Mubeen Blogs

We are the wealthiest nation on Earth. There is no rational reason as to why we are not the healthiest nation on Earth Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of serving as chair of the US Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions (Help). As I leave that position, let me reflect upon where I think our country should be going in healthcare, and the obstacles we face. We are the wealthiest nation on Earth. There is no rational reason as to why we are not the healthiest nation on Earth. We should be leading the world in terms of life expectancy, disease prevention, low infant and maternal mortality, quality of life and human happiness. Sadly, study after study shows just the opposite. Despite spending almost twice as much per capita on healthcare, we trail most wealthy nations in all these areas. Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and chair of the health education labor and pensions committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent ...

It took nine days to identify Debrina Kawam, 57, of Toms River, New Jersey, after she burned to death in Brooklyn The woman who was set on fire in a subway car in New York on 22 December, horrifying New Yorkers and renewing a debate over city safety, has been identified as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, of Toms River, New Jersey. The victim’s identity, released by the New York police department, came nine days after the fatal incident. Investigators had previously said they were using forensics and video surveillance to identify the victim. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ziEheZq

Jimmy Carter’s Washington DC funeral to take place on 9 January Jimmy Carter, longest-lived US president, dies aged 100 Writing in the New York Times, the administrator of the US agency for international development (USAid) Samantha Power , says of Jimmy Carter’s legacy : The former president’s regard for human rights was an outgrowth of his Christian faith — a faith so animating that he continued to teach Sunday school while president. Carter’s embrace of international human rights also grew out of his commitment to civil rights at home. His human rights message had broad appeal in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam, with Americans and many in Congress clamoring for ethics and decency from their leaders. Upon the death of former US president Jimmy Carter, the Norwegian Nobel Committee would like to repeat its praise for his “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social ...

Council tells Israeli ambassador it condemns air raids that have killed Yemeni civilians as well as Houthi attacks Israel has set out its case to the UN security council for a full assault on Houthi forces in Yemen, claiming the Iranian-backed group now represents a well-armed terrorist army that threatens not just the regional economy but the entire global order. The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, also called for the Houthis to be designated as a foreign terrorist organisation, a step that may make it more difficult for Iran to provide material support without facing further economic sanctions. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/i7X9OYK

Savinho and Haaland on target in champions’ 2-0 victory ‘We will improve as the results improve, that’s for sure’ Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City’s return to winning ways will “clear our minds and souls” as he insisted the Premier League champions will get back to their best after a welcome 2-0 victory at Leicester . Guardiola expressed his relief after City halted their miserable run of results by recording their first win in six matches and only their second in 14 in all competitions. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/y3t9KYX

Social monogamy has been observed in less than 10% of mammal species – and birds have been shown to be less faithful than previously believed In 2011, a shock celebrity break-up garnered headlines around the world – not the separation of Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, nor Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, but the sudden, inexplicable rupture between Bibi and Poldi, two 115-year-old Galápagos tortoises at Happ reptile zoo in Austria. After nearly a century as a couple, the female, Bibi, had had enough: one day, she bit a chunk off Poldi’s shell, drawing blood, and continued to attack him until zoo staff moved him to a separate enclosure. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/LOAtJXb

Kremlin says Russian president has spoken to Azerbaijan counterpart after crash in which 38 people died Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates Vladimir Putin has apologised for a “tragic incident” in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on Christmas Day, but stopped short of admitting Russia was responsible. The Kremlin said in an official statement that Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday by phone in his first comments since the crash, which killed 38 of the 67 people onboard . “Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the statement said. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he had expressed condolences to President Aliyev and called on Russia for a clearer explanation of the crash. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/s...

Coaches such as Arteta, Iraola and Emery play variations of the Guardiola model – flexibility and adaptability are in vogue Spain are the European champions . Real Madrid won the Champions League . Rodri won the Ballon d’Or and has only come to seem more important since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Spanish managers won the Premier League, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 last season. No fewer than five Premier League clubs are managed by Spaniards. It has been another year of Spanish domination but the manager who more than anybody has been the architect of what is now considered the Spanish style is facing the biggest crisis of his career. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/vdATwae

Australia has protocols for stillbirths and neonatal deaths, but the quality of care varies widely across the country Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter The birth of Allanah Crameri and Braydon Newell’s son Lenny in September 2022 should have been filled with joy. But at just under 22 weeks, pregnancy complications led to a preterm labour and Lenny was born too early to survive. “I felt everything from sadness, despair, anger and shock,” Crameri says. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/A507pk9

Sarrazin, 30, set for surgery after head injury in crash French standout crashed during World Cup training French standout Cyprien Sarrazin was in intensive care with a head injury after a crash during training for a World Cup downhill race on Friday on the slope set to be used for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Sarrazin was one of two skiers airlifted to a hospital after crashing and the French ski federation said he was conscious but diagnosed with a subdural hematoma — bleeding near the brain. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/IVTM4Kh

Live updates from the 8.15 kick-off Arteta backs Martinelli to thrive in ‘bigger role’ Why not email Scott with your thoughts Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon. “We have had an extra day off and good preparation … we have a really difficult match ahead … Bukayo Saka is going to be out for many, many weeks … it is a good opportunity for the rest of the squad to step up … who wants to take more responsibility.” Kieran McKenna talks to Amazon Prime. “Ben Johnson is a versatile player … there will be phases when we defend as a back five … sometimes a back four … it will be a tough night but hopefully a good night … the reaction [to the 4-0 defeat against Newcastle] has been really good at the training ground … the game got away from us … the first in a while … it’s a new game and a new challenge … we want to take it head on … we have to maintain our culture … we have to adapt and be competitive … it’s been a big journey for our players … last time we fell short, tonight we can go agai...

