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The army secretary has little in his resume to suggest he can end the war between Russia and UkraineLittle in Dan Driscoll's resume - past or present - suggests he has the qualifications to understand the often-tortured and bloody history of relations between Russia and Ukraine.A former investment banker with a degree in business administration, the current US army secretary's main calling card for a prominent role in the Trump administration may be a friendship with JD Vance dating from when they were at Yale Law School together. Continue reading...

The dangers of artificial intelligence and its potential to consolidate power are clear. But used fairly, it can be a boon for good governmentDemocracy is colliding with the technologies of artificial intelligence. Judging from the audience reaction at the recent World Forum on Democracy in Strasbourg, the general expectation is that democracy will be the worse for it. We have another narrative. Yes, there are risks to democracy from AI, but there are also opportunities.We have just published the book Rewiring Democracy: How AI will Transform Politics, Government, and Citizenship. In it, we take a clear-eyed view of how AI is undermining confidence in our information ecosystem, how the use of biased AI can harm constituents of democracies and how elected officials with authoritarian tendencies can use it to consolidate power. But we also give positive examples of how AI is transforming democratic governance and politics for the better.Nathan E Sanders is a data scientist affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center of Harvard University and co-author, with Bruce Schneier, of the book Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship. Bruce Schneier is a security technologist who teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University Continue reading...

ICE and CBP's North Carolina operation faced an early-warning system run by thousands of volunteersThe operation is not over and it is not ending anytime soon."The message from the Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin went out to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon, in response to an announcement by Sheriff Garry McFadden that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was done with its immigration enforcement sweep. Continue reading...

The outrage a J Crew jumper has provoked shows that the US right's sense of masculinity is far more fragile than it would care to admitA men's jumper by the all-American preppy label J Crew has sent thousands of Maga Americans into meltdown. From a fashion point of view, it couldn't be more innocuous. It's got a crew neck. It's made from wool. It has a Fair Isle pattern at the upper yoke. There's nothing asymmetric about it, no fringing or tassels, no slogan blasted across the front; no Make America Kind Again". So what's the big deal? Reader, the jumper is pink.The main storm broke underneath a tweet by conservative social media commentator Juanita Broaddrick, in which she asked: Are you kidding me?? Men, would you wear this $168 sweater?" The consensus among her followers was a resounding no, and not because of its price. No man in my family would wear it!" wrote MOMof DataRepublican". My husband wouldn't use a pink bathroom towel," assured another. Another X user was even more passionate: HELL NO. I'm a man, not gay and won't be dressing up as a Golden Girl anytime soon." Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican congressman, called the sweater something a sorority girl would wear in the 80s". I think he meant it witheringly; I read that and think it sounds quite fun.Ellie Violet Bramley is a freelance writer Continue reading...

Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church, and some other Christian denominations, are fightingThe supreme court can't do it - it's packed with conservatives who owe him their jobs. Congress won't do it - Republicans slavishly follow his orders, Democrats are ill-led and divided. For today's White House, the concept of constitutional limits on executive power is a quaint relic. The news media, or sections of it, does its best amid constant legal threats. But, too often, they pay him off. Brave reporters who insist on asking awkward questions are insulted or silenced: Quiet, piggy."So who will tame Donald Trump? Who will halt his rolling constitutional coup - his ongoing evisceration of US democracy, civil rights, living standards, global reputation and moral integrity? Voters may try to indirectly rein him back in next November's midterms (as they did recently in New York and elsewhere). But those elections are a year away. The emergency is today.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

The ultra-loyal Maga star announced her departure in typical shocking fashion, but president says he would love to see her back in politics - key US politics stories from 22 November 2025The surprise resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene reverberated through Saturday, as figures from across the political spectrum gave responses ranging from criticism to acclaim, including Donald Trump, who hinted at a future political career for her.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman and Greene's frequent sparring partner, criticized her voting record on healthcare and claimed She's carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks in", adding: ... her actions have not backed up the rhetoric. For all her talk, she's still voting with them to gut healthcare ... " Continue reading...

