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‘Potential defendants’ are sweating (if they can) over whether Virginia Giuffre’s settlement with Epstein will protect themWhere does Prince Andrew drive to in his brand new, £80,000 Range Rover – seemingly his only appearances these days in anything that could be considered the outside world? The duke is often pictured motoring broodingly out of his Royal Lodge home in Windsor at the wheel of this high-performance vehicle, perhaps making his in-car security detail listen to a podcast about putting, or a funny song about a whoopee cushion. (The precise contours of Andrew’s cultural life have always remained a tantalising mystery.) Some local visits to his mother at Windsor Castle have been chalked up, as well they might be. But we’ll come to the duke’s ominous financial reliance on the Queen in a minute.Were The Artist Formerly Known as Airmiles to take an aimless intra-Berkshire spin this morning, he would be able to listen to news reports concerning the newly unsealed settlement his accuser reached with Jeffrey Epstein in 2009. Virginia Giuffre signed a $500,000 deal with Epstein, and Andrew’s lawyers believe her agreement not to sue anyone who could be described as a “potential defendant” could get HRH off the hook of having to face, in civil court, her claims that he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was a minor. (He denies everything, vehemently.)Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Congressman Dan Crenshaw threw the barb at congresswoman in spat over his support for using Fema to operate Covid testing sitesThe extremist Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene “might be a Democrat – or just an idiot” – according to a fellow hardline conservative.Dan Crenshaw, a Texas congressman and former Navy Seal, threw the barb back at the Georgia congresswoman in a spat over his support for using the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to operate Covid testing sites. Continue reading...

An illiberal democracy, similar to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, is increasingly the model for RepublicansThe first anniversary of the invasion of the Capitol approaches, our cold civil war grows hotter by the day, and the numbers tell the story. A majority of Republicans view the attack as a defense of freedom (56%) and just under half (47%) cast it as an act of patriotism. For good measure, one in six Americans approve of the events of 6 January 2021, including nearly a quarter of Republicans.America’s Reichstag fire continues to smolder. A staggering 64% of Americans believe democracy here is “in crisis and at risk of failing”. Beyond that, two-thirds of Republicans agree that “voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election”. Disturbingly but not surprisingly, the Republican party’s credo is now “heads I win, tails you lose”.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York. He was opposition research counsel to George HW Bush’s 1988 campaign and served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

High-profile trial of the Theranos founder that captivated Silicon Valley has concluded. Plus, the next US civil war is already hereGood morning.The extraordinary rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, has been sealed as jurors found her guilty on four of 11 charges of fraud, concluding a high-profile trial that captivated Silicon Valley and chronicled the missteps of the now defunct blood testing startup.Was she found guilty of all charges? No. She was acquitted on three charges, including one conspiracy to defraud patients and two charges related to patients who received inaccurate test results.How did Holmes react? As the verdict was read, the Theranos founder bowed her head, remained seated and expressed no visible emotion.Will she go to prison? Holmes does face prison time, although a sentencing date has not been set. She pleaded not guilty and is expected to appeal.What will happen next? Trump has launched a last-ditch appeal to the supreme court to prevent the release of the most sensitive of White House records but experts say it’s unlikely to be successful.Will the 6 January attackers be held accountable? As Republicans spread a revisionist history of the insurrection, the Guardian takes a look inside the FBI’s Capitol riot investigation. Continue reading...

Corporate greed and class warfare are crushing working people. No one is going to save us – we need to rise up togetherAs we begin the year 2022, in these unprecedented times, I know it’s easy to give in to despair.We are facing a raging pandemic with seemingly no end in sight. We are rapidly moving toward oligarchy and while income and wealth inequality grows, millions struggle to obtain the basic necessities of life. We have a dysfunctional healthcare system with more than 84 million uninsured or underinsured and nearly one out of four unable to afford prescription drugs. Climate change is ravaging the planet and systemic racism and other forms of bigotry continue to eat away at the fabric of our society. We have a corrupt political system in which corporate money buys elections and a mainstream media that largely ignores the pain that ordinary people experience. Continue reading...

The Hawaiian governor issued an emergency order to de-fuel the Red Hill Facility. The US Navy has enlisted top lawyers to make sure its 600m liters of petroleum stay perched above our water supply“This [fuel facility] is not the eighth wonder of the world. It is Frankenstein’s monster. And we have to kill it before it kills us.” This is the plea from Marti Townsend, one of more than 1,000 Hawai’i residents urging the Honolulu City Council to take action to protect our island’s most important resource: fresh, clean water.Frankenstein’s monster is the US Navy’s Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility: a massive underground “farm” of 18-million liter fuel tanks and pipes just 100 feet above metropolitan O’ahu. Its construction began before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Since then, it has leaked over 180,000 gallons of petroleum into the groundwater aquifer that provides drinking water for over 400,000 residents and visitors from Hālawa to Hawaiʻi Kai.Wayna Tanaka is Director for the Sierra Club of Hawai’i Continue reading...