It was impossible to ignore the shift in mood, the supporters singing the name of their charismatic Portuguese head coach, parachuted in to solve myriad issues but chiefly the miserable results and the leaky defence. Determined to immerse himself in the local culture, he and his staff spent Christmas Day enjoying a traditional lunch at a local pub a few miles out of town. Then there is the friction between those who pay their money in the stands and those who spend it in the boardroom. It has been an unhappy picture for a while, the players presumably thinking of an appropriate escape route. The problem for Ruben Amorim is that Vítor Pereira was the manager who triumphed here. For Manchester United, it is now four defeats in their past five matches. United, who drop a place to 14th, are eight points above the relegation zone, 11 from the top four, which is badly fading from view, having taken seven points from a possible 21 since Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag. Matheus Cunha – just wher...

Updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off at Anfield Get in touch! You can email Simon here Hearty recommend for this here Jonathan Wilson Liverpool-focused piece, published t’other day: Wolves have beaten 10-man Manchester United 2-0, and as a result they move up to 17th, and Leicester drop into the bottom three. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/gPtv0Je

Experts decry lack of required equipment to clean up about 4,300 tonnes of oil after two tankers hit by storm in the Kerch Strait Russian scientists have criticised the effort to clean up oil that has washed ashore from two oil tankers in the Black Sea, saying it lacks sufficient equipment. On 15 December, two Russian oil tankers, the Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239 were hit by a storm in the Kerch Strait, with one sinking and the other running aground. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/7OQ3uTl

Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herds Twenty big cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington . The big cat deaths come as bird flu , a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Cl6o1GH

Feathers McGraw is back – and more menacing than ever. Our claymation heroes’ delightful attempt to face him is hilariously packed with jokes – they’re just incapable of bad television For many, the highlight of the entire Christmas schedule will have been a treat rare enough to savour: a new Wallace & Gromit. Thirty-five years after their charmingly slapdash debut, A Grand Day Out, the claymation duo are the closest thing this country has to Mickey Mouse – beloved, instantly recognisable icons that make us yearn for a golden time in our history that never actually existed. Part of the claymation duo’s charm is how sparingly they’re deployed. Since A Grand Day Out, they have only appeared on screen for about three hours, half of which came in the form of the feature film (terrifyingly, nearly 20 years old) The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. So a new outing, make no mistake, is an extremely big deal. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/cYkV05K

My garden remains destroyed and plastic toys vanish – but it’s like having children: freedom ripped away and replaced by love It happened accidentally: viewing a litter of golden retrievers, in a moment of weakness, we took two instead of the one puppy we’d promised our kids. No. We didn’t “take two”. What happened was: after our teenager had chosen his pup, Earl, I cracked, and took another I named Monty. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/uQ0vMG9

Do you know your hot rodent boyfriends, which celebrity is selling feet pics on OnlyFans and who fell off a stage this year? Then this is the quiz for you Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/XEl6DzZ

Perhaps she could hear a child’s shrieks over the blasting Baby Shark, but in that moment she chose mercy This is the first in a series of stories on the kindness of strangers Last year, on a hot afternoon just before Christmas, I was picking my daughter up from childcare. That in itself is usually a pretty stressful situation. But on this day my seasonal anxiety was compounded by a toddler’s sleep regression and a family fight that, after decades of simmering tension, was at last boiling over. Out of respect for involved parties – and fear of setting off round two – I’ll skip the details. But for the sake of this story all you need to know is that I was trying to back out of a very busy car park while a child screamed and I wondered if the people I loved most in the world would ever speak to each other again. Somewhere in that fugue of emotional and auditory anguish I backed right into another mum’s car. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/zKHNJOE

The numbers trapped in temporary accommodation and sleeping rough have risen again. More homes for social rent are desperately needed Shocking homelessness figures, showing that primary‑school children are the worst-affected age group in England, are a reminder of how gravely Conservative housing policies failed – and how desperately change is needed. In London, which has the highest homelessness rate , one in 24 pupils are in temporary accommodation – at least one in every classroom and more in poorer boroughs. Rough sleeping has also risen, bringing increased risks during cold winter nights. The recent increase in funding for councils, to help them fulfil their homelessness prevention duties, was welcomed by campaigners. But with charity budgets squeezed harder than ever , and with a national insurance rise for employers on the way, there is a real danger that housing problems for the most vulnerable members of society could get worse rather than better. Continue reading... fr...

