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Swimming has become addictive - the euphoria of being in the water, of overcoming a fear I never expected to overcome

Motorcade with flag-draped casket heads to boyhood home in Plains before moving to Atlanta, then WashingtonJimmy Carter's long public goodbye began on Saturday in south Georgia, where the 39th US president's life began more than 100 years ago.A motorcade with Carter's flag-draped casket is heading to his hometown of Plains and past his boyhood home on the way to Atlanta. The procession began at the Phoebe Sumter medical center in Americus, where former Secret Service agents who had protected the late president served as pallbearers. A mournful train whistle filled the clear air as the pallbearers turned to face the hearse for a final goodbye, their hands on their hearts. Continue reading...

Under Donald Trump, the US may become an unreliable ally. The case is getting stronger for Seoul to build its own deterrentSo-called frozen conflicts can suddenly turn hot without warning. Look at Ukraine, Syria or Armenia-Azerbaijan. Might Korea be next? For almost three-quarters of a century, an armistice - not a peace treaty - has prevented old foes North Korea and South Korea tearing each other apart. Their respective backers, China and the US, underwrote a chilly cold war status quo.Now, momentously, the ice is cracking. But it's not a political thaw. Mutual hostility is undiminished. It's not because Kim Jong-un's impoverished hermit kingdom is imploding, as often predicted. Rather, it's because North Korea, buoyed by new friends in high places, is on a roll while South Korea is suffering a very public meltdown. In short, things are hotting up. Continue reading...

With the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House' to return, gun-safety groups eye state level actionsDonald Trump's imminent return to Washington has put gun-safety groups on high alert, as the president-elect once described himself as the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House".Emma Brown, executive director of the gun-safety group Giffords, initially reacted to the news of Trump's victory in the presidential race not with dismay, but with defiance. Continue reading...

Shamsud-Din Jabbar once worked at a major accountancy, but a chaotic family life undermined his stabilityShamsud-Din Jabbar's descent into religious extremism unfolded over years - but his deadly disdain for many of his fellow Americans' way of life had recently intensified as he faced increasing financial and familial pressures, his associates have said in the wake of the truck attack that killed 14 Near Year's Day revelers on New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street.Jabbar - a 42-year-old former army signal corps sergeant who was shot dead by police - was described as smart and affable by his former military colleagues, who shared shock at his transformation into someone authorities now consider to be a terrorist. Continue reading...

The US president-elect's policy on the conflict may prove decisive, but appeasing both sides will be a challengeA new year in Ukraine began in much the same way as the old one finished: with deadly Russian drone attacks across the country. In Kyiv, one person was killed and at least six others were injured in the first few hours of 2025.It is Ukraine's third new year since Russia's invasion. If 2023 began with hopes high that Ukrainian battlefield gains would push Russia back and lead to an outright victory, by the start of 2024 the Ukrainian army and population were already settled in for the long haul and had few illusions about a quick victory. Continue reading...

Joe Biden awards highest civilian honour to 19 people for exemplary contributions to prosperity, values or security of the US'The U2 frontman Bono, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour, and the British conservationist Dame Jane Goodall are to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honour.Joe Biden will drape medals on Saturday around the necks of 19 people from the world of politics, sports, entertainment and other fields for exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavours". Continue reading...

Pulitzer prize winner Ann Telnaes had drawn a cartoon of the paper's owner kneeling before Donald TrumpThe Washington Post's Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet's owner, Jeff Bezos - along with other media and technology barons - kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency.I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations - and some differences - about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at," Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. Until now." Continue reading...

A wave of local publications are considering requests to wipe or edit old articles to give their subjects a fresh startCivil rights advocates across the US have long fought to free people from their criminal records, with campaigns to expunge old cases and keep people's past arrests private when they apply for jobs and housing.The efforts are critical, as more than 70 million Americans have prior convictions or arrests - roughly one in three adults. But the policies haven't addressed one of the most damaging ways past run-ins with police can derail people's lives: old media coverage. Continue reading...

Edward Pettifer, stepson of princes' former nanny, was one of 14 killed in New Year's Day truck attackThe Prince of Wales has said he is shocked and saddened by the death of his former nanny's stepson in the New Years Day truck attack in New Orleans.Edward Pettifer, 31, was one of 14 people killed when a pickup truck was driven through a crowd in the early hours of New Year's Day. Continue reading...