Four-time F1 champion races to victory under the lights as Lando Norris holds on for secondKravitz, after talking with Crews, extols the virtues of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Great show indeed. One of the last great US TV comedies.OK, they get Terry. Vegas was made for F1 and vice versa." Continue reading...

Federal appeals court declines to put hold on lower court's finding that administration violated migrants' due processA federal appeals court on Saturday declined to clear the way for Donald Trump's administration to expand a fast-track deportation process to allow for the expedited removal of immigrants who are living far away from the border.A 2-1 panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit declined to put on hold the central part of a ruling by a lower-court judge who had found that the administration's policies violated the due process rights of immigrants who could be apprehended anywhere in the US. Continue reading...

Fire-resistant upgrades are included in replacement structure less than a year after fires destroyed 13,000 homes

Why was the US president so pleased to hang with the democratic socialist? Perhaps we'll never knowZohran and Donald. Donald and Zohran. Not since Turner met Hooch has a couple so captivated the American psyche. This might be the meet-cute of the decade, unless you count RFK Jr and Olivia Nuzzi. Which was actually not cute at all, when I think about it.Why can't we all stop talking about the New York City mayor-elect and his No 1 fan in the White House? Probably because absolutely none of this makes even a tiny bit of sense. From almost the beginning of his rise, Zohran Mamdani positioned himself as an anti-Trump democratic socialist who would use the bully pulpit of Gracie Mansion to battle Maga attacks on the city. Trump, sensing an opportunity to create yet another punching bag, called Mamdani a communist and questioned his American citizenship. He even went to the trouble of endorsing Mamdani's opponent, Andrew Cuomo, in the mayoral election.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

Journalist, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, reveals she has acute myeloid leukemiaTatiana Schlossberg, a journalist and the granddaughter of John F Kennedy, disclosed on Saturday that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, saying her doctor informed her that she has less than a year left to live.The environmental writer also addressed her cousin, Robert F Kennedy Jr, criticizing the influence his policies as secretary of health and human services have had on her experience with the illness. Continue reading...

Three-time NBA champion senses weird deja vu' as his former side returns to playoff contention with a fellow Australian critical to the resurgenceLuc Longley chooses his words carefully when talking about Chicago Bulls point guard Josh Giddey, not wanting to heap any more expectation on the young Australian still finding his feet in the ferocious competition of the NBA.He says he doesn't watch every Bulls game these days - only about half of them. That he hasn't spoken to Giddey much since his move to Illinois. That Longley's life in Australia, where he part-owns the Sydney Kings and Flames, takes up most of his energies rather than what is happening on the shores of Lake Michigan. Continue reading...

Anna Kepner, 18, from Titusville, was found dead of asphyxiation under a bed on a Carnival cruise shipThe 16-year-old stepbrother of a Florida teenager found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship this month has been identified as a suspect in her death.Anna Kepner, an 18-year-old from Titusville, was found dead under a bed on the Carnival Horizon on 8 November, wrapped in a blanket and covered by life vests, ABC News reported. Preliminary findings indicate she died of asphyxiation from a bar hold - an arm across the neck - with investigators noting two bruises on the side of her neck. A final autopsy and toxicology report are still pending. Continue reading...

A new congressional map was abruptly passed by Republicans in mid-September - but voters have a chance to rebuke politicians and stop it from going into effectWhen canvassers fan out across neighborhoods, they usually rely on sophisticated lists that will tell them things like a voter's political party and how likely they are to support a given cause. Jill Imbler isn't bothering with any of that.The 69-year-old has lived in Moberly - a Missouri town of about 14,000 people - her entire life. She doesn't use a GPS when she drives around, knows where people live, and what time they're likely to be home. And there's a pretty good chance that she, or one of her six siblings, knows them personally. Continue reading...

Some Republicans offered congresswoman plaudits, but AOC was scathing in her dismissal of her frequent sparring partnerMarjorie Taylor Greene's surprise resignation from Congress late on Friday, saying she refused to be a battered wife" following her public fallout with Donald Trump, has been slammed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman and Greene's frequent sparring partner.She's carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks in," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on her Instagram account, and criticized her voting record on healthcare. Continue reading...

