Major win for Trump as justices overturn November ruling that found maps had been racially gerrymandered Texas can use a redrawn congressional map that adds as many as five Republican-friendly seats, the supreme court has ruled, giving Donald Trump and the GOP a major win in their push to add Republican congressional seats ahead of next year’s midterm elections. The supreme court’s decision came after a 2-1 ruling from a three-judge panel striking down Texas’s new map in November. The majority found the state had likely sorted voters based on their race – an unlawful practice called racial gerrymandering – when they adopted the new maps. The majority ordered the state to use the maps it had adopted after the 2020 census for next year’s election. Continue reading...
Government says series of measures, including childcare support, will lift 500,000 out of poverty Families will be offered help to get out of temporary accommodation and support with childcare as part of the government’s delayed child poverty strategy, with ministers saying the entire package will lift more than half a million children out of poverty. The new proposals in a strategy that was originally due to come out in the spring are in addition to the abolition of the two-child limit for some benefits, which will have the greatest impact on poverty, at a cost of £3bn during this parliament. Continue reading...
Until Soungoutou Magassa’s 83rd-minute equaliser Manchester United seemed to be flowering in the cold of winter on the way to a win that would have been their fifth in eight games. Instead Jarrod Bowen’s flick-on from Andy Irving’s corner from the right had to be cleared off the line by Noussair Mazraoui, only for the ball to go straight to Magassa, who drove home his first goal for the Hammers. Continue reading...
President and James McCrery II disagreed over expanding ballroom’s size, but change prompted by firm’s limited staff Donald Trump has replaced the architect originally selected to oversee his $300m planned gilded ballroom. According to the Washington Post, which first reported the news on Thursday and cited three people familiar with the matter, architect James McCrery II and his boutique firm had been leading the project for more than three months, up until late October. Continue reading...
Order allows troops to remain for now, amid ramp-up after 26 November shooting of two guard members A US appeals court on Thursday handed a victory to Donald Trump in his effort to keep national guard troops in Washington DC, pausing a lower court order that would have ended the deployment in the coming days. In a written order, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit lifted an injunction that said the troops needed to leave the nation’s capital by 11 December. Continue reading...
A 15-year quest ends with a monument, drawing crowds and nostalgia as Detroit embraces its cult-film past The statue looms and glints at more than 11 feet tall and weighing 3,500 pounds, looking out at the city with, how to put it … a characteristically stern expression? Despite its daunting appearance and history as a crimefighter of last resort, the giant new bronze figure of the movie character RoboCop is being seen as a symbol of hope, drawing fans and eliciting selfie mania since it began standing guard over Detroit on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...
Democrat Jim Himes calls footage ‘one of the most troubling scenes’ he’s observed in public service Analysis: Killing of survivors sparks outrage – but entire US ‘drug boat’ war is legally shaky Top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had not ordered the military to “kill them all” in a deadly attack on a boat alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean, but differed over whether the strike was appropriate. The allegation that Hegseth ordered the killing of survivors sparked bipartisan concern in Washington that he or others involved may have committed a war crime. On Thursday, US navy admiral Frank Bradley, who commanded the attack, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, appeared before the House and Senate’s armed services and intelligence committees for a closed briefing in which they showed video and discussed the attack with lawmakers. Continue reading...
Coates ‘ready and excited’ to replace Albertin Montoya U23 assistant Gemma Davies to join Coates in San Jose Emma Coates has left her position as the leader of England Women’s Under-23 national team to become the new head coach of the NWSL side Bay FC. Coates replaces Albertin Montoya, who was the coach of the expansion team when it entered the National Women’s Soccer League two years ago. Montoya announced in September that he would resign at the end of the 2025 season, with the San Jose side finishing 13th in the 14-team table. Continue reading...
Eric Adams signed orders relating to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, and protests near houses of worship New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, has issued two executive orders he says are meant to combat antisemitism, less than a month before he hands over the keys to the mayoralty to Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel. The first order prohibits city agency heads and staff from engaging in “any policy that discriminates against the state of Israel, Israeli citizens based on their national origin, or individuals or entities based on their association with Israel”. It also prohibits officials overseeing the city pension system from making decisions in line with the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which Mamdani has said he supports. Continue reading...