The It Ends With US wrangling is becoming increasingly nasty - we live in a world where the powerful can bury' their enemiesFirst, a mea culpa. Last year I wrote a critical piece about the promotional campaign for the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's controversial novel It Ends With Us. The fact that Blake Lively appeared to be using a movie about domestic violence to promote her husband's gin brand as well as her own haircare line, I noted, was pretty grim. Continue reading...

A man can do anything but if a woman does an inch of wrong, people want to watch her burnBefore filing a legal complaint and lawsuit against co-star and director Justin Baldoni - and an explosive court filing revealed he wanted to bury" her - what would people have said about Blake Lively?Last summer, surrounding the press tour for the film It Ends With Us, Lively became the internet's favourite villain for nearly a month. Her crimes included giving dismissive interviews, being badly dressed, too chipper, too rude and, most of all, annoying.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Just eight weeks ago, the country had heaved a sigh of relied after the presidential election went peaceablyOn New Year's Eve, a federal prosecutor revealed to a court in Virginia an astonishing discovery. She disclosed in a legal document that last month FBI agents acting on an informant's tip-off searched a property in Isle of Wight, a county named after the island in the English Channel often described as rustic and quaint.What they found on the 20-acre farm was anything but pleasant. The agents stumbled upon what the prosecutor said was probably the largest seizure by number of finished explosive devices in FBI history". Continue reading...

President-elect said he would give states the power to control education, but it would be extremely difficultDonald Trump issued a bold campaign promise to his voters: he would eliminate the US Department of Education and give states all power to control education.He didn't lay out how he could get rid of the cabinet-level agency, but he alone cannot eliminate a department, making it an extremely difficult task to accomplish. Congress is requested to approve the creation or demise of an agency. Continue reading...

Animals, mostly birds, die of smoke inhalation in incident at shopping centre in TexasMore than 500 animals have died after a fire broke out in a shopping centre in Dallas.The 579 animals, mostly birds, were in a pet shop at Plaza Latina in the north-west of the Texas city. Continue reading...

Family remembers Terrence Kennedy, 63, as nicest person in the world' after reporting he was one of 14 people killed

More than half of the 12 identified were from local areas and all ranged in age from 18 to 63The New Orleans coroner's office has released the identities of most of the 14 people killed in the deadly truck attack aimed at New Year's Day revelers on the city's famous Bourbon Street.More than half of the 12 victims identified after being slain Wednesday by the attacker - a US army veteran who was shot dead by police - were from the New Orleans metropolitan area or other Louisiana communities. Others were residents of Alabama, Mississippi and New Jersey. Continue reading...

Investigators recover equipment from house rented by attacker who killed 14 and injured dozens on New Year's DayAuthorities have confirmed finding bomb-making materials at the New Orleans home that US military veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar rented before ramming a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year's revelers, according to an FBI statement containing the most complete account yet of the attack.Investigators recovered from Jabbar's rental truck a transmitter intended to trigger the two bombs, the statement read, confirming prior media reporting. Continue reading...

President-elect will be sentenced for his 34 felony convictions on 10 January, Judge Juan Merchan rulesA judge on Friday set Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush-money case for 10 January - little over a week before he is due to return to the White House - but promised not to jail him.Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial in New York, denied the president-elect's motion to dismiss the case due to his election victory in November. He said Trump is expected to appear for sentencing either in-person or virtually. Continue reading...

Matthew Livelsberger died in an apparent suicide after reportedly breaking up with wife six days before explosionPolice in the US were still investigating the possible motivations and background of Matthew Livelsberger, the decorated special forces soldier who died in an apparent suicide and vehicle bombing of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day.Authorities said Livelsberger had written a note saying his actions were intended to serve as wakeup call". He apparently shot himself dead inside the Tesla seconds before the vehicle packed with fireworks, gas-filled tanks and camping fuel exploded outside the hotel lobby. Seven people suffered minor injuries, but little damage was done to the hotel. Continue reading...

Mike Johnson has been re-elected US House speaker, after seeing off a brief revolt by two Republicans. Johnson had won 218 votes while Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, had won all 215 votes of his caucus

Eight members of a family were killed in a 2016 shooting and another two members received lengthy sentencesTwo more family members convicted in the killings of eight members of an Ohio family received lengthy prison terms on Friday for their roles in the 2016 shootings, as prosecutions near completion in what has been described as the most heinous crime in modern Ohio history.Visiting Judge Jonathan Hein sentenced Edward Jake" Wagner to life in prison with the chance of parole in 32 years - after 12 years on gun charges and then 20 for the murders of five of the eight victims. Continue reading...

