of people the US has killed in a series of 22 such strikes on what it says are drug boats - vessels carrying illicit narcotics in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistGuardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US?