66 minutes ago Trump’s counterterror adviser insists UK will not be forced to allow Shamima Begum back

A transatlantic row has broken out over the possible fate of ‘Isis bride’ Shamima Begum with Trump’s incoming counterterrorism adviser claiming he has been misrepresented

Politics

7 hours ago White House working on hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel, says CIA director

Donald Trump hopes agreement will take place before his inauguration amid renewed optimismThe White House is working to reach a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas before president-elect Trump’s inauguration, William Burns, the director of the CIA, has suggested.“Negotiations going on right now are quite serious and do offer the possibility, at least, of getting this done in the next couple of weeks,” Burns said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday. “This administration worked very hard at that right up until 20 January. I think the coordination with the new administration on this issue has been good. President-elect Trump has made clear his interest in trying to get a deal, you know, before his inauguration.” Continue reading...

Economics

1 hour ago The Observer view: With Hollywood ablaze, ditching carbon targets would be an act of recklessness | Observer editorial

Legislation aimed at limiting the US’s role in global warming is likely to be an early target of Donald TrumpThe devastating wave of wildfires that has reduced thousands of Hollywood homes to ashes could not have afflicted the US at a more telling moment. Figures released last week revealed that for the first time the world overshot the 1.5C limit in global temperature rises that had been set as a desired upper figure by the Paris climate accord of 2015.It is clear that the floods that engulfed Valencia last year, along with the typhoons that ripped through the Philippines and the drought that afflicted the Amazon were all made more likely by this unwanted temperature rise, say scientists. From this perspective, Hollywood’s misery is just one of many examples of the destruction heaped upon the planet by our burning of fossil fuels and ever-rising emissions of greenhouse gases. Crucially, such disasters are only going to worsen until humanity abandons the widespread combustion of coa...

Events

27 hours ago Donald Trump appears 'tired' of hush money trial at sentencing showing 'reminder of his authority'

Donald Trump gave off an air of "superiority" and a suggestion that he was "emotionally" rather than physically tired during the sentencing on 34 felony charges after his hush money trial

Culture

2 hours ago Gloom and pessimism take hold of Democrats as they look for new leaders

Questions about the viability of a female presidential candidate rise after a crushing presidential defeatDemocrats are harboring strong feelings of stress and gloom as the new year begins. And many are questioning whether their party’s commitment to diverse candidates – especially women – may lead to further political struggles as Donald Trump is sworn in for a second presidency on 20 January.A recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that a significant number of Democrats believe that it may be decades before the United States will get its first female president. Continue reading...

Politics

33 hours ago Melania’s $40m Amazon deal: another sign Bezos is capitulating to Donald Trump | Margaret Sullivan

Sadly, the Amazon-Melania deal has much the same flavor as the rest of Trump appeasement moves – not just by Bezos but by others of his ilkThe language in a New York Times article was extremely restrained as it described Jeff Bezos’s evolving stance regarding Donald Trump.The Amazon founder and the president-elect had had a rocky relationship in the past, “but in recent months, Amazon and Mr. Bezos have taken steps to repair it”.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Economics

2 hours ago Chris Riddell on Donald Trump pouring oil on to the climate crisis as Los Angeles burns – cartoon

The president-elect is obsessed with drilling for fossil fuels, not to mention taking control of Canada and Greenland and renaming the Gulf of MexicoYou can buy a copy of this cartoon Continue reading...

Events

39 hours ago Stock market today: Asian shares slide further as rate cut, tariff worries hit market sentiment

Shares have fallen for a second day in Asia after U.S. markets were closed to observe a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter

Economics

7 hours ago Wall Street looks forward to a bonfire of capital and climate rules under Trump

Profits are poised to dominate in a new era shorn of years of hard-won regulatory restrictionsWhen some of the biggest banks on Wall Street reveal their full-year earnings this week, they will have more to celebrate than just rising profits.Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on 20 January – scheduled the Monday after US bank results week – will raise the curtain on a period of looser regulation, lower corporation tax, and weak climate commitments. Continue reading...

