Robert McBride, deputy to Trump ally Lindsey Halligan, is latest in series of dismissals
The number two prosecutor in the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia has been fired, according to two people familiar with the matter, the latest in a series of dismissals in an office that is leading controversial criminal prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James.
Robert McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Kentucky, was brought in late last year to serve as the deputy to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally who the president installed as the acting US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia in September. McBride was dismissed after declining to lead the Comey prosecution, which a judge threw out in November after ruling Halligan was unlawfully appointed, one of the people said. (The justice department is appealing the ruling.)
Maitlin Paige White accused of soliciting donations as Matthew Childress, whose daughter died at Camp Mystic
A Florida woman allegedly posed as the grieving father of a teenager who died in July’s deadly Camp Mystic flooding in Texas and tried to raise money, leading to her being criminally charged with online impersonation, according to authorities.
According tocourt records reviewed by multiple outlets, Maitlin Paige White, 28, of Crestview, Florida, is accused of posing as Matthew Childress and soliciting donations in the days after the death of his 18-year-old daughter, Chloe Childress, who was working as a counselor at Camp Mystic in Kerr county, Texas.
The tumultuous start to 2026 should force a reckoning in Brussels and European capitals, and a recognition of the power the EU can exert
Another week, another set of dilemmas for Europe’s beleaguered political class to deal with. On Wednesday Brussels is due to outline the terms of the €90bn loan it has promised to Ukraine, amid internal tensions over whether Kyiv can use the money to buy US as well as EU weapons. On the same day, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is due to meet ministers from Denmark and Greenland, as Donald Trump continues to insist that the US will take ownership of the latter “one way or another”. And as the body count of protesters rises in Iran, the EU is under mounting pressure to do more than merely “monitor” the situation, as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, somewhat feebly put it over the weekend.
Beyond the crisis management, a deeper reckoning is overdue after a tumultuous beginning to 2026. It has long been a truism that there is a profound mismatch between the EU’s economic heft and its geopolitical clout. But only a year into Mr Trump’s second term, the disjunction looks unsustainable in the “America first” era.
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A criminal investigation into the Fed, and him personally, over the renovation of the central bank’s headquarters is an attempt to bully officials into setting policy according to the president’s whims, said Powell.
‘Major fights’ broke out Sunday at prison in Davidsboro, county sheriff said, with a dozen others taken to hospital
Three inmates died and a dozen others were taken to hospital with injuries after a “possible riot” on Sunday at a state prison in Georgia, authorities said.
The Washington county sheriff, Joel Cochran, said several “major fights” broke out early Sunday afternoon at a state prison in Davisboro, the Georgia television news outlet WMAZ reported, resulting in 13 inmates being transported for treatment.
Exclusive: ClimatePartner analysis shows how move would risk plunging Earth further into climate catastrophe
US plans to exploit Venezuela’s oil reserves could by 2050 consume more than a tenth of the world’s remaining carbon budget to limit global heating to 1.5C, according to an exclusive analysis.
The calculation highlights how any moves to further exploit the South American nation’s oil reserves – the largest in the world, at least on paper – would put increasing pressure on climate goals, and risk plunging the Earth further into climate catastrophe.
Every living former head of the Federal Reserve condemned an “unprecedented” attempt by the Trump administration to weaken the US central bank’s independence, after the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into its chair, Jerome Powell.
Ex-Fed chairs Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen warned similar prosecutorial attacks in other countries had led to “highly negative consequences” for the cost of living – and argued they had “no place” in the US.
This could be your year to worry less about your waistline and spend more time at the movies
We are now more than aweek into 2026, and it might shock you to know I’m feeling quite cheery. All the professional emails I’ve waited a month to send are out. The grout in my shower is scum-free. The music at the pharmacy is normal again. If you’re like me, and you find the holiday season a grim and lonely time that involves too much booze, too much food, too much Mariah Carey and not enough routine, the start of the new year is more than welcome.
