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Police department officials lament systemic problem' and say rats enjoying' 400,000lbs of marijuana in storageHouston has found itself with a problem after drug-eating rats invaded the city's police evidence room, according to officials.Last Friday, a handful of city officials including Houston mayor John Whitmire, police chief J Noe Diaz and Harris county district attorney Sean Teare gave a press conference in which they announced new efforts to clear out outdated evidence from the Houston police's evidence room which has been infested with rats, KHOU reports. Continue reading...

Measures come a week after Washington also sanctioned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's rival, Mohamed Hamdan DagaloThe United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan's army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.The US treasury department said in a statement that under Burhan's leadership, the army's war tactics have included indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, and extrajudicial executions. Continue reading...

Responses from lawmakers underlined the very democratic fragility the president looked to highlightJoe Biden's farewell address warning that an oligarchy is taking shape" which threatens American democracy sparked polarized reactions from lawmakers that seemed to validate the very democratic fragility the president looked to highlight.Speaking from the Oval Office for the final time before president-elect Donald Trump's return to power, on Wednesday Biden sounded an alarm about America's future. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America," he said, that posed a challenge to our basic rights and freedoms". Continue reading...

Danielle Collins got into a back-and-forth with a booing crowd at the Australian Open after eliminating local hope Destanee Aiava, and blowing kisses to the spectators. 'The people that don't like you, and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills,' the world No 11 said.

The president-elect's pose says: here's a man you can't get rid of easily. The new vice-president's says: Can you believe this?'It's possible that you have seen far more of Donald Trump's face than you'd like in recent months. But if you haven't, then I've got great news: the president-elect's official portrait has now been released. This morning, Trump's transition team shared official portraits of the incoming president and his vice-president-elect, JD Vance, before their inauguration next week. Official Portraits Released - And They Go Hard ????" an accompanying statement from the Trump team proclaimed.So just how hard do they go? You can rate them for yourself, but Trump's somewhat untraditional pose is certainly trying to project tough guy". He's got one eye squinted menacingly and a grim, defiant look on his face. The pose is strikingly similar to his famous mugshot from 2023. Continue reading...

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Complaints accuse TV stations and networks of promotion of 2020 election falsehoods, bias and news distortion'The outgoing chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered it to reject four complaints and petitions against television stations, saying she believes the complaints seek to curtail freedom of the press and undermine the First Amendment".In a statement on Thursday, just days before she is set to step down, Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said all four complaints were essentially political in nature. She described them as attempts to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC". Continue reading...

Trump ally says he has reached deal with election workers he defamed and will not have to turn over key possessionsRudy Giuliani's trial over whether he must turn over his Florida condo and other prized possessions to former Georgia election workers whom he defamed was delayed on Thursday after the former New York mayor failed to show up in court.Giuliani later shared on X that he had reached a resolution of the litigation with the plaintiffs that will result in a satisfaction of the plaintiffs' judgment". Continue reading...

The outgoing president was right, in his farewell address, to warn of the dangers posed by the billionaires around the tableAristocrats are the most difficult Animals to manage, of anything in the whole Theory and practice of Government. They will not suffer themselves to be governed," John Adams warned, writing after his presidency. Banning titles was insufficient; a few would still be distinguished by birth or, especially, wealth. The problem was not just their ability to buy political favours but the grip that their money had on people's minds.Economic and political power entwine everywhere. Fear of the rich's outsized influence has existed throughout US history. Yet at times the relationship becomes especially stark and threatening. On Wednesday, Joe Biden evoked the 19th-century Gilded Age and the robber barons - who crushed competitors, exploited workers, bought judges and politicians, and flaunted wealth - in his warning against oligarchs. Continue reading...

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People in Maga hats at lunch with Trump Jr last week did not know him and were invited in off the street, hotel boss saysA group of Greenlanders who attended a lunch hosted by Donald Trump Jr wearing Make America Great Again caps were not dedicated supporters of the US president-elect but homeless people enticed by the prospect of free food, it has been claimed.Trump Jnr visited the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, last week, shortly after his father declared it was an absolute necessity" for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory. Continue reading...

