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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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”.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.”

Continue reading...

Harlan Coben says ‘quite a bit of tragedy’ in his 20s made him a better writer

Bestselling author and Netflix producer said extensive early experience of grief was ‘very cruel but effective teacher’

American thriller writer Harlan Coben said experiencing “quite a bit of tragedy” in his 20s made him a better writer.

The bestselling author, who wrote the Myron Bolitar thriller series and novels turned Netflix shows such as Fool Me Once and Missing You, said he was in his 20s when his father died of a heart attack at the age of 59 in 1988.

Continue reading...

FBI investigates potential associates of New Orleans attacker in US and abroad

Officials say evidence supports theory suspect, 42, carried out deadly attack alone but reveal leads are being pursued

Federal authorities investigating the avowed Islamic State (IS) sympathizer who carried out the New Year’s Day Bourbon Street terror attack in New Orleans said they are still investigating his potential associates elsewhere in the US and abroad.

In a news briefing, officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said they were pursuing leads in Houston, Atlanta and Tampa, Florida. They also revealed that Shamsud-Din Jabbar visited New Orleans twice in the months before the attack, and, on one of those trips, rode a bicycle up Bourbon Street wearing smart Meta glasses and also rode around the French Quarter neighborhood – ostensibly, officials said, to prepare for the attack that he carried out, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.

Continue reading...

Republicans try to exploit New Orleans attack to push through Trump agenda

Trump loyalists make baseless link between attack and US border and say cabinet nominees must be urgently ratified

Republicans in the US Senate are attempting to exploit the New Year’s Day attack that killed 14 victims in New Orleans, injuring dozens more, to push through Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet nominations and rocket-charge the incoming president’s anti-immigration agenda – despite the fact that the attacker was a US citizen born and raised in east Texas.

Several Senate Republicans appeared on Sunday’s political shows to call for an urgent approval of the most contentious of Trump’s cabinet selections, who are facing a tough confirmation process. They include Kash Patel, chosen by Trump for FBI director; Pete Hegseth for defense secretary; and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

Continue reading...

New Orleans Saints and NFL donate $1m to victims of terror attack

Team and the NFL will donate to victims of attack on New Year’s Day that left 14 people dead and 35 others injured

The New Orleans Saints and the National Football League in which they compete have pledged to donate $1m to the victims of the Bourbon Street terror attack on New Year’s Day that left 14 people dead and 35 others injured.

In a press release issued on Saturday, the Saints and their owner, Gayle Benson, who pledged $500,000, said: “Our community has experienced an unimaginable tragedy and our collective hearts are broken as we mourn for the victims and survivors of the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans.

Continue reading...

Major winter storm in US threatens millions with snow, ice and brutal cold

State of emergencies issues in several states and cities as eastern two-thirds of country to experience dangerous cold

A major winter storm was sweeping across the central US on Sunday, forecasters said, bringing with it a dreaded combination of snow, ice and plunging temperatures.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued winter storm warnings from Kansas and Missouri – where blizzard conditions are expected – to New Jersey.

Continue reading...

Giorgia Meloni meets Donald Trump in flying visit to Mar-a-Lago

US president-elect praises Italian prime minister at Florida resort for ‘really taking Europe by storm’

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, made a flying visit to Donald Trump’s Florida golf club on Saturday, during which the US president-elect praised the far-right leader for “really taking Europe by storm”.

The pair were photographed in the grand ballroom of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

Continue reading...

Covid and flu rates rise across the US, according to the CDC

Less than half of Americans planned to get Covid vaccine in 2024, and slightly more than half planned to get flu shot

The amount of acute respiratory illness causing Americans to seek healthcare is at a high level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In an update issued on Friday, the CDC announced that in addition to Covid-19 activity increasing from low levels in most areas across the US, seasonal influenza activity continues to increase and is elevated across most of the country.

Continue reading...

Days-long funeral procession for Jimmy Carter begins in south Georgia

Motorcade with flag-draped casket heads to boyhood home in Plains before moving to Atlanta, then Washington

Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye began Saturday in south Georgia, where the 39th US president’s life began more than 100 years ago.

A motorcade with Carter’s flag-draped casket is heading to his hometown of Plains and past his boyhood home on the way to Atlanta. The procession began at the Phoebe Sumter medical center in Americus, where former Secret Service agents who had protected the late president served as pallbearers. A mournful train whistle filled the clear air as the pallbearers turned to face the hearse for a final goodbye, their hands on their hearts.

Continue reading...

Indie film-maker Jeff Baena dies aged 47

Husband of actor Aubrey Plaza was known for writing and directing Life After Beth and co-writing I Heart Huckabees

Independent director and screenwriter Jeff Baena – who was known for quirky hits such as Life After Beth and was the husband of that flick’s star, Aubrey Plaza – has died, according to reports. Baena was 47.

The Los Angeles medical examiner said that Baena died on Friday at his home in that city at about 10.39am local time. Officials did not immediately provide Baena’s cause or manner of death.

Continue reading...

‘We’ve been at this rodeo before’: gun-safety groups prepare for second Trump term

With ‘the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House’ to return, gun-safety groups eye state level actions

Donald Trump’s imminent return to Washington has put gun-safety groups on high alert, as the president-elect once described himself as “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House”.

Emma Brown, executive director of the gun-safety group Giffords, initially reacted to the news of Trump’s victory in the presidential race not with dismay, but with defiance.

Continue reading...