Footage shows officer said ‘It’s him, dude’ as testimony sheds light on arrest at Pennsylvania McDonald’s
Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.
The discovery, recounted in court on Monday as Mangione fights to keep evidence out of his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.
A student at a San Jose high school posted a photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a football field
A photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a high school football field in San Jose, California, has caused shock and outrage among the Bay Area Jewish community.
A Branham high school student posted the photo to social media on 3 December, and included an antisemitic quote from Adolf Hitler in the caption. A screenshot of the post began circulating on Reddit last Thursday and garnered over 500 comments. The post and the account were removed by Instagram by Friday morning, according to J., the Jewish News of Northern California.
Study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire shows residents’ reproductive outcomes near contaminated sites
Drinking water contaminated with Pfas chemicals probably increases the risk of infant mortality and other harm to newborns, a new peer-reviewed study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire finds.
The first-of-its-kind University of Arizona research found drinking well water down gradient from a Pfas-contaminated site was tied to an increase in infant mortality of 191%, pre-term birth of 20%, and low-weight birth of 43%.
The US supreme court on Monday appeared poised to back the Trump administration’s argument that the president should be able to fire independent board members that for almost a century have been protected from presidential interference.
The court heard arguments concerning the legality of Donald Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member and appeared to be split down partisan lines in favor of a historic expansion of executive power, with the conservatives – including the sometimes swing vote of Justice Amy Coney Barrett – seeming to side with the administration.
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba says she is resigning as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, she announced on social media.
Habba’s resignation came after district and appellate court rulings which found she was unlawfully serving in the role, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.
Roughly 600 survivors of the clergy molestation scandal that drove the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese into bankruptcy have secured the opportunity to collectively be paid $305m after attorneys for the victims and the church’s largest insurer struck a deal Monday, according to some of the lawyers.
The insurer in question, Travelers, had refused to join a proposal officially approved Monday to pay $230m to the abuse survivors to effectively wrap up a bankruptcy protection case that the US’s second-oldest archdiocese filed in May 2020.
Actor, who starred in The Passion of the Christ, will play the disgraced ex-Brazilian president in film written by his one-time secretary of culture
Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president now in prison for plotting a coup, is getting the biopic treatment.
Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is reportedly filming a “heroic” portrait of the rightwing ex-politician in secret. Dark Horse, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Mário Frias, who served as secretary of culture under Bolsonaro, started shooting three months ago in Brazil, where Bolsonaro served as president from 2019 until 2023. He was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison in September 2025 for leading a criminal conspiracy to stop his leftwing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, taking power, though his supporters deny the allegations and have compared the prosecution to the “lawfare” allegedly faced by Donald Trump before he was re-elected.
Settlement also includes major changes to how church identifies and discloses past claims of abuse by clergy
After more than five years of litigation, a federal bankruptcy judge has approved the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans’ proposal to pay $230m to roughly 600 survivors of sexual abuse by the church’s priests, deacons and other personnel.
Judge Meredith Grabill on Monday confirmed the settlement, which also includes major changes to how the church identifies and discloses past claims of sexual abuse by clergy and protects children and vulnerable adults going forward.
Civil rights leaders decry administration’s move to downplay Black American history and promote president
The US’s National Park Service (NPS) will offer free admission to US residents on Donald Trump’s birthday in 2026 – which also happens to be Flag Day – but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth.
The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.
Washington’s police chief, Pamela Smith, is resigning after less than two years in the role amid an ongoing battle over control of the city’s law enforcement as Donald Trump moved to federalize the Metropolitan police department.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Smith’s departure on Monday, praising her leadership during a period of “significant urgency” for the nation’s capital.
Paramount’s bid for the entire company counters $82.7bn Netflix deal for WBD’s studio and streaming operation
David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid for the entertainment company despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy its studio and streaming operation.
Netflix’s bid for WBD’s storied Hollywood movie studio, as well as its premier HBO cable network, valued the company at $82.7bn. But it did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN and the Discovery channel.
The 33-year-old hit rain, lightning, snow and ice in Yosemite – and still became the first woman to ascend the Platinum route
Big-wall climber Sasha DiGiulian had spent the last three years preparing for a career-defining ascent of one of the most challenging routes up the face of the famed granite cliff known as El Capitán in Yosemite national park. All she and her partner needed was a two-week window of favorable weather. They appeared to get one on 3 November.
DiGiulian felt jolts of fear during her training, she said, induced by the sudden 2,600ft of exposure she felt as she rappelled down to practice on the most challenging sections of the iconic California peak. But her nerves calmed when ascending from the base, allowing her to focus more intently on the moves and completing each pitch – a measurement that references a length of the rope that climbers use to secure themselves to the rock.
At present, the mantelpiece of Paul Thomas Anderson remains strikingly light on major trophies. Despite being responsible for some of the films widely acknowledged to be the best of the century so far, including There Will Be Blood, The Master and Phantom Thread, the writer-director is yet to win an Oscar, Golden Globe or more than one Bafta (original screenplay for 2021’s Licorice Pizza).
This year’s Golden Globe nominations suggest this is about to change, with his counterculture epic One Battle After Another leading the pack of nominees with nine mentions on the shortlist, including for best comedy or musical, best director, best original screenplay, leading actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, leading actor for Chase Infiniti, supporting actress for Teyana Taylor and two chances to scoop supporting actor – for Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Jonny Greenwood’s score was also recognised.