Ashley Moody, Trump loyalist with conservative track record, will replace president-elect's secretary of state pickThe Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has announced he is appointing Ashley Moody, the state's attorney general, to fill Marco Rubio's Senate seat. Rubio is Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state.Moody has been Florida's attorney general since 2019, having replaced Pam Bondi, Trump's pick for US attorney general. Rubio had been in the Senate since 2011 as part of the Tea Party wave during the 2010 election. Continue reading...

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was interrupted several times during his news conference by anti-war protesters seated in the state department briefing room, who challenged his record on Gaza

Fleeing the regime in Venezuela, a couple scored one of the few appointments to apply for asylum via the CBP One app but the president-elect has warned: Get ready to leave'Jorge Luis Jimenez and his wife did exactly what the US government asked of them when they spent months trying over and over again to get an appointment to cross the border, after risking everything to flee Venezuela.Now they may be easy targets in Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown - despite living and working legally in the US. Continue reading...

As Donald Trump voters celebrate, Democrats plan a fightback - campaigners overseas on what happens nextDonald Trump's voters in the UK are celebrating the arrival of what Sarah Elliot, an American conservative in London, describes as his new world order," while expat Democrats plan a fightback from Europe. In the buildup to the US presidential inauguration, the Guardian spoke to key campaigners in overseas communities. Continue reading...

Merrick Garland pressed to use final days to release report on president-elect's retention of classified documents

Disasters have long led to misinformation as people grasp for control, but the consequences can be life and deathThe Hollywood sign was not on fire. Firefighters weren't using women's purses to put out fires. A fish is not responsible for the blazes. The Los Angeles fire department didn't see big budget cuts. The fires were not started deliberately as some kind of mass plot related to high-speed rail or the 2028 Olympics. Firefighting efforts did not include spraying a mood stabilizer into the air to put locals into a trance. Diversity measures are not to blame.Fires are still burning in Los Angeles, and with them has come a near-constant stream of rumors, half-truths, conspiracy theories and outright lies. Natural disasters have long led to the spread of misinformation as people try to make sense of destruction and grasp for control when the world around them is destroyed. In the aftermath of the disaster, a lot is still unknown: what caused it, what could have prevented it, who could be to blame. Continue reading...

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's desperation to be cool as they suck up to Donald Trump is so cringe it makes my skin crawlI don't know if anyone else has noticed this but everything seems to be going down the tubes quite fast. And not fun tubes, like at a waterpark. The ending in shit" kind. The issues are complicated, the reasons diverse, but there are a few culprits who have been making themselves extremely visible.Alongside those holding political office, tech gragillionnaires (I had to invent a new number) like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg obviously wield huge global influence with their computers and numbers and whatnot. There has been a lot written about them and there will be more, as they continue to shape the world and win favour with Donald Trump. Big, scary, probably ruinous things lie ahead. But I'm here to discuss the smaller part. The insult to injury, the sprinkling of salt in the wound. Continue reading...

The Oregon Democrat has written a book, a call for chutzpah' from those seeking political progressRon Wyden of Oregon, the second-most senior Democrat in the US Senate, has written a book. Not your average political memoir, it's called It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change, and it does indeed look like a campaign handbook, a stylized megaphone blaring its title on the cover.I've read a lot of politicians' books," Wyden says. They're just deadening because there's a lot of bragging. You know, I passed this, and I passed that.' Then there's a section where they say, I'm being urged by so many people to run for president.' And then they feign un-interest, and then the third section is, Here's my presidential exploratory committee.' Continue reading...

Police say students lured victim, 22, then accused him of being a pedophile for meeting an 18-year-old before filming attackFive Massachusetts college students are scheduled to make their first appearances in court Thursday, accused of plotting to lure a man through a dating app into visiting campus last fall and then seizing him as part of a Catch a Predator" trend on TikTok.The students, all teens at Assumption University, a private Roman Catholic school in Worcester, face arraignment on conspiracy and kidnapping charges in Worcester district court. Continue reading...