Student says his former coaches, who knew he didn’t consume pork products, forced him to eat pizza with pepperoni residueAn Ohio high school student has filed a lawsuit against his former school and sports coaches after they forced him to eat a pepperoni pizza against his religion.The 17-year old student, known in court documents as KW or Junior, argues that his former coaches, who knew that he was a member of the Hebrew-Israelite faith and did not consume pork products, forced him to eat a whole pepperoni pizza as a consequence of missing a workout last May. Continue reading...

As Republicans spread a revisionist history of the insurrection, its perpetrators are celebrated and even elected to public officeIt’s been one year since a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol, as the “stop the steal” rally demanding to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election turned into a deadly insurrection.After the attack, the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation mobilized one of the largest criminal investigations in American history. Those efforts have so far resulted in more than 700 federal cases and counting, with more suspects expected to be charged. But for all that we have learned about the insurrection and the people who took part in it, crucial questions remain about the fallout of the attack for the far right and what it means to hold its perpetrators accountable. Continue reading...

In the second Netflix series, Emily shows a certain pluckiness, resilience even, that I sometimes wish I possessedWith its second season streaming on Netflix, viewers are hate-bingeing Emily in Paris all over again. Shots have been fired at Emily’s character (basic! backstabber! typical egocentric American!) and the inauthentic representation of the city she inhabits.As a proud watcher of the series, not to mention an American living in Paris, I admire Emily’s shamelessness, as she unself-consciously snaps selfies and slaughters the French language. Don’t get me wrong, my French is pas mal de tout but things get tricky when even a single word eludes me. Recently, I sat in the back of a Montmartre pharmacy waiting to get my Covid-19 booster shot. I resorted to a charades-style gesture, causing a chuckle. While the jab went in I took a deep breath and made a mental note: look up the word for “faint”.Caitlin Raux Gunther is a freelance American writer based in Paris

As the Beijing Winter Olympics draw nearer, here’s a look at 15 athletes from around the world to keep an eye onWith two gold and three silver world championship medals, this pairs team from China is also the current world record holder. Sui and Han, aged 26 and 29 respectively, have been skating together since 2007. They have developed a banter that charms fans, arguing and joking like an old married couple. Not many athletes would consider a silver medal at the Olympics a disappointment but losing by only 0.43 points in Pyeongchang was not what the team had hoped for. In Beijing, they will no doubt be vying for gold in front of the home crowd. Continue reading...

Type 1 diabetics say insurance cap includes loopholes and doesn’t impact individuals who don’t have health coverage in the USSamia Chowdhury of Ontario, California, saw her work hours in the restaurant industry dwindle from full-time to less than 10 hours a week when Covid shutdowns began in the US in March 2020.But the loss of work was not her only problem. As a type 1 diabetic since she was 12, Chowdhury could not afford health insurance after losing most of her work hours and couldn’t get on Medicaid through California. Instead, she relied on visiting medical clinics for insulin prescription refills when she could afford to do so and mutual aid from other diabetics around the US. Continue reading...

A barrage of delay tactics as Republicans are expected to do well in 2022 midterms that would give them control to shut down inquiryThe House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol is facing a race against time in 2022 as Trump and his allies seek to run out the clock with a barrage of delay tactics and lawsuits.Republicans are widely expected to do well in this year’s midterm elections in November and, if they win control of the House, that would give them control to shut down the investigation that has proved politically and legally damaging to Trump and Republicans. Continue reading...

Seven-day average for hospitalizations increased by more than 40% during week between Christmas and New Year’s EveCovid-19 cases in Florida have risen by 948% in just two weeks, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant drives a huge wave of infections and hospitalizations across the US.Even as Dr Anthony Fauci – Joe Biden’s top medical adviser – cautioned the public to look at hospitalizations and not infections in order to gauge Omicron’s severity, the seven-day average for US patients hospitalized with Covid-19 increased by more than 40% during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Continue reading...

Baby Alfredo entered the world a few minutes before midnight in 2021; his sister Aylin was the hospital’s first baby of 2022Twins in Salinas, California were born 15 minutes apart but won’t share a birthday – or even the same birth year.Aylin Yolanda Trujillo was delivered at Natividad medical center at exactly midnight on 1 January. She was the first baby born in Monterey county in 2022, as the US west coast ushered in a new year. Continue reading...