Events

4 hours ago As resolutions go, Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘nothing in moderation’ is a stinker | Alison Phillips

Between Elon Musk, a free-for-all Facebook and Donald Trump, truth and decency are likely to have a hard time of it in 2025How did we get to a week in which the world’s richest man could label our safeguarding minister and women’s rights campaigner Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist”, and the boss of the world’s biggest social platforms could abandon moderating even the most despicable content in the US?Let’s go back 30 years. It’s 1995, cargo pants were slung low, Oasis were riding high. We were all going to Live Forever. And then the New York supreme court ruled against a long-forgotten company called Prodigy, which hosted online message boards. An unknown user had posted a message that the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont (which had inspired The Wolf of Wall Street) had committed fraud. Stratton Oakmont sued for defamation and a crucial question was asked: was the site that hosted the comment responsible for it, in the way a traditional publisher would be for a comment on it...

Politics

8 hours ago Marines armed with machine guns storm the streets... and then all hell breaks loose. A minute

Not a shot fired, not a snowball thrown... if President Donald Trump is genuine in his blustering threats to seize Greenland for the United States, military experts believe it could be easily done.

Events

4 hours ago Biden still believes he would have won election if he stood against Trump

President Joe Biden said he still believes he would have won the US election if he stood against Donald Trump.

Politics

9 hours ago Los Angeles is on fire and big oil are the arsonists | Tzeporah Berman

Every barrel of oil, every cubic meter of gas, and every ton of coal burned brings us closer to environmental catastropheApocalyptic flames and smoke are raging through southern California in the worst fire in Los Angeles county’s history. At least seven people have died. Thousands of structures have been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. The private forecaster AccuWeather estimates initial damage and economic loss at more than $50bn and has the potential to be the costliest wildfire disaster in American history. The impacts of the disruption and loss faced by community members is incalculable.While some media outlets are discussing the link between the LA fires and climate crisis, the president-elect Donald Trump and rightwing media are using this devastating event to foster misinformation including denying the role of climate crisis.Tzeporah Berman is a Canadian environmental activist, campaigner and writer Continue reading...

Events

4 hours ago How Trump's plan to make Canada the 51st state could change the U.S... and backfire on Republicans

President-elect Donald Trump doubled down on making Canada the 51st state, but expanding the U.S. to the north could be disastrous for Republicans in Washington, DC.

Politics

12 hours ago Why Mark Zuckerberg turned to Dana White to secure Maga’s favor | Karim Zidan

Zuckerberg’s appointment of the UFC supremo to Meta’s board appears to be a calculated move to solidify ties with Trump through one of his most influential alliesIn the four months since Donald Trump accused Mark Zuckerberg of conspiring against him during the 2020 presidential election and threatened him with life imprisonment, the Meta CEO has gone to great lengths to curry favor with the incoming president.Shortly after Trump’s victory in November, Zuckerberg traveled to Mar-a-Lago to dine with the president-elect and his transition team, even donating $1m to Trump’s inauguration fund. He has also culled Meta’s third party fact-checking program, lifting restrictions on topics like immigration and gender. And this week, Zuckerberg took his efforts to align with the incoming administration a step further by appointing Dana White – the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a close Trump ally – to Meta’s board of directors. Continue reading...

Events

5 hours ago Trump 'behaving like Germany in the 1940s' as 'Demark faces Dunkirk moment'

EXCLUSIVE: An expert has weighed in on 'deranged' Donald Trump's repeated desire to own Greenland, highlighting the eerie similarities to 'Germany in the 1940s'

Politics

19 hours ago A former Green Beret behind a failed Venezuela raid in 2020 lashes out at CIA and FBI

A former Green Beret behind a clandestine invasion of Venezuela in 2020 to try and overthrow Nicolás Maduro says in court filings that he had authority from the highest levels of the government for the amphibious raid that ended with several combatants killed and two of his U.S. Special Forces colleagues in prison

Events

6 hours ago Gloom and pessimism take hold of Democrats as they prepare to elect party leader

Questions about the viability of a female presidential candidate also rise after a crushing presidential defeat Democrats are harboring strong feelings of stress and gloom as the new year begins. And many are questioning whether their party’s commitment to diverse candidates – especially women – may lead to further political struggles as Donald Trump is sworn in for a second presidency on 20 January.A recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that a significant number of Democrats believe that it may be decades before the United States will get its first female president. Continue reading...

Politics

21 hours ago Every terror attack is sickening, says MI5 head at FBI director’s leaving event

Sir Ken McCallum, who was knighted in the latest New Year Honours, gave a speech at the leaving event for FBI director Christopher Wray on Friday.