The middle of the much-hyped Ball brothers is the only one not to make the NBA. But his music career has many hailing his family's nose for successIf ever there was an athlete who could be a spokesperson for middle-child syndrome, it's LiAngelo Ball - basketball's black sheep. Nearly a decade ago the 6ft 5in forward was touted as an NBA inevitable with his brothers, Lonzo and LaMelo; most of that promotion came loud and direct from paterfamilias LaVar, who parlayed the acute national interest in the boys into the family-owned Big Baller Brand apparel company.But while Zo and Melo" have since realized the father's prophecy - running point, respectively, for the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets - Gelo" morphed into an object of ridicule as he bounced around minor leagues at home and abroad. Just when it seemed LiAngelo couldn't be any more pitiable, he reemerged at the beginning of this year on a popular stream belonging to an internet personality named N3on to share a rap song he made called Tweaker. I might swerve, bend that corner / whoa-oh-ohhhh," he drones on the chorus. You wanna tweak? / Get up with me and Ima show you how that go." Continue reading...

Ed Davey says incoming US president is threat to peace and prosperity' and relations with him must be transactional

Active duty servicemen and veterans statistically most likely demographic to be mass casualty offender'After the two men who carried out stateside terror attacks on New Year's Day were revealed as veterans of the war on terror, public scrutiny about the role of American servicemen in such incidents came into focus.The New Orleans attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was a 13-year veteran of the US army, while the Las Vegas suicide bomber was an active-duty Green Beret. Continue reading...

Joe Biden says his team negotiated deal but Donald Trump claims it was agreed now only because he is about to become president

Many patients say they were harmed by Advocate Health's billing and collection practices - even as the health system has canceled thousands of liens against patients' homesAdvocate Health, one of America's largest hospital chains, says it is working hard to confront one of the biggest problems in US healthcare today - promoting itself as a leader in the effort to solve the nation's medical debt crisis".The non-profit hospital system says it has revamped its billing and collection practices and boosted the number of patients who qualify for charity care. In September 2024, it announced it would take the bold step" of canceling thousands of debt judgments held as liens against patients' homes in multiple states, including North Carolina, where the fast-growing chain is headquartered. Continue reading...

Defense secretary nominee is incompetent and seems to have no redeeming qualities - but his appointment looks assuredIn some ways, the secretary of Defense nomination of Pete Hegseth was always meant as a domination exercise, a way of making Senate Republicans humiliate themselves for Donald Trump's approval.Hegseth has white supremacist tattoos and what is reportedly a pretty severe drinking problem: one friend told the New Yorker's Jane Mayer that they once saw him order three gin and tonics at a breakfast meeting. In 2017, a woman went to the emergency room - and then the police - after what she said was a rape by Hegseth; he later paid a settlement and had her sign an nondisclosure agreement. (Hegseth claims the encounter, which took place while he was married to his second wife and had just had a child with the woman who would become his third, was consensual and denies all wrongdoing.) He wrote a book, The War on Warriors, which seems to consist mainly of his gripes about the presence of women in combat roles and his objections to the fact that American service members are required by abide by the Geneva conventions. Continue reading...

High amounts of forever chemicals' that can be absorbed through skin detected in common brands of wrist bandsSmartwatch and fitness tracker bands can contain high levels of toxic PFAS forever chemicals" that are absorbed through the skin, presenting a potentially major" exposure to the dangerous substance, new US research finds.The University of Notre Dame study checked for PFAS, or markers of the chemicals, in 22 common brands. It detected them in 15, and at levels much higher than typically found in consumer goods and clothing. Continue reading...

Safety failures scrutinized after Emile Graham was badly injured during attack and witnessed his best friend's deathLoved ones of a man who witnessed his best friend's murder during the deadly New Year's morning truck attack in New Orleans - and was badly wounded himself - have been lamenting the city's failure to better protect revelers on its most famous street that day.After revelations that the city either took down or chose not to deploy three different types of barriers that it had to prevent vehicular ramming attacks like the one that killed 14 people and hurt nearly 60 others on Bourbon Street on 1 January, the father of injured victim Emile Luui" Graham said: They should've protected people better than this." Continue reading...

