Wicked, A Complete Unknown and Shôgun lead Screen Actors Guild nominations

This year’s SAG noms see a strong showing for music-led films while Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie are snubbed

Music-led films Wicked and A Complete Unknown and TV shows Shôgun and The Bear lead this year’s Screen Actors Guild nominations, it was announced this morning.

Blockbuster musical Wicked heads up the film side with five nominations including for actors Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey, as well as the ensemble. It was also nominated for stunt ensemble. The film, based on the long-running Broadway hit, has made more than $680m at the global box office.

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Fire reaches Getty Villa museum grounds in California, but structures not burned

Fueled by major windstorm, Pacific Palisades fire touches museum site but officials say collection safe

A rapidly spreading wildfire in southern California reached the grounds of the Getty Villa museum north of Santa Monica on Tuesday, but officials said no structures had burned and the collection was safe.

The Pacific Palisades fire, fueled by a major windstorm and prompting mass evacuations in Los Angeles county, burned some trees and vegetation on site at the Getty Villa, but museum leaders said the galleries and archives were protected.

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Biden designates two new national monuments after advocacy from tribes

Chuckwalla and Sáttítla monuments in California will be safeguarded against extraction and energy development

Joe Biden will designate two new national monuments in California in his last days in office, after tribes and environment groups asked him to take urgent action.

The designation of the Chuckwalla monument in southern California and the Sáttítla monument in the far north of the state will place 840,000 acres (339,935 hectares) of land under protection, shielding it from extraction and energy development.

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Appeals court hears case that could dilute Black voters’ power in Louisiana

Fifth circuit, seen as primed for the Maga era, hears arguments challenging state’s newly created maps

A federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could further erode voting rights protecting minority voters or solidify that Louisiana’s legislative maps diluted Black voters’ power.

The fifth circuit court of appeals, which hears cases brought for appeal from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, will weigh in on Nairne v Landry, a case in which a federal judge in Louisiana ruled the Republican-controlled legislature had violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act with its newly created maps.

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US imposes sanctions on senior Hungarian government minister

US treasury accuses Antal Rogán, a close aide of leader Viktor Orbán, as key to ‘system of corruption’

The United States has imposed sanctions on a senior member of the Hungarian government for alleged corruption, in a move which Budapest said it would challenge as soon as Donald Trump takes office.

The US treasury accused Antal Rogán, a close aide of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, of using his role to secure financial benefits for himself and his political allies.

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Donald Trump Jr visits Greenland amid father’s interest in owning island

President-elect has pledged to ‘make Greenland great again’ as Danish PM says autonomous territory is ‘not for sale’

Donald Trump Jr touched down in Greenland on Tuesday, hours after his father reiterated his interest in taking control of the Arctic autonomous territory, pledging to “make Greenland great again”.

After arriving in the Greenlandic capital in a Trump-branded plane, the US president-elect’s son told a waiting crowd in the Nuuk airport arrivals hall – some wearing red Make America Great Again caps – that he was “very excited to be here”. It was, he said, “a little colder here than it is in Florida”, adding that his father “says hello to everyone in Greenland”.

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Trump moves to block report on election interference and classified documents cases – US politics live

President-elect’s lawyers ask attorney general to stop release of outgoing special counsel Jack Smith’s report

Nina Jankowicz, a former homeland security official tasked with fighting disinformation, said Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end factchecking on his platforms was a “bending of the knee” to Donald Trump.

“Let’s be clear – the factcheckers have not ‘been’ politically biased as Zuckerberg suggests, but have been *perceived as such* because of politically motivated efforts to smear them, one that Zuck is now participating in and capitulating to,” said Jankowicz, who know leads the American Sunlight Project, an anti-disinformation group.

Facebook has already contributed to the demise of journalism and this will be the final nail in the coffin; newsrooms —especially outside the U.S. where subscription models are difficult sells—get grants from Facebook to provide fact-checks. That money allows them to do other journalism!

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Biden administration bans medical debt from inclusion on credit reports

Kamala Harris announces removal of billions in medical debt from credit reports of 15 million Americans

Lenders will no longer be able to see whether American borrowers have unpaid medical debt in their credit history, according to a new rule from the outgoing Biden administration.

The vice-president, Kamala Harris, announced early on Tuesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was removing $49bn of existing unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans and will ban the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports.

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FDA issues new guidelines to reduce lead levels in baby foods

Guidelines for food manufacturers are voluntary and cover packaged processed food for children under two years old

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued some new voluntary guidelines for baby food manufacturing companies in an effort to reduce levels of lead in some processed baby foods.

The new guidelines state that baby food manufacturers should include no more than 10 parts per billion (ppb) of lead in foods such as yoghurt, custard, pudding and a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and meats. For single-ingredient root vegetables and dry cereals, the guideline is set at no more than 20ppb.