The one thing that dampens my cheer at being dragged back to my desk for the comfort of drudgery – besides the endless and brutal news headlines – is the New Year’s resolution. The tradition of picking a few things to promise yourself to do (or not do) in the spirit of wellness is centuries old, dating back as far as 2000BC. Not sure what the Babylonians were resolving to do. Tidy up the storage closet in the ziggurat? Finally finish that tower they’d been thinking about? Try not to get sold into slavery (again)?
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
Self-governing island stresses it is member of Nato, which is looking at improving Arctic defences, through Denmark
Greenland’s government has said it “cannot under any circumstances accept” Donald Trump’s desire to take control of Greenland, as Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, said the organisation was working on ways to bolster Arctic security.
At the start of a critical week for the vast Arctic island, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, the US president restated his interest in the strategically located, mineral-rich territory, saying the US would take it “one way or the other”.
Paramount also files lawsuit seeking disclosure of financial information related to $82.7bn agreement
Paramount Skydance plans to nominate directors to Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) board to vote against the approval of its deal with Netflix, and filed a lawsuit seeking disclosure of financial information related to the $82.7bn (£61.4bn) agreement.
In a letter sent to WBD investors on Monday, Paramount said it would nominate directors for election at the company’s annual meeting, which is usually held in June, to try to derail the deal with Netflix, which was agreed in December.
Journalists call on homeland security officials to reduce law-enforcement confrontations as tensions flare
After a year in which US journalists faced a dramatic increase in violence from law enforcement, news organizations and advocacy groups have recently tried to better protect reporters through outreach to the Department of Homeland Security.
Over the last four months, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a collection of New York news outlets have sent letters to the Department of Homeland Security attempting to open dialogue to reduce confrontations between law enforcement officers and journalists at protests, especially over efforts to deport alleged undocumented immigrants.
It comes after Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that Iran has reached out and proposed negotiations, as he considers “very strong” military options against the regime over the deadly Iranian crackdown on protestors in the country, which has reportedly killed hundreds.
Emmy-winning actor and director allegedly touched child inappropriately on set of The Cleaning Lady TV series
Authorities in New Mexico issued an arrest warrant recently for the director and Emmy-winning actor Timothy Busfield to face a child sexual abuse charge.
An investigator with the Albuquerque police department filed a criminal complaint in support of the charge, which says a child reported that Busfield touched him inappropriately. The acts cited in the warrant – issued on Friday – allegedly occurred on the set of The Cleaning Lady, a TV series Busfield directed and acted in.
After the state’s bathroom ban went into effect in December amid a slew of new anti-trans policies, I couldn’t keep trying to hide my identity at work
Until recently, I was a music teacher in north Texas. I also happen to be trans. I have never, ever told a student about my identity. At work, I was “stealth” – a term that means that I passed as a cisgender man. Only my administrators knew I was trans, because I was not yet taking gender-affirming hormones when I started this job in my early 20s. I’m now in my late 20s.
My decision to stay stealth was affected by the political climate. Texas has been trying to pass a bathroom ban for 10 years, and in December, they finally implemented the rule. It applies to restrooms and changing rooms in public buildings, schools and universities.
Kristi Noem says that more officers are being deployed amid protests in several cities
In response to the news overnight that Donald Trump’s justice department has launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, the Senate banking committee’s top Democrat – Elizabeth Warren – has warned that her colleagues should not move forward with the president’s nominee for the role when Powell’s term expires at in May of this year.
Warren accused the president of wanting to “install another sock puppet to complete his corrupt takeover of America’s central bank”.
Trump is abusing the authorities of the Department of Justice like a wannabe dictator so the Fed serves his interests, along with his billionaire friends.
This Committee and the Senate should not move forward with any Trump nominee for the Fed, including Fed Chair.