A new book chronicles the struggles of early climbers as they attempted to mount expeditions on the world's highest peaksIn 1907, Tom Longstaff made the first known summit of a 7,000-plus-meter peak, Trisul in the Himalayas. What did he consider the sine qua non for a mountaineer? The answer may surprise you.Longstaff believed that the most important quality of a mountaineer" was knowing when to turn back," according to Dan Light, who documents the rise of mountaineering in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in a new book, The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering. Continue reading...

These high priests of globalisation are facing the fact that Trump's tariffs are part of a global shift to protectionismHollywood would struggle to come up with a better plot. On Monday, as Donald Trump returns to the White House, the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual talk fest kicks off in Davos. The arch protectionist v the spiritual home of globalisation. The man who says tariff" is the most beautiful word in the dictionary" being sworn in for a second term just as the high priests of free trade assemble 5,000ft up in the Swiss Alps.The Davos elite have a love-hate relationship with Trump: they despise him, but when he showed up at the WEF as president he was the hottest ticket in town. This year, the billionaires will have to make do with a video link appearance, but even from the other side of the Atlantic, Trump will dominate events. That's not surprising. Most of the WEF attenders have grown up believing that trade barriers should be torn down, not erected. As such, they see Trump's support for protectionism as a dangerous heresy.Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Trade secretary says UK's globally oriented' economy means it is vulnerable - but it is better positioned than China and EU

Netanyahu, with Trump waiting in the wings, has no interest in lasting peace. From these beginnings must come political change - and a reckoningAt last! The yearned-for Israel-Hamas ceasefire-for-hostages deal is finally happening. It is welcome. Like thin ice covering deep waters, it is scarily fragile, prone to crack under the slightest pressure. And it is desperately, lethally overdue. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, and many Israelis, have died since last May, when US president Joe Biden first set out the parameters of this agreement. Civilians are still being killed in Israeli airstrikes that have actually intensified since the two sides grudgingly initialled the deal in Qatar.Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere are naturally relieved these merciless Israeli bombardments will soon stop. But celebrations are tempered by fears about the future, and by deep grief and anger over the still terrifying present and immediate past. According to Gaza health ministry figures, more than 46,000 people have died there since the 7 October 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks killed over 1,200 people. The true Palestinian death toll may be even higher.Simon Tisdall is the Observer's foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Turki Alalshikh is willing to spend billions to promote boxing. Bringing back what made the sport so compelling would helpOn January 14, 2025, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh posted a message on social media that read, MAKE BOXING GREAT AGAIN."That's a noble goal. And the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority has signaled its willingness to spend billions of dollars to achieve it.Thomas Hauser's email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book - a memoir titled My Mother and Me - is a personal memoir that was published by Admission Press. Continue reading...

There are dozens of reasons why the former Dallas star returning to his old team could end in disaster. But he would be able to stand up to Jerry JonesIt didn't take long for Jerry Jones to turn the Dallas Cowboys' head coach search into a circus.Perhaps that's just how he likes it. In the middle of the NFL playoffs, with the Cowboys long out of the postseason picture, up pops Jones to push his team back to the top of the news agenda. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has announced a ceasefire deal between Hamas and the Israeli government. It is due to begin on 19 January - the day before the US president leaves office - and will include the release of hostages detained by Hamas and Israel. When a journalist asked Biden: 'Who do you think deserves credit for this, you or Trump?', he responded: 'Is that a joke?'The US government previously revealed the deal was developed and negotiated by Biden's team and would largely be implemented by the incoming administration. The war in Gaza has left at least 46,000 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis dead

Despite a few more recognisable names (er, Kid Rock) due to appear than last time, this will not be the cultural event of the yearIn the quaintly upsetting era of George W Bush's presidency, there was something people liked to pompously call the cultural opposition". This was made up of figures in popular culture pushing back against Bush, and 20 years later it may be imagined their spiritual heirs are limbering up for equivalent duties. The first formal opportunity falls next week with Donald Trump's inauguration and, just as leaders in the tech and business worlds have failed spectacularly to rally against him, so a sense prevails that among certain artists and influencers there has been a gentle softening of spines too.This is a general observation and also one located in the figure of Carrie Underwood, the country star scheduled to sing the national anthem in Trump's honour on Monday. Underwood, a 41-year-old who came to prominence via the fourth season of American Idol, may seem a slim figure on whom to hang observations about the waning of cultural opposition towards Trump. There persists a feeling, however, that in 2016, no singer-songwriter of Underwood's prominence would have offered her services to the Trump administration. Back then, when Trump's election struck many in the US and around the world with the force of an out-of-body experience, the best the inauguration committee could come up with was another talent-show graduate and holder of the unfortunate mantle former child star", Jackie Evancho.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

