Governor Tim Walz slams Trump’s ‘propaganda machine’ as Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey tells ICE to ‘get out’ of the city; Noem claims ‘domestic terrorism’ act spurred agents to shoot woman
Miranda Bryant, the Guardian’s Nordic correspondent, also has written this handy explainer on why Donald Trump is renewing calls for a takeover of Greenland:
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner will lay out vision for the country in book publishing in US
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will publish a book in the US that lays out her vision for Venezuela’s political reconstruction as the country faces significant upheaval.
The 120-page work titled The Freedom Manifesto is being released by Regnery Publishing, a conservative book publisher acquired by Skyhorse Publishing in 2023.
The US has seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean in a high-stakes operation that could risk confrontation with the Kremlin after Moscow reportedly dispatched a submarine to safeguard the vessel.
US European Command said on Wednesday that it had boarded the Marinera over alleged sanctions violations, bringing to an end a dramatic two-week pursuit that began in the Caribbean and concluded in the Atlantic.
Median sale price was at $410,800 last year, according to the Census Bureau, even as Trump campaigned on affordability
Donald Trump said his administration was moving to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in a bid to reduce home prices.
In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the US president said he will be asking Congress to codify the measure and will be discussing additional housing and affordability proposals in a speech at the Davos World Economic Forum.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic thriller and Apple’s comedy series lead nominations for the renamed Sag awards with an impressive showing for Sinners and Adolescence
One Battle After Another and The Studio lead the nominations for this year’s Actor awards.
The Actor awards were previously known as the Screen Actors Guild (Sag) awards but were renamed last year. The name change was to provide “clearer recognition in terms of what the show is about”, according to those involved.
The chaos that Donald Trump is causing in the world makes the case for continental solidarity and explicit repudiation of Brexit divisions
Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for 2026 was to talk more about the domestic issues that concern British voters. Donald Trump knocked that plan off course. US intervention in Venezuela inevitably demanded the prime minister’s attention, as did this week’s summit of Ukraine’s allies, the “coalition of the willing”, in Paris. Progress towards agreeing security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal with Russia was overshadowed by Mr Trump restating his ambition to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark. The dust had not settled when American special forces boarded a Russian-flagged oil tanker in European waters, ostensibly to enforce a blockade against Venezuela.
Prime ministers have to multitask, but under these circumstances it is understandable if Sir Keir’s mind has been filled with foreign affairs. He should be used to this by now. Mr Trump’s return to the White House guaranteed that an already uncertain international climate would become increasingly volatile. Any hope that the incoming president’s rhetoric contained more bluster than intent was dashed when he announced his “liberation day” tariffs. He sees no value in America’s historic alliances. He despises institutions of multilateral governance. His actions may not be wholly predictable, but it is safe to assume he means what he says. He wants Greenland for America. Denmark and its Nato partners have to take the ambition seriously.
New guidance presented by Robert F Kennedy Jr prioritizes protein, healthy fats and ‘declares war on added sugar’
The Trump administration has released updated dietary guidelines for Americans on Wednesday that emphasize eating whole and minimally processed foods, scaling back refined carbohydrates, and “declaring war” on added sugars.
The recommendations encourage “prioritizing high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains” while steering clear of highly processed foods. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health and human services (HHS) secretary, and Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, are presenting the new guidance at a White House briefing.
Actor who played the venal Maryland state governor Clay Davis in the US crime drama The Wire
Many fictional characters are known by their catchphrases. Few are identifiable by a single exclamation alone. Among the exceptions are Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest (“A handbag?”) and the venal Maryland state senator Clay Davis, who appeared in all five series of the acclaimed US crime drama The Wire between 2002 and 2008.
Senator Davis, played by Isiah Whitlock Jr, who has died aged 71, was notable for his unique pronunciation of a monosyllabic expletive. On his lips, its central vowel was bent out of shape and stretched as thin as pizza dough: “Sheee-it”.