Unsealing stems from Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuit against duke, filed in Manhattan federal court in AugustA near-dozen-year-old legal settlement between Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender whom she accused of sexual abuse, was released on Monday. Giuffre received $500,000 in her lawsuit against Epstein, court papers revealed.The unsealing stemmed from Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew, which she filed on 9 August in Manhattan federal court. Continue reading...

Airlines say they are taking steps to reduce cancelations caused by workers affected by the pandemicWintry weather combined with the pandemic to frustrate US air travelers in the first days of the new year, contributing to a continuing “flightmare” of cancelations, confusion and airport chaos, all amid worries about the Omicron Covid surge.On Monday, as a major winter storm hit mid-Atlantic states, more than half of flights were delayed or canceled at Ronald Reagan national airport, Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall international airport and Washington Dulles international airport, according to FlightAware.com’s misery map. Continue reading...

Letitia James reportedly issues subpoenas to pair as part of fraud investigation into former president’s business empireThe attorney general of New York state has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump as part of its fraud inquiry into Trump’s businesses, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing a court document.The document was filed by lawyers for Trump in response to Letitia James’s decision to subpoena the former president himself. Continue reading...

Nadia Popovici spotted mole on Brian Hamilton’s neck last October and held up a message on her phone saying ‘Please go see a doctor!’When Nadia Popovici spotted a small mole on the back of Brian Hamilton’s neck last October, during an NHL game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Seattle Kraken, she was unsure if the Canucks’ assistant equipment manager was aware it was there.Gaining Hamilton’s attention, she wrote a message on her phone and pressed it against the plexiglass dividing the crowd from the ice. Continue reading...

Republicans are busy at work undermining the next election. And they don’t need Trump in the White House to do soOnly free and fair elections in which the loser abides by the result stand between each of us and life at the mercy of a despotic regime – one we had no voice in choosing and one that can freely violate all our rights. So everything is at stake in the peaceful transfer of power from a government that has lost its people’s confidence to its victorious successor. It was that peaceful transfer that Trump and his minions sought to obstruct and almost succeeded in overthrowing when Joe Biden was elected president.A year has passed since Trump’s attempted coup and his supporters’ violent storming of the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021, in a nearly successful effort to prevent Congress from certifying Trump’s decisive loss of the election to Biden. Watching the images that day of the seat of US democracy overtaken and defiled, it was impossible not to viscerally feel the grave danger that confronted the republic. In the tumultuous year since, the immediacy of that sensation has waned – and the magnitude of the stakes has receded from memory. Continue reading...

National Weather Service predicts wind gusts of up to 35mph, as many flights cancelled and businesses and schools closedA winter storm packing heavy snow blew into Washington DC on Monday, closing government offices and schools and grounding the president’s helicopter. As much as 10in of snow was forecast for the District of Columbia, northern Virginia and central Maryland through the afternoon.The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the area until 4pm ET. Wind gusts of up to 35mph were forecast and travel was expected to be very difficult because of the hazardous conditions, the weather service said. Continue reading...

Homelessness, safe housing, police brutality and racial injustice – does Bill de Blasio’s replacement have the policies to fix them?For many New Yorkers, the inauguration of Eric Adams as the 110th mayor of New York City – and only the second Black person to serve in the position – has evoked a range of feelings, from excitement at the possibility of change to confusion and concern.Adams’ rise through city and state politics was fairly typical. In addition to serving as a New York police captain, he was the Brooklyn borough president and a state senator. But he remains an unconventional, even enigmatic figure. There are questions surrounding his home address and curiosity about his plant-based diet, but information about his actual policies remain scarce. Continue reading...

So far, increasingly militant workers are lacking something vital: a leader who can unite them all. Will that change?Throughout 2021, American workers stood up and fought back to an unusual degree. Workers went on strike at Kellogg’s, Nabisco, John Deere, Columbia University and numerous hospitals, while non-union “essential” workers – furious about how they’ve been treated – walked out at supermarkets, warehouses and fast-food restaurants. Workers have sought to unionize at Starbucks, Amazon, even the Art Institute of Chicago. And a record number of Americans have been quitting their jobs each month, more than 4 million monthly, fed up and eager for something better.Millions of workers are angry – angry that they didn’t get hazard pay for risking their lives during the pandemic, angry that they’ve been forced to work 70 or 80 hours a week, angry that they received puny raises while executive pay soared, angry that they didn’t get paid sick days when they got sick. Continue reading...