Dawn Sturgess’s father pleased inquiry into her death has now found her innocent after Skripal attack in 2018 Novichok poisonings, Russia’s role and UK response: key questions of inquiry The family of Dawn Sturgess have said they will finally be able to lay her to rest seven years after she was killed in the Wiltshire nerve agent poisonings, after an inquiry concluded she was the innocent victim of an attack by Vladimir Putin. Stan Sturgess, Dawn’s father, said he was pleased the inquiry into her death had made it clear she was blameless but expressed concern that lessons may not have been learned that could stop such a tragedy happening again. Continue reading...
Research finds tool depicts white women surrounded by black children when prompted about humanitarian aid in Africa Nano Banana Pro, Google’s new AI-powered image generator, has been accused of creating racialised and “white saviour” visuals in response to prompts about humanitarian aid in Africa – and sometimes appends the logos of large charities. Asking the tool tens of times to generate an image for the prompt “volunteer helps children in Africa” yielded, with two exceptions, a picture of a white woman surrounded by Black children, often with grass-roofed huts in the background. Continue reading...
Reform leader suggests he would boycott BBC, saying he has had letter from Dulwich pupils defending him Nigel Farage has turned on broadcasters for questioning him about his alleged teenage racism and antisemitism as the number of school contemporaries who recalled such behaviour to the Guardian reached 28. In an angry performance at a press conference in London, the Reform leader suggested he would boycott the BBC and said ITV had their own case to answer, as he repeatedly shouted “Bernard Manning”. Continue reading...
Dario Vitale exits after one season, having taken the helm from Donatella Versace Versace has announced its creative director is leaving, less than nine months after taking on the role and two days after the deal to sell the brand to rival Italian fashion house Prada. Dario Vitale exits after just one season, having taken the helm from Donatella Versace. Prada said it would announce a replacement “in due course”. Continue reading...
Lawyer for parents say allegations included children coming home injured and claims about how Vincent Chan treated toddlers More claims have emerged that parents’ concerns about the nursery worker Vincent Chan were not acted on before he was unmasked as a paedophile, as the government vowed to improve child safety after the scandal. Chan worked at a north London branch of the Bright Horizons nursery chain from 2017 until his arrest in June 2024. He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 26 offences including sexual assaults against girls aged two to four who were in his care, some carried out as children slept and some of which were filmed. Continue reading...
An investigation found defense secretary put US forces at risk, triggering fresh demands for his resignation The Department of Defense’s inspector general released the much-anticipated unclassified report on Thursday about Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of plans for military airstrikes in Yemen in a Signal group chat earlier this year. It found that Hegseth violated departmental policies when he shared information in the chat, and that if a foreign enemy force intercepted that information it could have endangered the lives of US troops, as the Guardian reported on Wednesday. “Using a personal cell phone to conduct official business and send nonpublic DoD information through Signal risks potential compromise of sensitive DoD information, which could cause harm to DoD personnel and mission objectives,” the report said. Continue reading...
Some users jump generations in expanded Wrapped review while Taylor Swift tops UK streams for third year It has given some in middle age dubious hope that they have their finger on the cultural pulse. Meanwhile, some younger users have been told their listening habits suggest they are well into retirement. Spotify has confected a wave of intrigue over what our musical preferences suggest about our vintage, with its “your listening age” feature causing delight and consternation. Continue reading...
‘Information-dense’ AI responses are most persuasive but these tend to be less accurate, says security report Chatbots can sway people’s political opinions but the most persuasive artificial intelligence models deliver “substantial” amounts of inaccurate information in the process, according to the UK government’s AI security body. Researchers said the study was the largest and most systematic investigation of AI persuasiveness to date, involving nearly 80,000 British participants holding conversations with 19 different AI models. Continue reading...
From fondue sets to hot sauce, board games to stadium prints, our edit has presents for every budget – even for dads who swear they’ve got everything • The best Christmas gifts for 2025 All dads want in life is a good book, comfy slippers and, if they’re parenting particularly young children, some peace and quiet (my daughter has just turned one and is learning what her voice is capable of). We’ve rounded up a selection of gifts for all ages, tastes and interests (silence courtesy of some decibel-dampening earplugs), with enough options for there to be something here for even those impossible-to-buy-for fathers. Continue reading...