After their lives were upended last year, they’re finally regaining their footing – but memories of the fires still haunt them
Few among the nearly 10 million people who live in Los Angeles county were left untouched by last year’s disastrous firestorm. Driven by strong winds through parched vegetation, multiple fires exploded in quick succession last January, and devoured roughly 16,000 structures on all sides of LA.
Thirty-one lives were lost and thousands more were for ever changed. For many, a new chapter of the disaster began to unfold when the flames were extinguished, while the slow road to recovery started to take shape in the year that followed.
Interior minister told he must back acting president, while Marco Rubio lays out three-point plan for Venezuela
The Trump administration has reportedly put Venezuela’s hardline interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, on notice that he could be next to fall if he does not support the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who has been in power since Nicolás Maduro was seized on Saturday.
Reuters reported that US officials were “especially concerned” that Cabello, long seen by many as the regime’s real No 2, could sabotage Washington’s plan to keep key figures from Maduro’s inner circle in place in the name of stability while pursuing a transition and unrestricted access to Venezuela’s oil.
Federal agents shot and killed a woman during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Ilhan Omar, the Democratic Minnesota representative, said the victim was “a legal observer” of action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which had sent a surge of agents into the city in recent days tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
The ship is alleged to be part of a shadow fleet dodging western sanctions. It had no oil onboard – but was it carrying Russian weapons?
A massive, rusty crude oil tanker floating north through the Atlantic has become the centre of global interest after it was followed for days and eventually seized by US forces while Russia’s military rushed towards it.
Despite not carrying any oil, the 300-metre-long ship is clearly of value. Theories for why range from speculation that high-value Russian weapons are hidden in the hull, to the ship’s potential to become a symbolic trophy in a transatlantic power struggle between Washington and Moscow.
By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhere
‘We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, “We need it for defence.” His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: “The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? … The US is the power of Nato … obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.” His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption “soon”. It’s hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning?
Still, we’re right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: “Maybe they’re just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela”, or “surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?”
Son of director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner will now be represented by public defender in murder case
The arraignment of Nick Reiner, who faces two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, was delayed on Wednesday after his attorney asked to be replaced.
Judge Theresa McGonigle agreed to postpone the proceedings until February in response to a request from attorney Alan Jackson to withdraw from the case. The judge assigned a public defender to represent Nick Reiner, who had been expected to be arraigned and enter a plea in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday.
High-profile names have been housed in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan detention center, which is said to be unsafe and inhumane
After US military forces seizedNicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas during a controversial pre-dawn raid, they were ultimately spirited to one of this country’s most infamous jails: the Metropolitan detention center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York.
The deposed Venezuelan president and Flores will almost certainly reside in the MDC until their federal trial on drugs and weapons charge – inducting them into a notorious group that counts Sean “Diddy” Combs, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman-Fried and Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” as either current or former members.
Hello and Happy New Year. We have started 2026 with a geopolitical shock as the Trump administration ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and imprisoned him on US soil. As many western governments struggle to respond to this violation of international law, for Caribbean countries, this is not an awkward diplomatic spot but a real moment of political fear, uncertainty, and regional fracture.
One remarkable aspect of the Venezuela raid is how Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has openly aligned with Donald Trump. Dr Jacqueline Laguardia Martinez, a senior lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies, told me that Trinidad and Tobago – one of the founding members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a regional grouping of 15 member countries – has “openly endorsed US actions under the pretext of combating transnational crime”. One way that has happened is through military cooperation. On 28 November, a radar appeared in a coastal neighbourhood of Tobago, described by the New York Times as “a state-of-the-art mobile long-range sensor known as G/ATOR, or Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, that is owned by the US Marines and is worth tens of millions of dollars.” Along with the sophisticated equipment, US military jets and troops arrived on the island, which is only 7 miles from Venezuela.
Havana’s long, fractious history with the US leaves it vulnerable if Caracas is forced to withdraw its support
On Havana’s Fifth Avenue, where the trees and lawns remain elegantly groomed even as the rest of Cuba wilts, a billboard outside the Venezuelan embassy reads: “Hasta Siempre Comandante” (Until For Ever, Commander) next to a vast picture of a smiling Hugo Chávez.