During his farewell address, the president expressed gratitude toward the US and paid homage to the idea of liberal democracy while issuing a warning against the consolidation of power in the hands of a few. He warned against 'oligarchy' and expressed grave concern about the state of the free press and the acceleration of the climate crisis

The president did not air grievances or dwell on the past, but sounded an alarm call about the future under TrumpThere was a sting in the tail. Joe Biden's farewell address had not seemed like a must-watch for most politics-weary Americans. Those who did dutifully tune in might have been expecting the president to deliver a yawn-inducing first draft of his White House memoir.But after more than half a century in elected office, the 82-year-old great-grandfather had one last surprise. The primetime speech did not mention Donald Trump by name. Instead it will be remembered for its dark, ominous warning about something wider and deeper of which Trump is a symptom. Continue reading...

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New Georgia Project, fined $300,000 by state ethics body, admitted to 16 violations of election law, officials sayThe New Georgia Project, a prominent voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, has been fined $300,000 by the state ethics commission of Georgia for illegally campaigning for Abrams and other Democratic candidates during the 2018 election cycle.The consent order ends a years-long investigation that the voting rights group had broken state campaign finance laws by raising and spending millions in support of candidate without proper registration and disclosure. The fine is the largest in Georgia history, according to the state ethics commission. Continue reading...

National Weather Service warns next week is a concern' as winds could bring increased chances of red flag warningAnxious and wildfire-weary Angelenos can expect a break in the extreme winds that have been fanning the flames destroying the region. And while welcome, the reprieve may be short-lived, the National Weather Service (NWS) said in a social media post Wednesday afternoon.Next week is a concern. While confident that we will NOT see a repeat of last week, dangerous fire weather conditions are expected," the agency said. Continue reading...

President sounds alarm about growing power of ultra-wealthy before handing presidency back to TrumpJoe Biden's final address to the nation struck an ominous tone after warning of the growing power of America's ultra-wealthy, and cautioning that an emerging oligarchy threatens the foundations of US democracy.The Wednesday prime-time Oval Office speech came as Biden prepares to hand the presidency back to Donald Trump, who he defeated in 2020 only to see return to power after Biden's own dramatic exit from politics last summer. Continue reading...

It's back-to-school time, which means nostalgia for covering books in contact and spending way too long in the notebook aisleAs a child of the 90s, my summers were spent splashing in the neighbours' overly chlorinated pool and flicking through the back-to-school stationery catalogue. I circled the essential items, categorised my needs and wants, and cross-referenced them with the list the school had provided. I marked stationery shopping" on my calendar - an annual highlight - and counted down the days.Despite the heat and humidity - the least conducive weather conditions for covering exercise books in sticky contact - my mother would take deep breaths and carefully coat each one in whatever print I'd chosen. She used a ruler to remove the bubbles while I dreaded the very real possibility that I'd have to live with ugly folds on my school books for a whole year. I'm the first-born daughter - that kind of imperfect would never do. Continue reading...

Avery Colvert created Altadena Girls, an organization now with celebrities sending products, eateries reaching out to cater and a surplus of volunteersCars lined up outside an art studio in eastern Los Angeles on Sunday morning, packed with boxes of feminine care products, pimple patches, skincare, clothes, underwear, makeup and more. Some volunteers had driven for hours to support a unique mutual aid effort.As fires in Los Angeles continue to rage, people across the city are springing into action to meet the needs of the thousands of families who have been displaced. Among the dozens of clothing donation and bottled water distribution sites, Altadena Girls - a new organization started by 14-year-old Avery Colvert - has struck a chord with its focus on teen girls' recovery. Continue reading...