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on New Orleans, read our full report:

Department of Transportation denounces unrealistic' JetBlue schedules in yet another setback for the airlineThe US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Friday a $2m fine against JetBlue for operating multiple chronically delayed flights". The agency said it was the first time it had fined an airline for chronic delays on specific routes, which it said was caused by unrealistic" scheduling practices by JetBlue.Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today's action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality," the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said in a statement. Continue reading...

Campaigners say US president-elect's call to get rid of windmills' is based on North Sea interests of oil and gas firmsClimate campaigners have accused Donald Trump of attacking Britain's energy policies on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, which made record donations to his presidential campaign.The US president-elect wrote in a social media post on Friday that the British government was grave mistake by cracking down on North Sea oil and gas producers - and that the UK should abandon wind generation. Continue reading...

Tight security and makeshift memorials mark scene where 14 people were killed during New Year's Day celebrations

A concussion inspired me to challenge the invisibility of middle age, find my voice and discover how music might ward off dementiaWhen I saw the email from my neighbour asking whether I'd like to audition to sing in the rock band he played in, my body froze at the idea. My brain began drafting a reflex Thanks, but no thanks" response. I thought: You haven't sung in years. You're too old.As a petite, mid-50s woman, I'd been resigning myself to that invisibility we're told comes for us. I still hid my grey hairs beneath varying shades of red, but I'd swapped my vintage fashion for hoodies, T-shirts and jeans. I stayed home more and generally took up less space. Continue reading...

Vastly experienced former defense secretary who allowed women into combat is braced for backlash but feels deep, deep down in my guts' that norms will holdIn January 2013, as US defense secretary, Leon Panetta lifted a ban on women serving in combat. Some time after January 2025, if Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's nominee for the role, is confirmed and stays true to his expressed position, that ban may be reimposed.I'm particularly concerned about that, having been the secretary that opened up that opportunity for women to be in combat," Panetta told the Guardian. And I'm very proud of it, because I think they performed well. They're great warriors. I've seen them in action in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. And we now have over 200,000 women who are part of the military ... In a democracy like the United States, it makes sense for everyone who's willing to serve to have that opportunity." Continue reading...

Four years on, it's the most astounding case of collective amnesia. That so many seem willing to normalise that anti-democratic outrage is frighteningThe sun shone brightly on 6 January 2021. The birds chirped, children frolicked and thousands of unarmed patriots gathered peacefully in Washington DC for a day of love". It was a beautiful gathering in support of US democracy. In the words of incoming president Donald Trump, nothing done wrong at all".Perhaps that's not quite how you remember the scenes of violent mobs storming the Capitol that were broadcast around the world four years ago. Perhaps that's not how you, personally, would characterise an event in which more than 140 police officers were viciously assaulted and four people died; a furious riot in which crowds chanted hang Mike Pence" and set up a makeshift gallows. But it's certainly how a significant number of people seem to remember it: 6 January seems to have been alarmingly normalised - a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll published last year found about seven in 10 Republicans think too much fuss is being made about the event and that it is time to move on".Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist and the author of Strong Female Lead Continue reading...

President cites national security concerns as he follows through on pledge to keep steelmaker domestically ownedJoe Biden blocked a $14.9bn bid by Japan's Nippon Steel for US Steel on Friday, citing concerns the deal could hurt national security and following through on a pledge to keep the steelmaker domestically owned as he prepares to depart the White House.US Steel will remain a proud American company - one that's American-owned, American-operated, by American union steelworkers - the best in the world," the US president said in a statement. Continue reading...

Plane crashed through roof of manufacturing building were at least 200 were working, police sayTwo people died and 19 were injured when a small plane crashed through the roof of a sprawling furniture manufacturing building in southern California where at least 200 people were working, police said.The people who died were believed to have been on the plane, while those injured were inside the building. The deceased victims will be identified after officials have contacted the next of kin, the Fullerton police department said in a statement. Continue reading...

Those barriers were being repaired - and others were down - when attacker struck, prompting questionsLike the rest of those living in New Orleans at the time, Aaron Miller - then the city's homeland security director - was terrified after a gunman drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French coastal city of Nice in 2016, killing 86 people and wounding many more in a terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS).Similar car attacks in Berlin, London, New York and Barcelona also put him on edge as he thought about the safety of his city. Continue reading...