President’s memo stating US ‘shall withdraw’ from UNFCCC marks first time any country has tried to exit the agreement
The Trump administration’s long-anticipated decision this week to pull the US from the world’s most important climate treaty may have been illegal, some experts say.
“In my legal opinion, he does not have the authority,” Harold Hongju Koh, former head lawyer for the US state department, told the Guardian.
Strike, amid an intense flu season, is expected to disrupt activity at institutions such as Mount Sinai and Montefiore
Thousands of nurses are set to walk off the job at several of New York City’s largest hospitals on Monday, staging a strike amid an intense flu season.
The action comes three years after a previous strike that compelled some of the same hospitals to move patients elsewhere and reroute ambulances.
Leftwing leader rallies his supporters as US president accuses him of drug trafficking and threatens military action
A leftwing South American firebrand calls for his followers to rally in public squares nationwide to defend his country’s sovereignty and decry verbal attacks from Donald Trump. The US president accuses the leader of personally flooding American streets with illegal drugs and imposes sanctions against him and his wife. Threats of military action are followed by a phone conversation between the two leaders.
One might imagine that this is a description of the buildup of tensions that led to the 3 January special forces raid on Caracas to capture the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, to face several criminal charges in New York.
If bans on trans youth athletes are upheld, more girls could face ‘invasive sex testing’ and trans people could broadly lose civil rights protections
The US supreme court will consider state bans on transgender athletes on Tuesday in a major LGBTQ+ rights legal battle that could have far-reaching consequences beyond youth sports.
The court is hearing oral arguments in two cases brought by trans students who challenged Republican-backed laws in West Virginia and Idaho prohibiting trans girls from participating in girls’ athletic programs.
As it did in 2003, the US is underestimating the potential for instability as Trump resurrects one of the Iraq war’s biggest myths
“Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!” Paul Bremer, the US proconsul in Iraq, memorably declared at a press conference in Baghdad on 14 December 2003, a day after US troops had captured Saddam Hussein. Iraqis in the audience broke out in cheers, leapt up from their seats and pumped their fists in the air – many had waited decades for that moment. “This is a great day in Iraq’s history,” Bremer said, adding: “The tyrant is a prisoner.”
I was in the audience that day in Baghdad, covering the Iraq invasion’s aftermath as a correspondent for a US newspaper. It quickly became clear that Bremer and other jubilant US officials would use the occasion – US soldiers dragged the disheveled former Iraqi dictator out of a hole in the ground where he had been hiding near his home town – to declare that America’s war had reached a decisive turn. Despite a growing insurgency led by ex-members of the Iraqi security forces, US officials in Baghdad and Washington projected confidence that victory was in sight now that Saddam was locked up and headed for the gallows.
Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University
Jens-Frederik Nielsen repeated the government’s statement it would work on strengthening security through Nato
The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to travel to Paraquay on Saturday to sign the controversial Mercosur trade deal with a group of Latin American countries this Saturday.
The deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uraguay and Paraguay was adopted by member states on Friday, ending 25 years of negotiation and months of wrangling with member states over the final compromises.
Elon Musk’s X “is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online”, a minister has said, as the UK government prepares to outline possible action against the platform over the mass production of sexualised images of woman and children.
Peter Kyle, the business secretary, said the government would fully support any action taken by Ofcom, the media regulator, against X – including the possibility that the platform could be blocked in the UK.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another looks unstoppable ahead of the Oscars, despite Timothée Chalamet’s triumph over Leonardo DiCaprio for best actor
The biggest backlash brewing concerns Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, lauded by critics and embraced – especially in the US – by audiences as one of 2025’s key cultural landmarks. The thriller did win two Globes – for cinematic and box office achievement and original score – but both wound up not really counting. The first is the Globes’s consolation prize (it was won by Barbie in 2023 and Wicked last year); the second wasn’t even broadcast on the telecast. Coogler missing out on screenplay to One Battle After Another was perceived by some as a slap in the face – the Oscars and Baftas separate the category into original and adapted, however, so a corrective could come.
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