It is a staunch declaration that the two nations are bound together “for ever”. But this week, after the US operation to grab Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, those ties are in danger of unravelling.
A year after the Eaton fire, residents returning to Altadena confront lingering contamination and little official clarity
One year on from the Eaton fire, long after the vicious winds that sent embers cascading from the San Gabriel mountains and the flames that swallowed entire streets, a shadow still hangs over Altadena.
Construction on new properties is under way, and families whose homes survived the fire have begun to return. But many are grappling with an urgent question: is it safe to be here?
US takes over two tankers, one Russian-flagged in the North Atlantic and the other Venezuela-linked in the Caribbean; Trump says Caracas will be ‘purchasing only American Made Products’
Meanwhile, in the UK, Nigel Farage has offered his take on Trump’s plans to control Greenland, saying it would be “outrageous” for the US to seize it from Denmark.
Farage says he agrees with Starmer that the fate of Greenland must be decided by Greenland and Denmark, not the US – but sided with Trump on “some genuine security concerns” that require further presence there.
“What I will say is this. There are some genuine security concerns around Greenland and that becomes ever more relevant with a retraction of the ice caps as we head towards the North Pole. There is a strong feeling in British intelligence circles, and many in Nato, that there needs to be a significant Nato base located directly on the north of Greenland.
At the moment, it would appear that is something Greenland is not particularly keen to do.
The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes Greenland
When a bleary-eyed Trump explained the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro this past Saturday, he invoked the Monroe doctrine: while the US president sounded as if he were reading about it for the first time, historians of course recognized the idea of Washington as a kind of guardian of the western hemisphere. Together with the national security strategy published in December, the move on Venezuela can be understood as advancing a vision for carving up the world into what the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt called “great spaces”, with each in effect supervised by a great power (meaning, in today’s world, Washington, Moscow and Beijing). But more is happening than a return to such de facto imperialism: Trump’s promise to “run the country” for the sake of US oil companies signals the internationalization of one aspect of his regime – what has rightly been called the logic of the mafia state. That logic is even more obvious in his stated desire to grab Greenland.
The theory of the mafia state was first elaborated by the Hungarian sociologist Bálint Magyar in 2016. Such a state is less about corruption where envelopes change hands under the table. Instead, public procurement is rigged; large companies are brought under the control of regime-friendly oligarchs, who in turn acquire media to provide favorable coverage to the ruler. The beneficiaries are what Magyar calls the “extended political family” (which can include the ruler’s natural family). As with the mafia, unconditional loyalty is the price for being part of the system.
Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University
In Vallejo, California, ‘trad sons’ report feeling trapped by family obligations, slim job prospects and the fear of violence – leaving little room for romance
Are boys becoming men later? In recent decades, the markers of adulthood have shifted for young American men: they are almost twice as likely to be single, less likely to go to college and more likely to be unemployed. Most significantly for their parents, they are also less likely to have fled the nest, with the term “trad son” springing into social media lexicon in recent months. In the 1970s, only 8% of Americans aged 25 to 34 were living with their parents, but by 2023, that figure had jumped to 18%, with men more likely to live at home than women, according to a Pew survey.
But not everywhere in the US has the same rates of adults living in their familial home. The living arrangement is least common in the midwest and most common in the north-east. Topping the list was Vallejo, where 33% of young adults live with their parents. How were they making it work?
Board unwilling to accept hostile takeover despite $40bn guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has again told its shareholders to reject an “inadequate” $108.4bn (£80bn) hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance amid an extraordinary corporate battle to control the media conglomerate.
Paramount, controlled by the billionaire Ellison family, had sought to combat WBD’s criticism of its offer and claims it had “consistently misled” investors by saying it had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, says he plans to meet Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland as a crisis escalates within Nato over Donald Trump’s threats to take over the Arctic territory.
An urgent meeting had been requested by the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark, which has said that any invasion or seizure of the territory by its Nato ally would mark the end of the western military alliance and “post-second world war security”.
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