Events

6 hours ago Zuck 2.0: What's really behind Mark Zuckerberg's startling transformation from meek Democrat darling to cage

Mark Zuckerberg sat down with podcaster Joe Rogan for three hours on Friday and barely mentioned his newfound support of President-elect Donald Trump. Could this be Zuck 2.0?

Politics

26 hours ago US official warns Puerto Rico of weak power generation as it prepares for a Trump administration

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has warned that Puerto Rico needs more power generation as it struggles to recover from a recent massive blackout

Events

7 hours ago Nigel Farage and Elon Musk to reunite as Reform leader hosts Trump inauguration party in Washington

Exclusive: Nigel Farage is set to host ‘the biggest inauguration party’ in Washington DC with Donald Trump, the president-elect’s family, Elon Musk, senior Republicans and the UK’s new ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson all expected to attend

Politics

26 hours ago Debunked: Did sending aid to Ukraine leave LA Fire Department unprepared?

As the worst wildfires in LA’s history continue to ravage the city, Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk suggested that the fires have been worsened by the LA Fire Department’s aid to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion, depleting local resources.

Events

8 hours ago ‘There are a lot of bitter people here, I’m one of them’: rust belt voters on why they backed Trump again despite his broken promises

Many in Youngstown, Ohio, believe the president-elect will tackle the town’s decline this time. Others are worried about his character flaws. Their concerns help explain how he returned to power – and how his second term might play outThe last time Donald Trump was president, he travelled to Youngstown, Ohio, among the most depressed of America’s rust belt cities, and promised voters the impossible.The high-paying steel, railroad and car industry jobs that once made Youngstown a hard-living, hard-drinking blue collar boom town were coming back, he said. “Don’t move. Don’t sell your house,” he crowed to a rapturous crowd in 2017. “We’re going to fill up those factories – or rip ”em down and build brand new ones.” Continue reading...

Politics

27 hours ago Exactly what Donald Trump said in court as he dodges jail in hush money trial

President-elect Donald Trump, 78, told Judge Juan Merchan he is 'totally innocent' and did 'nothing wrong' as he was sentenced in New York in his hush money trial

Events

9 hours ago Americans stocking up on foreign goods before Trump tariffs: ‘a sense of urgency’

As inauguration day approaches, consumers scooping up iPads, building supplies, shelf-stable foods and electric carsTablets and appliances made in China, hybrid cars built in Canada, European wine. As Donald Trump’s second inauguration as president quickly approaches, Americans are stocking up on goods in anticipation of tariffs Trump plans to place on imports, according to a Guardian reader poll.Since the election, Trump has promised to immediately impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports, along with increasing existing tariffs on Chinese imports by 10%. On the campaign trail, Trump said he would put tariffs of 10% to 20% on all imports. Continue reading...

Politics

29 hours ago TikTok ban: US supreme court hears oral arguments over fate of app – live updates

Justices hear arguments after app’s Chinese-based parent company ByteDance asked justices to review caseCould Donald Trump stop the TikTok ban?Trump has filed a request with the Supreme Court to delay the implementation of a ban on TikTok until he takes office on 20 January, which the court declined to immediately act on. The president-elect’s intervention shows the significant effort by TikTok to forge inroads with Trump and his team during the presidential campaign. Continue reading...

Events

13 hours ago Trump's words on Greenland and borders ring alarms in Europe, but officials have a guarded response

President-elect Donald Trump has tossed expansionist rhetoric at U.S. allies and potential adversaries with arguments that the frontiers of American power need to be extended into Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, and southward to include the Panama Canal

Politics

32 hours ago Judge will weigh holding Giuliani in contempt of court after jury's $148 million defamation award

A federal judge is set to hear arguments on whether to hold Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court for continuing to spread lies about two Georgia election workers after they secured a $148 million defamation judgment against him

Events

14 hours ago Donald Trump's Scottish golf course seeks to get closer to Robert the Bruce castle

The course linked to the US President-elect wants to get closer to the supposed birthplace of one of Scotland’s mightiest kings.