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Two bodies found in wheel well of JetBlue plane upon landing in Florida

Routine inspection led to discovery of bodies after flight from New York to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport

Two people have been found dead in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue plane that landed in Florida, the airline said.

The grim discovery was made on Monday night. The bodies were found during a routine inspection after the plane had landed.

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Strongest winds in over a decade could bring fire risk to southern California

Windstorm will affect Los Angeles and Ventura counties beginning Tuesday afternoon and peak early Wednesday

The strongest winds in more than a decade could hit southern California on Tuesday, potentially causing structural damage and bringing extreme fire risk to areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.

Beginning Tuesday afternoon, the windstorm will affect Los Angeles and Ventura counties and peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80mph (129km/h), the National Weather Service (NWS) said Monday. Isolated gusts could top 100 mph in mountains and foothills.

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Former Proud Boys leader asks Trump for January 6 pardon

Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy related to the 2021 attack on the US Capitol

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys group who received a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021, has formally asked Donald Trump for a pardon.

A jury convicted Tarrio of helping to orchestrate the insurrection. At the time of the attack, Tarrio had been banned from the city by prosectors for burning a stolen banner from a historic Black church in December 2020 during a protest march against Trump’s election loss.

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Aubrey Plaza calls husband Jeff Baena’s death ‘an unimaginable tragedy’

Actor and her late partner’s family issue joint statement thanking supporters and asking for privacy

Aubrey Plaza has released a statement after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena, who was found at his Los Angeles home on Friday after taking his own life.

“This is an unimaginable tragedy,” the actor and Baena’s family said in a joint statement shared with media on Monday. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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McDonald’s rolls back DEI programs, ending push for greater diversity

Fast-food company decides to scale back plans after 2023 US supreme court ruling and conservative backlash to DEI

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a US supreme court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions.

McDonald’s is the latest big company to shift its tactics in the wake of the 2023 ruling and a conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Walmart, John Deere, Harley-Davidson and others rolled back their DEI initiatives last year.

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US transfers 11 Yemeni prisoners from Guantánamo to Oman

Major resettlement reduces population in US detention facility in south-eastern Cuba to just 15 people

The United States has sent 11 Yemeni detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention center to Oman, the Pentagon said on Monday, in a major resettlement that nearly halves the detention facility’s remaining number of prisoners.

The released men include Tawfiq al-Bihani, who had been cleared for transfer since 2010; Khalid Qassim, a long-term hunger striker who has spoken about spending most of his adult life in Guantánamo; and Hassan bin Attash, who was captured in a security raid in Pakistan in 2002.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Minneapolis agrees to court-supervised police reform after George Floyd’s killing

Consent decree had been under negotiation since justice department issued a critique of authorities in June 2023

The Minneapolis city council on Monday approved an agreement with the federal government in response to the murder of George Floyd that would require reforms within the city’s police department under longterm court supervision.

The agreement was not immediately released publicly, but it was expected to incorporate and build on changes the police department has already made to its policies on the use of force and training of officers following Floyd’s death in 2020.

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Trump loses bid to delay sentencing in hush-money case

President-elect to be sentenced on Friday over conviction stemming from money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels

Donald Trump on Monday lost a bid to put off his sentencing on Friday for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.

Citing both presidential immunity and the demands of Trump’s impending January 20 inauguration as the 47th US president, his lawyers on Monday morning said judge Juan Merchan’s intention not to penalize Trump was “of no moment”.

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Permanent contraception surged after Roe v Wade overturned, study finds

Young adults living in states likely to ban abortion obtained tubal sterilizations and vasectomies in months after ruling

In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, permanent contraception in the form of tubal sterilizations and vasectomies surged among young adults living in states likely to ban abortion, new research released on Monday found.

Compared to May 2022, when the opinion overturning Roe leaked, August 2022 saw 95% more vasectomies and 70% more tubal sterilizations performed on people between the ages of 19 and 26, according to the study, which was conducted by researchers at the George Washington University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan.

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The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez and Shōgun triumph at the Golden Globes

The low-budget immigration saga and the Netflix crime musical picked up major film wins while the historical epic dominated television awards

The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez and Shōgun won big at the 82nd Golden Globes, the unofficial kick-off to this year’s awards season.

The low-budget epic The Brutalist, a drama telling the story of a Holocaust survivor turned immigrant architect in the US, won three awards for best film – drama, actor for Adrien Brody and director for the actor-turned-film-maker Brady Corbet. At the end of his speech, Corbet paid tribute to the film-maker Jeff Baena, who died this week by suicide.

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Biden signs bill to boost social security payments for millions of public workers

President says Social Security Fairness Act will benefit ‘Americans who have worked hard all their lives’

Joe Biden has signed into law a measure that boosts social security payments for current and former public employees – such as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public-service workers – in what the White House has described as the first expansion of such benefits in 20 years.

“The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their lives … should be able to retire with economic security and dignity,” Biden said. “That’s the entire purpose of the social security system crafted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt nearly 90 years ago.”

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