Parliament’s ban on discussion of the royals is infantile. A committee of MPs has the chance to end the secrecy over their finances Everyone in Britain has views about the royal family. In many cases, lots of views. Britain’s parliament, however, never lets the subject pass its lips. By long tradition, the House of Commons prohibits itself from any mention, let alone any discussion, of the monarchy or the royal family. This self-imposed gag – in which a centuries-old constitutional monarchy is unable to discuss constitutional monarchy – is infantilising and indefensible. The gag may, however, be loosening. This week, the Commons public accounts committee announced an inquiry into the crown estate. The probe is a direct response to news that the disgraced former Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) and his brother Prince Edward have been paying “peppercorn rents” for very extensive properties owned by the estate. It is an extremely unusual move in the modern era. Continue reading...
As technology advances, so does the problems it causes. Ministers as well as regulators need to be tough and proactive Awareness of the harm caused by online pornography is rising. Last month, the government bowed to pressure from campaigners and pledged to make depictions of strangulation illegal. Research showing that a majority of children have viewed this kind of material is extremely disturbing, all the more so given evidence that viewing “choking” makes people – mostly men – more likely to do it in real life. This week, the Guardian examined the distressing effects of deepfake pornography in schools, and interviewed the women behind the successful campaign to criminalise the nonconsensual creation of deepfake intimate images. Ofcom’s announcement that it has issued a £1m fine to a Belize-based pornography company, AVS Group, thus seems timely. Oliver Griffiths, the regulator’s director of online safety, referred on BBC radio to a “tide turning” as enforcement powers in the online safety bill take effect. The age-verification checks on AVS’s websites, introduced to protect children, are judged not to be effective enough. If the company does not pay up, Mr Griffiths said that he would move to block the site. Continue reading...
⚽ Premier League updates from Old Trafford; KO 8pm GMT ⚽ Live scores | Table | Read Football Daily | Mail Scott West Ham United have beaten Manchester United in four of their last five Premier League meetings. Now then, three of those victories were at the London Stadium. But the most recent one was at Old Trafford in May, when the Hammers completed the double over the Red Devils for the first time since 2007, and there is no way the hosts will be going into this fixture counting their chickens. However while West Ham arrive in the north after a supine surrender to Liverpool at the weekend, Manchester United are coming off the back of a turnaround boost at Crystal Palace. So while the recent record between the two teams favours Nuno Espírito Santo’s men, the immediate form is with Ruben Amorim’s side. Balanced rather deliciously, then. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on! Continue reading...
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Chair of Fifa’s referees committee offers his support Collina wants to ensure changes do not slow down game Pierluigi Collina has said he would be in favour of the use of VAR to determine whether corners have been correctly awarded at the World Cup next summer. The chair of Fifa’s referees committee, speaking at a media briefing in Washington, made clear he supported the advance of technology. Collina said conversations were taking place over whether VAR could adjudicate on second yellow cards. They will continue at the next meeting of the International Football Association Board, the law-making body, in Wales next March, meaning there would be time for the ruling to come into effect for the World Cup. Collina also said discussions were ongoing over how best to combat time-wasting, including when goalkeepers go to ground, seemingly feigning injury to allow managers to hold team meetings. He added that Fifa wanted to explore AI-based innovations to help match officials and improve the game, although he gave no details on this. Continue reading...
You could call it an act of friendship, except Nige sees Dicky less as a friend and more as a useful idiot UK politics live – latest updates Alas poor Dicky. Put not your trust in Nigel. For in him there is no salvation. It’s not easy being Richard Tice. A man who has spent much of his recent life in Nigel Farage’s shadow. Pushed around. Made to feel worthless. Losing what self-respect he may have had by the day. Continue reading...
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice says allegations of racism from Nigel Farage’s school days is ‘made-up twaddle’. Lucy Hough speaks to investigations correspondent Henry Dyer Continue reading...