Politics

33 hours ago The Supreme Court is considering a possible TikTok ban. Here's what to know about the case

The law that could ban TikTok is coming before the Supreme Court

Events

14 hours ago Trump, Musk and Zuckerberg have declared war on facts and truth. The pushback must start now | Emily Bell

There is a narrow window. Public media and fair reporting must be supported: the rules must be upheldIn early 2017, Mark Zuckerberg was on what might be termed an “apology tour” of the United States. In the tumultuous few months since Donald Trump won his first presidential victory, the young chief executive of Facebook was reeling from his company’s part in serving US voters Russian disinformation, and widespread accusations that the social media platform had disseminated a vast spray of “fake news”. Fighting a rearguard action, Facebook announced changes to its algorithms, and a major initiative to include “third-party factcheckers” as part of the content moderation efforts.Touring the country, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, stopped off in Selma, Alabama. They posed for a casual photo outside the offices of the iconic local paper, the Selma Times-Journal. Zuckerberg posted a heartfelt “thank you” to journalists “who work tirelessly and sometimes put their lives in danger to s...

Politics

33 hours ago Ontario leader warns of ‘pain’ for US if Trump moves forward with tariffs on Canada

Premier of most populous province says rhetoric clouds trade relationship worth hundreds of billions of dollarsThe United States will “feel pain” if Donald Trump doesn’t back down from his threat to impose steep tariffs on its northern neighbour, the leader of Canada’s most populous province has warned.After a tumultuous week that left Canadian leaders flailing for a coherent national response to Trump’s provocations – including the suggestion that the US would annex its closest ally – Ontario premier Doug Ford told the Guardian: “We will never be for sale.” Continue reading...

Events

15 hours ago Some US lawmakers want more Christianity in the classroom. Trump could embolden their plans

Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing to introduce more Christianity to public school classrooms, testing the separation of church and state

Politics

33 hours ago Ontario leader warns of ‘pain’ for US if Trump imposes tariffs on Canada

Premier of most populous province says rhetoric clouds trade relationship worth hundreds of billions of dollarsThe United States will “feel pain” if Donald Trump doesn’t back down from his threat to impose steep tariffs on its northern neighbour, the leader of Canada’s most populous province has warned.After a tumultuous week that left Canadian leaders flailing for a coherent national response to Trump’s provocations – including the suggestion that the US would annex its closest ally – the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, told the Guardian: “We will never be for sale.” Continue reading...

Events

21 hours ago Panama Canal will remain Panamanian and open to all nations, says official

Administrator rejects Donald Trump’s claims that China controls canal or suggestion US could take it backWho owns the Panama Canal and what does Trump want with it?The Panama Canal will remain in Panamanian hands, and open to commerce from all countries, according to the administrator of the waterway, who rejected claims by president-elect Donald Trump that the US should take it over.Ricaurte Vásquez denied Trump’s claims that China was controlling the canal’s operations, and said making exceptions to current rules concerning its operation would lead to “chaos”. Continue reading...

Politics

34 hours ago LA fires: Donald Trump's climate denying ways will only inflict more damage

Donald Trump's blasé attitude towards environmental issues has been thrown into stark relief in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires that have killed at least 10 people

Events

21 hours ago California Dems worry Trump will make fire aid political again: ’Such a wild card’

‘Even if we nominally secure some of these things, the money won’t flow until Trump is president,’ California Democrat warns

Politics

35 hours ago Winston Churchill’s grandson hits out at Elon Musk over Jess Phillips comments

Labour safeguarding minister was described as ‘a rape genocide apologist’ by the tycoon and Donald Trump ally

Events

23 hours ago Who pays for the presidential inauguration? These are some of the major donors

Inaugural committee set to raise more than $200 million, with any leftover funds likely to be used for a Trump presidential library

Politics

25 hours ago Trump supporters and protesters agree – sort of – on his sentencing: ‘the opposite of justice’

A small group of activists faced off outside court in Manhattan as the president-elect was sentenced to an ‘unconditional discharge’ in his hush-money caseOutside the lower Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump was sentenced on Friday in his hush-money case, groups of his supporters as well as anti-Trump protesters gathered in the below-freezing temperatures to express their views on the sentencing.About 20 supporters stood on the right side of the courthouse entrance, displaying signs and banners that read “Stop Political Witch Hunts” and “Free Trump, Save America”. In contrast, around 15 anti-Trump protesters stood on the left side. Continue reading...

Politics