Years of hollowed out shops, safety worries and stalled leadership have left the famed coastal city searching for a way backSanta Monica is a city that would seem to have everything. A glorious, wide sandy beach. A fabled pier framed by palm trees and views of the southern California mountains. An aura of Hollywood magic, with a native honor roll that runs from Shirley Temple to Sean Penn. Streets that smell like the Mediterranean, filled with restaurants, cafes and interesting one-off shops.And yet, for the past several years, almost nothing has gone right for a beach resort known and envied in the Los Angeles area for its beauty, its excellent public schools, and a progressive political culture that has sought to keep the city accessible and affordable to people of all income levels. Continue reading...

Ban forbids all products that contain more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per package - a trace amount present in most CBD productsThe US hemp industry is preparing for a ban on most hemp products that Senator Mitch McConnell slipped into the spending bill just before the Senate voted to pass it and end the government shutdown.Many in the industry have criticized the last-minute change, arguing that it should have been subject to open hearings rather than added at the last minute to a bill whose passage was essential for the government reopening. The ban, which goes into effect 12 months after the law's passage, forbids all products that contain more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per package - a trace amount that is present in most CBD products, not just those whose primary component is THC. Continue reading...

Move could affect hundreds of Somalis who fled civil war in their home countryDonald Trump said on Friday night that he's immediately" terminating temporary legal protections for Somali migrants living in Minnesota, further targeting a program seeking to limit deportations that his administration has already repeatedly sought to weaken.Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali community. Many fled the long civil war in the east African country and were drawn to the state's welcoming social programs. Continue reading...

A year and a half after his unstoppable rise was hijacked, the 26-year-old boxing star aims to become a three-weight champion against big-punching Brian Norman JrRain falls in thin, needling lines over Hell's Kitchen as Devin Haney walks into the Victory Boxing Gym. Somewhere along Ninth Avenue an ambulance threads through the congestion, its siren drawn out into a long, mournful ribbon that slips past the gym's walls. He nods to a few familiar faces, peels off a Supreme Vanson leather jacket and begins to unwrap himself from the city. His father, Bill, arrives a step behind him, not so much entering the room as taking possession of it.The youngest undisputed champion!" Bill cries out, half to the gym, half to himself. He's done it on three continents! Twenty-six years old and still writing history! Let the sparks fly!" Continue reading...

As many as 250 federal agents are expected to descend on the city imminently - despite falling crimeNew Orleanians are bracing for a major deployment of US border patrol officers to the city, as Donald Trump forges on with his mass deportation agenda and sweeping federal immigration crackdown in Democrat-led cities.Despite falling crime, as many as 250 federal agents are expected to descend on New Orleans imminently to begin laying the groundwork for Operation Swamp Sweep", which the Associated Press reported is due to launch in south-east Louisiana and Mississippi on 1 December with the stated aim of arresting 5,000 people. Continue reading...

Her privileges in America's two-tiered legal system reportedly range from from unlimited toilet paper to puppy playtimeI don't know what, if anything, keeps Ghislaine Maxwell up at night. But it's certainly not the prospect of running out of toilet paper in the minimum-security prison where she's residing. Maxwell is serving a 20-year-sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. Rather than doing hard time, however, it seems Maxwell is having a relatively easy go of it. While most inmates get an allocation of two rolls of toilet paper per week, for example, CNN reports that Maxwell gets an unlimited supply.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Temporary hold on lower court ruling will remain in place while supreme court considers whether to allow new mapThe US supreme court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas's 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by Donald Trump likely discriminated on the basis of race.The order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map, which is favorable to Republicans, to be used in the midterm elections. Continue reading...

The philosopher and the sex trafficker were in contact long after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, documents revealThe prominent linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky called it a most valuable experience" to have maintained regular contact" with Jeffrey Epstein, who by then had long been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, according to emails released earlier in November by US lawmakers.Such comments from Chomsky, or attributed to him, suggest his association with Epstein - who officials concluded killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges - went deeper than the occasional political and academic discussions the former had previously claimed to have with the latter. Continue reading...

