10 h. ago Judge says Trump administration can’t block child care, other program money for 5 states for now

A judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot block child care and other federal social service money from flowing to five states for now

Politics

17 h. ago From Caracas to Minneapolis, the threat is the same – an American president ruling like a global emperor | Jonathan Freedland

Trump’s admission that he recognises no constraint outside his own morality was a horrifying moment of truth. It should galvanise all those who oppose himFor a serial liar, Donald Trump can be bracingly honest. We’ve known about the mendacity for years – consider the 30,573 documented falsehoods from the president’s first term, culminating in the big lie, his claim to have won the 2020 election – but the examples of bracing candour are fresher. This week both began and ended with the US president speaking the shocking truth.At a press conference to celebrate his capture of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump announced that from now on the US would “run” that country, before moving in the very next breath to Venezuela’s oil. There was no pious talk of democracy, scant mention even of the drug trafficking that earlier served as a pretext for military action. Instead, Trump said out loud what had once been a slogan on leftist placards in protest at past US interventions, admi...

Politics

62 h. ago Russia's chilling nuclear WW3 threat after UK helps US seize 'ghost fleet' tanker

A Russian Duma member has issued a chilling threat to the US after British forces supported American seizure of an oil tanker, and suggested nuclear weapons could even be deployed

Events

3 d. ago Oil price falls after Trump says Venezuela will send supply to US – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Brent crude drops back to $60 a barrelVenezuela ‘turning over’ $2bn in oil to US, Trump says, in move that could cut supply to ChinaDonald Trump’s “gunboat diplomacy” in Venezuela shows that securing access to critical natural resources such as oil is now a key priority for Washington, say analysts at Unicredit.They point out, in a note to clients, that the toppling of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro marked a decisive break with the rules‑based international order, ushering in a more assertive, America‑First form of hegemony across the western hemisphere.Given that China was the main buyer of smuggled Venezuelan oil and is Caracas’s principal creditor, the move is clearly intended to send a strong signal to Beijing, which has ambitious plans in South America, particularly in resource‑rich countries such as Peru.In 2023, China and Venezuela formalised an “all‑weather strategic partnership”. Beijing also used oil trade...

Politics

7 d. ago From Donald Trump to Benjamin Netanyahu, let 2026 be a year of reckoning | Jonathan Freedland

These malign figures will do anything to avoid paying for the harm they have done, but accountability must eventually come to bothIt’s not quite a new year resolution, and it’s certainly not a prediction. Think of it instead as a hope or even a plea for the next 12 months. May the coming year see those leaders who have done so much damage to their own countries, and far beyond, at last be called to account. Let 2026 be a year of reckoning.Start with the man whose reach is longest, by dint of the mighty power he wields. Such is the nature of the US electoral system that Donald Trump, who returned to power less than a year ago, will face the judgment of voters in 10 months’ time. His name will not be on the ballot but, make no mistake, the midterm elections of 3 November will deliver a verdict on the second Trump presidency.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistGuardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US? On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedla...

Politics

9 d. ago New Year's Eve horror as Xi Jinping says bombshell move now 'unstoppable'

Chinese President Xi Jinping has insisted his country would annex self-ruled Taiwan in a chilling threat to the world in his New Year's Eve message

Events

2 w. ago US launches deadly strikes against Islamic State in Nigeria, Donald Trump says

American president warned of threat to Christians in West African country

Events

2 w. ago Rugby brain injury case suffers huge blow after judge rejects court appeal

Up to 80% of league and 20% of union claims face strike-outAppeal over medical record disclosure denied on all groundsTwo appeals launched by the legal firm representing former players in rugby league and rugby union have both been denied in a significant blow to the ongoing legal action about brain damage caused by the sport. It means that after five years of legal arguments a large number of the claimants in both codes face the risk of having their cases struck out before they come to trial.The appeal judge, Mr Justice Dexter Dias, ruled that the judge presiding over the management of the case, Senior Master Jeremy Cook, had been right to find that the claimants firm, Rylands Garth, had failed to fulfil its obligations to disclose necessary medical material to the defendants, World Rugby, the Wales Rugby Union, and the Rugby Football Union in one case, and the Rugby Football League in the other. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Rugby brain injury case suffers blow after judge rejects court appeal

Up to 80% of league and 20% of union claims face strike-outAppeal over medical record disclosure denied on all groundsTwo appeals launched by the legal firm representing former players in rugby league and rugby union have both been denied in a significant blow to the ongoing legal action about brain damage caused by the sport. It means that after five years of legal arguments a large number of the claimants in both codes face the risk of having their cases struck out before they come to trial.The appeal judge, Mr Justice Dexter Dias, ruled that the judge presiding over the management of the case, Senior Master Jeremy Cook, had been right to find that the claimants firm, Rylands Garth, had failed to fulfil its obligations to disclose necessary medical material to the defendants, World Rugby, the Wales Rugby Union, and the Rugby Football Union in one case, and the Rugby Football League in the other. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Rugby brain injury case suffers blow after judge rejects court appeals

Up to 80% of league and 20% of union claims could be struck outAppeals over medical record disclosure denied on all groundsTwo appeals launched by the legal firm representing former players in rugby league and rugby union have been denied in a significant blow to the ongoing legal action about brain damage caused by the sport. It means that after five years of legal arguments a large number of the claimants in both codes face the risk of having their cases struck out before they come to trial.The appeal judge, Lord Justice Dias, ruled that the judge presiding over the management of the case, Senior Master Jeremy Cook, had been right to find that the claimants’ firm, Rylands Garth, had failed to fulfil its obligations to disclose necessary medical material to the defendants, World Rugby, the Wales Rugby Union, and the Rugby Football Union in one case, and the Rugby Football League in the other. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago At the dark end of a brutal year, I’m grateful to these heroes for showing us the light | Jonathan Freedland

From Palestinians standing up to Hamas to the Bondi beach rescuers, great acts of courage offer hope even in the bleakest timesSome traditions are getting harder to maintain. Among them, my own custom of devoting the last column before Christmas to reasons to be hopeful. In recent years, amid war and bloodshed, that task has been especially challenging – and this week was no exception.It began with the news from Bondi beach, where 15 people were gunned down and dozens more injured, most of them Jews celebrating the festival of Hanukah. That came just two-and-a-half months after the deadly attack on Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. To be a Jew at the end of 2025 is to fear that to gather together, whether at moments of joy or sorrow, is to take a mortal risk. That even to do relatively ordinary things together has become a matter of life and death.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist and the author of The Traitors Circl...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump says war with Venezuela is possible – US politics live

President says ‘I don’t rule it out’ when asked about the possibility of conflict during NBC interviewThe Trump administration announced on Thursday it will suspend a green card lottery that allowed a man believed to be behind both a mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor into the United States.Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, is accused of bursting into a building at the Ivy League school on Saturday and opening fire on students, killing two and wounding nine. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Donald Trump is pursuing regime change – in Europe | Jonathan Freedland

The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new realityWhen are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes and realise that “He’s just not that into you”. After this past week, it’s clear that understates the problem. Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to “climate change”, but the ...

Politics

4 w. ago JPMorgan warns of ‘national security’ threat due to American worker skill gaps

The company warned that simply investing in emerging industries won’t matter if workers don’t have the skills to match opportunities

Events