Environmental organizations and tribes have been coming together to protect the natural world, and a key part of this teamwork has been land transfersIn 2020, an environmental non-profit returned over a dozen acres in Oregon to the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes.Two months later, a conservation group worked with the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County to return more than 1,000 acres in California to the tribal group. Continue reading...

Member of House committee investigating events of 6 January issues stark warning to her party. Plus, 100 ways to slightly improve your lifeGood morning.The fallout from the Capitol attack continues as the first anniversary on Thursday approaches. Yesterday, a Republican member of the House committee investigating the events of 6 January 2021 had a stark warning for her party – they must choose between Trump and truth.What else did Cheney say? She told ABC’s This Week there were “potential criminal statutes at issue here, but I think that there’s absolutely no question that it was a dereliction of duty”.What did Thompson say? The Democrat told NBC’s Meet the Press the committee was examining whether it could issue subpoenas to members of Congress.How does he think it will happen? The author cited eventualities centered on a Trump return to the White House in 2024, possibly including Republican-held state legislatures refusing to accept a Democratic win.Meanwhile, key Donald Trump loyalists Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn are at the forefront of a drive to expand Trumpist influence at the local level of US politics. Continue reading...

Grand Isle took the first punch from the category 4 hurricane that became one of America’s most powerful storms and the worst in the island’s historyDavid Sears spent six weeks sleeping outside on the splintered remains of his home on Grand Isle, Louisiana. The house was destroyed by Hurricane Ida at the end of August but Sears had nowhere else to go. So he returned to this barrier island, out in the gulf of Mexico, and lived on his front porch for over a month.Grand Isle, with its sweeping white sand beaches, rows of bobbing shrimp boats and 1,000 permanent residents, took the first punch from Ida, the category 4 hurricane that became one of America’s most powerful storms when it landed here in the summer. And four months later the scars have barely begun to heal. Continue reading...

Tampa Bay’s gifted wide receiver finally found a rule to break that will be judged more seriously than his many more grevious off-field sins: He quit on his team on live televisionIn a normal universe, we’d be solely focused on the final minutes of a drama-filled classic between the Buccaneers and Jets. We’d gush over Tom Brady’s game-winning drive that again ripped whatever semblance of hope remains in New York’s long-suffering fans. We’d marvel at Brady’s unmistakable precision with under two minutes, culminating in his cool-as-a-cucumber delivery on a 33-yard touchdown strike to Cyril Grayson that left not nearly enough time for Zach Wilson to respond. We’d question Robert Saleh’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-2 at the Bucs’ seven-yard line instead of kicking a field goal that would opened a seven-point lead with two minutes to spare.Instead, this game will be remembered for a different brand of dramatic: Antonio Brown adding to his endless list of disturbing antics. In the third quarter, with the Tampa Bay offense on the field mid-drive, a visibly furious Brown removed his jersey on the sideline, threw his shoulder pads down, then cascaded across the end zone, tore off his tank top, threw the tank and a glove with vigor into a sea of Jets fans, then continued shirtless into the tunnel with one final peace sign before fading to black. Continue reading...

Growing drive by hardcore Trumpists spurs election watchdogs to voice alarm about threat to American democracyKey Donald Trump loyalists Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn are at the forefront of a drive to expand Trumpist influence at the local level of US politics while forging ahead with efforts aimed at promoting baseless claims that Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was fraudulent.The growing drive by Trump’s hardcore allies has spurred election watchdog groups to voice alarm about the threat to democracy posed by Flynn and Bannon – and other Trump acolytes – as they combine debunked claims about election fraud and calls for further 2020 election audits with planning conservative takeovers of official positions that run US elections. Continue reading...

Critics seize on Build Back Better criticisms from controversial candidate nonetheless endorsed by Donald TrumpHerschel Walker has Donald Trump’s endorsement in the race for US Senate in Georgia but the former NFL star may be struggling to counter fears from some Republicans that he could damage the party’s chances of taking back a seat lost in 2020, and with it the Senate itself.In December, the former University of Georgia and Dallas Cowboys running back admitted he does not have a college degree – having repeatedly said that he did. Continue reading...

Canadian political scientist warns in op ed of Trumpist threat to American democracy and possible effect on northern neighbor

Cancelations follow Saturday’s of more than 2,700 US flights, frustrating travelers during the holidaysWintry weather and the coronavirus pandemic frustrated US travelers as return flights from holidays were canceled or delayed in the first days of the new year.By early afternoon on Sunday, more than 2,300 US flights and more than 3,900 worldwide had been canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware. Continue reading...