Twin terror attacks bring renewed focus on scourge of extremism, but efforts to effect change have so far stalledThe deadly New Year's Day terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas have brought renewed attention to the scourge of extremism in the US military, but efforts to tackle it wilted in the later years of the Biden administration, and are unlikely to be revived once Donald Trump begins his second term this month.Both the New Orleans vehicle attack that killed 14, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas in which the driver died, were perpetrated by discharged or serving members of the armed forces. Continue reading...

Advisory from US surgeon general also says alcohol should carry a label warning consumers about their cancer risksAlcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the US after tobacco and obesity and should carry a label warning consumers about their cancer risks, according to a new advisory by the US surgeon general.Released on Friday, the advisory revealed that alcohol use contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year. It also found that alcohol-related cancer deaths shorten the lives of those who die by an average of 15 years. Continue reading...

Many people in romancelandia' have rallied voters through podcasts and phone banks - and joined school boardsJody Lee had long toyed with getting into politics. She spent years working at the US state department before moving to Mercer Island, a suburb of Seattle, with her family. The 57-year-old threw herself into volunteering; sometimes, people asked whether she wanted to run for the local school board. But Lee never felt ready to make the leap.Until she started reading romance. Continue reading...

Have you been following the big stories in football, darts, cricket, tennis, chess, rugby, basketball and college football? Continue reading...

Choose as your New Year's mantra that great civic-minded slogan: If you saw something, no you didn't'Are you, like millions of Americans, feeling hopeless and fearful about the dawning of a new age of fascism? And are you, like millions of Americans, in search of a New Year's resolution that won't require you to lose weight or go to therapy? Happily, both of these problems can be solved with one action: resolve to make 2025 the year of no snitching.Choose as your New Year's mantra that great civic-minded slogan: If you saw something, no you didn't."Hamilton Nolan is the author of The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor Continue reading...

Tech irritations are the definition of first-world problems', yet I yearn to fish from the banks of my own Walden PondIn many ways, I love living in the digital age. As someone who grew up in the analog world (my first journalism job, as a college intern, involved a manual typewriter and carbon paper), I am still delighted to be able to find out, within 10 seconds, whether a particular movie star is still alive or to share my latest column with the entire world through a social media post.But the downside of digital life is driving me batty - so much so that I sometimes consider trying to go off the grid altogether to seek a less frustrating existence. I have a fantasy of this simple life that I describe as Full Bore Thoreau. It involves listening to birdsong and reading Russian novels while occasionally using a landline to maintain contact with other humans.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Anti-corruption officials say they were blocked by 200 presidential personnel. Plus, FBI says New Orleans terror suspect acted aloneGood morning.South Korea's political crisis took a dramatic turn on Friday when investigators were forced to abandon an attempt to arrest the impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, after a tense standoff with his security forces.What are the details of Friday's standoff? Local media reports said anti-corruption officials - who are leading a joint team of police and prosecutors - entered the compound to find themselves blocked by troops under the control of the presidential security service.What happened on 3 December? Yoon declared martial law in an attempt to root out what he described as anti-state, pro-North Korean" forces - a reference to opposition MPs in the national assembly. He did not provide any evidence for those claims, however. He was forced to lift the order six hours later after lawmakers forced their way past troops into the parliament building to vote it down.What do we know about the New Orleans attack suspect? It's understood Jabbar was born and raised in Texas, served in the US army from 2007-15, and in 2022 was $27,000 behind on house payments, he said in court documents. Jabbar's brother told AP that in recent months he'd isolated himself.Why didn't steel bollards stop the attack? Seven years ago, officials began installing barriers at intersections in the French Quarter of the city. But the steel bollards were in the process of being replaced over New Year's Eve. Continue reading...

Two titans battle for the NFC North crown, home-field advantage until the Super Bowl and a first-round bye in Sunday night's regular-season finaleMinnesota Vikings (14-2) v Detroit Lions (14-2) Continue reading...

There are already three openings - the Jets, the Saints and the Bears - and Black Monday will probably see at least four new vacancies. Whose seats are the toastiest?The NFL's coaching carousel will officially open as soon as the final slate of games wraps up on Sunday. There are already three openings - the Jets, Saints and Bears - and Black Monday will probably see at least four new vacancies. Let's look at the toastiest coaching seats in the league. Continue reading...

A state of emergency has been declared amid unprecedented gun violence, but no one in our stagnating government is taking responsibilityJust before the new year, Trinidad and Tobago's government declared a state of emergency after a weekend of gun violence.Trinidad and Tobago, a country of about 1.5 million people and once the wealthiest in the Caribbean, has been plagued by decades of poor economic and social leadership, gang violence, home invasions, murders and corruption. Continue reading...