The Maga star won on the Epstein files and could have founded a Republican resistance movement but is instead the latest dissenter to head for the exitIt has been a head-spinning 48 hours in Washington. Liberal TV host Rachel Maddow showed up at the funeral of conservative vice-president Dick Cheney. Donald Trump embraced Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist set to be the first Muslim mayor of New York, like a brother.And then Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump acolyte-turned-nemesis who bested him over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, stunned the political establishment again. In what should have been her hour of triumph, the Maga star abruptly announced that she was quitting the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

Fox News and other conservative networks have mostly avoided covering the president's ties to the sex traffickerWhen House Democrats released emails which showed Jeffrey Epstein claiming Donald Trump knew about the girls", rightwing news channels in the US reacted the same way: with silence.Viewers of Fox News and other conservative networks would have had no idea that the president allegedly spent hours at Epstein's home with one of his victims. Rightwing media largely kept quiet on all of it, apart from a notable slip when a progressive guest on Sean Hannity's show repeatedly told his audience: Trump's all over the Epstein files." Continue reading...

The plan would leave Ukraine's democracy in jeopardy and its sovereignty compromisedFor a moment, Donald Trump seemed to have seen the light on Ukraine. After promising severe consequences" in August if Vladimir Putin continued to obstruct ceasefire talks - but then doing nothing as Putin did just that - Trump finally on 22 October imposed significant sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, seriously compromising Putin's ability to finance his invasion. But now, with his 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, drafted by US and Russian officials without Ukrainian or European participation, Trump has reverted to his pro-Putin norm.Trump's plan would reward Putin for invading Ukraine while leaving Ukraine's democracy in jeopardy. The plan's ringing proclamation that Ukraine's sovereignty will be confirmed" rings hollow when so much of the plan compromises that sovereignty. A Kremlin dream, the plan would be a Ukrainian nightmare.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, is published by Knopf and Allen Lane. Continue reading...

The abject obedience of GOP members for the president has not augured well in the 4 November electionsThe elections of 4 November were the end of a grandiose illusion. After his 2024 victory Donald Trump claimed he had an unprecedented and powerful mandate", that his mandate" was massive", and that his Maga movement" was irresistible, the wave of the future. It lasted 10 months, in which he had betrayed his chief promise to lower inflation, turned the public against him on every issue and Republicans at last faced a battering by voters.Trump's image of omnipotence has rested upon a pyramid of dread. His ability to maintain the servility of the Republican Congress, whose members are intimidated by the danger that if they defy him he would support primary opponents to run against them, has been the political foundation for all the other forms of fear he incites throughout American institutions. Trump could not have leveraged himself as dictator on day one" without congressional abdication. The Republicans immediately fell into lockstep. But within two weeks of the 4 November elections, only one Republican in the House voted against the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files which Trump had called a hoax" before he felt compelled to bend in the cyclone to sign the bill - and yet still suppresses the files.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to the president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Experts infuriated by president accusing Democrats of sedition' for urging soldiers to refuse illegal ordersVeterans have condemned the politicization of the military after Donald Trump accused Democratic lawmakers of sedition, punishable by death" after a small group of them released a video in which they urged US soldiers not to follow any unlawful" orders.The extraordinary exchange was sparked after Democratic lawmakers with military or national security backgrounds - the Congressional representatives Maggie Goodlander, Jason Crow, Chris DeLuzio and Chrissy Houlahan, and the senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin - posted a video on Facebook addressed to US service members. Continue reading...

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe spaceIt was hard to choose one favourite photo from football's double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump's state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they've just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad. Continue reading...

A moment of peril demands a new approach - on everything from funding to the BBC charter

Decision by Georgia Republican and leading Maga figure to give up House seat comes after dramatic break with Trump, lately over the Epstein files bill

President says I think she should be happy' while Democratic colleague praises her for stance on Epstein files

President claims he is immediately' terminating temporary protected status in US state with largest Somali communityDonald Trump said on Friday night he was immediately" terminating temporary legal protections for Somali migrants living in Minnesota, further targeting a program seeking to limit deportations that his administration has already repeatedly sought to weaken.Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali community. Many fled the long civil war in their east African country and were drawn to the state's welcoming social programs. Continue reading...