Officials pursue tips and search crews sort through debris for three missing people after flames destroy nearly 1,000 homesSearch teams looked for three missing people on Sunday in snow-covered but smoldering debris from a massive Colorado wildfire, while people who escaped the flames sorted through what was left and investigators tried to determine its cause.The flames ripped through at least 9.4 sq miles and left nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings destroyed in suburbs between Denver and Boulder. Continue reading...

Significant challenges await the newly sworn-in leader of the most populous US cityEric Adams’s first two days in office would resonate with any weary New York commuter: a subway ride featuring a brawl requiring the attendance of police, then the challenge of negotiating Manhattan traffic on a rented bike.“This is an amazing city,” the new mayor told ABC on Sunday. “You know, riding a city bike in, taking the train in, interacting with New Yorkers: generals don’t lead their troops from the back. Continue reading...

Staff from a tram company and a restaurant were stranded overnight on a tramway near Albuquerque in the US on New Year's Eve after a storm caused rapid buildup of ice on the cables, making it unsafe to travel to the base of the mountain. Rescuers brought the 21 passengers to safety, with no injuries, according to local reports Continue reading...

Republican member of the House committee investigating the events of 6 January issues stark warning to her party

But government’s top medical adviser warns public not to be fooled by data suggesting variant lacks severity of earlier variantsThe US government’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, has joined a growing body of experts who say hospitalisation figures form a better guide to the severity of the Omicron coronavirus variant than the traditional case-count of new infections.Referring to the Omicron surge in the US as a “tsunami”, Fauci also cautioned the public not to be fooled by preliminary data suggesting the variant lacks the severity of earlier Covid-19 variants, such as Delta. Continue reading...

Washington Post releases survey showing ‘considerably higher’ number saying it is sometimes right to take up arms

Newspaper says bond posted by star who had weapons-related sentence commuted by Donald TrumpThe rapper Kodak Black was arrested on a trespassing charge on Saturday in south Florida.The Broward county sheriff’s office said Black was taken into custody in his hometown of Pompano Beach early on Saturday morning, according to the South Florida SunSentinel. Continue reading...

The glamorous past of Epstein’s procurer might blind some to her shocking crimesFor years, she was described as a “socialite”, a word that conceals more than it explains. Socialites are almost always women from a wealthy if not an aristocratic background and their defining characteristic is being photographed with famous people.Ghislaine Maxwell fitted the bill, appearing in photos with everyone from Donald Trump to Elon Musk to Prince Andrew. But being a socialite is not a job and it was unclear how she financed her opulent lifestyle, especially after the death of her father, Robert. Continue reading...

Swing state races for governor and secretary of state are the most consequential midterm contestsWhen Americans go to the polls in the 2022 midterms, the most important elections won’t be for office in Washington. The most high-stakes races will be statewide contests, in some cases for long overlooked offices, that have profound consequences for the future of free and fair elections in America.The races for governor and secretary of state, the chief election official in many places, will determine which officials have control over setting election rules and the post-election certification process. Continue reading...

Our writer sat through the trial in New York and reports on the humiliation of the mwah-mwah princess, her repeated failures to end Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and the chances of her cutting a deal with the FedsGuilty, five times over, Ghislaine Maxwell, shackled, sits in the sweat box as it crawls over Brooklyn Bridge along with the rest of the rush-hour little people she used to fly over, saying a last goodbye to the Imperial City’s billion-dollar stalagmites. The one-time Princess Mwah-Mwah is now the Demon Queen, facing 30 years, the rest of her life in prison, not some Disneyland of rightwing fantasy but a bone pit of the bad, the mad and the broken locked up until the end of age.She has a secret key that could unlock her shackles. What if she sings, tells the feds what she knows, gives up the overmighty men who, along with her one-time lover Jeffrey Epstein, abused women more child than adult back in her pomp? She could cut her jail time down to 10 years and be out in seven, thanks to good behaviour. Continue reading...

The Democrat, a former police officer, has promised to welcome business and to focus on rising crimeNew York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams, was sworn into office soon after midnight yesterday. It was a fitting time of day for a cop-turned-politico who has indicated that he plans to return some personal panache to a metropolis knocked by a pandemic, political strife and an outgoing mayor whose polling ranks beneath even Donald Trump with state voters.For the moment, Adams’s administration is, as one acquaintance put it, “in the ether”. The Democrat told the city council last week: “We must allow our city to function. We have thrown $11bn at Covid, so the day has come when we need to learn to be smarter.” Continue reading...