Officials track public sentiment, noting negative impact of ‘videos with sounds of children crying’ as parents arrested
State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by the Associated Press.
The intelligence gathering comes even as officials have released few details about the first arrests made last week as part of “Catahoula Crunch”, prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they have been kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the operation.
For young Americans, not being able to buy a house is more than a sob story. It’s the symbol of a broken social contract and a generational betrayal
Almost every couple that I know in their 20s, 30s or even 40s has had the same argument with their parents before getting married.
The parents say to open a wedding registry. The couple responds that they do not want one. They don’t expect gifts from wedding guests (their “presence is enough”), and they have been cohabiting for years and already have plates, bedsheets and a blender. In fact, since they live in a small rented apartment, they barely have room for the plates that they do have – let alone a set of china.
President says farmers are ‘the backbone of our country’ and says China has committed to buying $40bn in American soybeans
In a statement, Pamela Smith said she was “deeply humbled, grateful and deeply appreciative” of her time in her role, which she described as the “greatest honor” of her career. She gave thanks to the mayor for appointing her in 2023 and supporting her throughout her tenure, which she acknowledged had been both “challenging and rewarding”.
Smith adds that “tremendous progress” has been made but the city is not at “zero percent crime” yet.
I am confident that the department is in a strong position and that the great work will continue, moving in a positive trajectory to combat crime and enhance public safety. Washington, DC is an extraordinary place to live, visit, and work, and I remain inspired by the resilience and spirit of this community.
I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity as Chief of Police. It has been an honor to lead the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department, and I will always carry with the me the pride of having served this city.
When Chief Smith stepped up to lead the Metropolitan Police Department, we had no time to waste. She came in at a very challenging time for our community, when there was significant urgency to reverse the crime trends our city was facing post pandemic. Within a year of her tenure, we opened the Real-Time Crime Center.
We deployed newer and better technology. We worked with the Council to pass comprehensive legislation that prioritizes accountability. And Chief Smith got all of this done while also navigating unprecedented challenges and attacks on our city’s autonomy.
Mike Johnson’s denials of knowledge of presidential scandals strain credulity – but may be an effective tactic
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has developed a go-to response when asked about something controversial Donald Trump or members of his administration said or did.
It’s some version of “I don’t know anything about that.”
A US invasion or attack on Venezuela could plunge South America into a Vietnam-style conflict, the chief foreign policy adviser to Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has warned.
In an interview with the Guardian, Celso Amorim called Donald Trump’s recent decision to order the closure of Venezuelan airspace “an act of war”, and voiced fears the crisis could intensify over the coming weeks.
Flood and weather alerts in place across western half of region as parts of Iraq and Iran also face significant rain
Weather alerts are in effect across the Pacific north-west this week as a series of atmospheric rivers are forecast to deliver multiple rainfall events and heavy mountain snow from western British Columbia in Canada, to Washington and Oregon in the US.
More than 200mm (8ins) of rainfall is expected across the western half of Washington state and north-west Oregon by Friday, with between 100-150mm expected in cities such as Seattle and Portland. About 400mm are possible on the western side of the Cascades, while more than a foot of snow is expected above 1,800-2,100 metres.
Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis
A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the US, the latest salvo in a growing backlash to a booming artificial intelligence industry that has been blamed for escalating electricity bills and worsening the climate crisis.
The green groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch and dozens of local organizations, have urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water and exacerbating electricity bill increases that have hit Americans this year.
When abuse occurs, the first instinct is too often containment. We know this pattern because we have seen it ourselves
For years, Jeffrey Epstein conjured a kind of grotesque fascination: the private island, the powerful friends, the whispered allegations. But focusing on the lurid details of his life and eventual death obscures the far more unsettling truth his case lays bare. Epstein’s story is not really about one man’s depravity. It is about a system – legal, cultural and institutional – engineered to protect the powerful through silence. His crimes thrived not because they were hidden, but because the people who knew were coerced, encouraged or more than willing to shut up.
Silence was not incidental to Epstein’s success. It was central to it. And in this, he was hardly unique.
Gretchen Carlson is a journalist, bestselling author and internationally recognized advocate for women’s rights. Julie Roginsky is a champion of women’s rights and political consultant. Carlson and Roginsky co-founded the nonprofit Lift Our Voices, dedicated to eliminating silencing mechanisms like forced arbitration and NDAs for toxic workplace issues
The US defense secretary’s belief that the military should not be held to account has been a defining factor in his career
Pete Hegseth’s office is located on the third floor of the Pentagon, in the E ring, room 3E880, facing the Potomac River with a scenic view of the monuments and the Capitol. He posted a video on 5 September showing a new bronze plaque being affixed to his door reading: “Pete Hegseth Secretary of War.”
His splendid new designation, not established by the Congress as required by law, was purely notional and performative, announced by Donald Trump in an executive order that carried no legal weight, but befitted Hegseth’s self-conceit as warrior-in-chief. He now had the title to go with the tattoos: the crusader cross; “Deus vult”, or “God wills it”, the crusader battle cry; the sniper rifle against the background of an American flag; and the cross and sword inspired by Matthew 10:34: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to 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
Donald Trump has warned of potential competition problems over Netflix’s $83bn (£62bn) deal to buy Warner Brothers’ movie studio and streaming networks.
The US president, speaking at an event in Washington DC on Sunday, confirmed he would be involved in deciding whether the government approved the takeover.
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