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The Georgia representative said on Friday she was resigning from office effective January 2026

Trump told the press he's very confident that [Mamdani] can do a very good job' in surprisingly cordial meeting - key US politics stories from 21 November 2025It's not as if they were holding hands and skipping down the halls of the White House, but President Trump and New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appeared to get along well in their first meeting.Trump hosted the 34-year-old Democratic socialist, who defied early expectations to win the city's Democratic primary, then the mayoral race. And Trump let it be known he was impressed by that, congratulating Mamdani and describing his victory as an incredible race against smart people". Continue reading...

No fists, no fire - the president and the mayor-elect met in Washington, and things went bewilderingly, bizarrely wellThe armies of lefty America and of Maga were assembled ready to watch their champions do battle. After all, Donald Trump had called Zohran Mamdani a 100% Communist Lunatic" and total nut job." The incoming democratic socialist New York mayor in turn had called the Republican US president a despot" and fascist".But anyone expecting to see fists fly and shirts torn in the Oval Office was in for a disappointment. Trump, 79, and 34-year-old Mamdani actually got on rather well. In fact beautifully, bewilderingly, bizarrely well. Instead of Batman v Superman, this was Toy Story besties Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Continue reading...

We agreed a lot more than I would have thought,' the US president said of his first face-to-face meeting with the New York mayor-elect

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, and Donald Trump had a 'productive' meeting in the Oval Office.The president repeatedly stepped in to defend Mamdani from hostile questioning from outlets such as the New York Post and Fox News, while Mamdani was relentlessly focused on the issue of making New York a more fair and affordable place to live.Here are some key moments from their conversation with members of the press.

In a signed statement, 28 victims say they are bracing for blame for their abuse and threats of harmA group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse have warned they have received death threats and are worried about an escalation as they wait for the release of the files related to the late paedophile financier.In a statement titled What we're bracing for", the women said they had received threats of harm and asked police to investigate and protect them. Continue reading...

Hannah Shirley, born in November 1973, was celebrated with Hungry Hungry Hippos-themed partyThe San Diego Humane Society's Ramona Wildlife Center is feeling festive, and it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but instead a birthday celebration for a hippo that turns 52.Hannah Shirley, the world's oldest known living pygmy hippopotamus, turned 52 years old on Thursday, and celebrated with a Hungry Hungry Hippos-themed party. Hannah was surrounded by guests as she played with different-colored balls and presents. Continue reading...

President called behavior of Mark Kelly, whose wife Gabby Giffords survived assassination bid, punishable by death'Senator Mark Kelly - whose wife, Gabrielle Giffords, narrowly survived an attempted assassination while she was in Congress in 2011 - says he is worried about increased threats" to his family's safety after Donald Trump accused him and other Democratic lawmakers of SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH".This kind of language is dangerous, and it's wrong," Kelly said on Friday on MS NOW's Morning Joe, with political violence one of the top topics in the US's public discourse. He continued: I'm not going to get into my specific security arrangements, but it would be irresponsible for me not to consider that [Trump's] words result in increased threats to myself, even to my staff, to my family. Continue reading...

From Georgia to Oregon, clinics and wards are closing as Trump's health law triggers steep Medicaid cuts and rising costs

Donald Trump helped New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani evade a question probing him on calling the president a fascist after a meeting that Trump said was 'great'.Trump and Mamdani said that their meeting was focused on their shared love for the city of New York and not 'places of disagreement'

Justice department challenges policy allowing in-state tuition for undocumented students at public universitiesThe justice department sued California on Thursday for allowing undocumented college students to pay in-state tuition for public universities, alleging the policy harms US citizens.The lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the eastern district of California, marks the third time this week that the Trump administration has sued California. In addition to challenging the state's in-state tuition policy, the lawsuit argues that California unlawfully extends eligibility for scholarships and subsidized loans to undocumented students. Continue reading...