Charley Woods, 15, makes first ace on par-3 fourth hole Hole-in-one gives Woods clan temporary share of lead Tiger Woods isn’t the only member of his family to can produce big moments. His 15-year-old son Charlie made his first ace Sunday in the PNC Championship. Woods was more excited than if he had made the hole-in-one himself. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ps8mz35

So far today I have dealt with 200 customers. I have smiled 200 times, but that’s getting harder. Consider me a checkout robot Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast You decided to do it differently this year. You usually buy online, with high-minded principle, from a company owned by the least-loathsome billionaire you can find. Instead, this Christmas you gritted your teeth and drove in a hot car to a local business where you (finally) found a park. Then you steadfastly hunted down the gifts that your family members simply must have, worked your way up the cattle race to the counter, upon which you triumphantly spread your purchases. With luck you’ll be out of here and home before the roads get too busy. That man behind the counter doesn’t look happy; who cares: as long as he’s efficient. That’d be me. I’ve been standing in one spot for the last six hours (OK, one toilet break) and have another three to go. I’ve worked in retail for 14 years, and so far to...

Fiona Wood solves final conundrum to clinch victory and encourages other women to ‘give it a go’ A forensic accountant has become the first female Countdown champion in 26 years. Fiona Wood prevailed in the series final on Friday after correctly identifying the conundrum word as “lassitude”, meaning a state of physical or mental weariness. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/pTHGUFO

Officials also say 180 children have been abandoned crossing treacherous jungle from Colombia Fifty-five US-bound migrants have died and 180 children have been abandoned this year while crossing the treacherous Darién jungle from Colombia, according to Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino. Despite dangers including fast-flowing rivers , wild animals and criminal gangs, the Darién is a key corridor for Venezuelan and other migrants traveling overland from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/erNYCsy

Even before he assumes the presidency, Trump has sent the Canadian government into paroxysms with trade threats One person, at least, was clearly delighted by the political upheaval triggered in Canada by this week’s sudden resignation of the country’s deputy prime minister. Chrystia Freeland, who stood down on Monday, had clashed with Justin Trudeau over the appropriate response to stiff tariffs threatened by Donald Trump – and the US president-elect was relishing the drama. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3aSoyzB

The denial of Gisèle’s humanity by her rapists is the denial of violence done to every woman. At her side, we can now look the world in the eye I am looking at a colour photo of a woman with auburn hair entering the courthouse in Avignon. Around her, the impassive faces of her lawyers. This woman is about to hear a verdict. How much will he get? How much time in prison will be given to the man who drugged her senseless and remorselessly raped her? Judith Godrèche is a French actor, writer and film director Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/QHtkFwh

Sequel to unaccountably popular Amazon Prime hit finds the same oldsters still out to stop the forbidden young lovers necking in glamorous locations This mind-pulverisingly bizarre and woodenly acted romdram from Spain is the second of a projected trilogy (My Fault, Your Fault, Our Fault) and a whopping ratings success for Amazon’s Prime Video despite, or because of, the fact that it makes a daytime TV soap look like Ingmar Bergman. It is based on the bestselling (and initially self-published) romance series by Argentinian author Mercedes Ron, with a premise that has maybe been borrowed from Amy Heckerling’s 90s comedy classic Clueless, yet with all the humour scoured away: forbidden step-sibling romance. Noah (Nicole Wallace) is the teen daughter of a widow who has remarried a wealthy lawyer and to the dismay of these (hypocritical) elders and betters, pouting Noah falls hard for the smoulderingly hunky new stepbrother she has now acquired; this is Nick, breathily known to her as Ne...

Investigative journalists put under surveillance by Met and PSNI say their case is just the tip of a covert iceberg PSNI and Met police unlawfully spied on two journalists, tribunal finds After a tribunal ruled that two investigative journalists, Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, were unlawfully spied upon in order to find out their sources, the pair were at pains to stress that they consider what was uncovered to be just the tip of the iceberg. They believe the case highlights an endemic problem in the relationship between police and journalists across the UK, stretching far beyond Northern Ireland where they are based. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ybwF2hP

Alexander Smirnov admits lying about Bidens’ links to fake bribery scheme that played key role in impeachment effort A former FBI informant pleaded guilty on Monday to lying about a phony bribery scheme purportedly involving Joe Biden and his son Hunter that became central to an attempt to impeach the president in Congress. Alexander Smirnov entered his plea to a felony charge in connection with the bogus story, along with a tax evasion charge stemming from a separate indictment accusing him of concealing millions of dollars of income. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/BmxLOpE

Duke of York’s decades of playing everyone’s useful idiot – all for the good of the country – were off-limits in the Commons At last. The full truth can be revealed. A story of self-sacrifice and public service. Of a man who has devoted his life to the nation. Heroism on a scale that was previously thought unimaginable. For decades now, Prince Andrew has veered between being a national joke and a figure of shame. A byword for vanity, self-regard and abject stupidity. It’s quite the achievement to be thought the dimmest member of the royal family. That is a hotly contested accolade. His fall from grace has been on an epic scale. From Falklands war hero and Mummy’s favourite to total outsider. The pariah that even his brothers and sister keep at arm’s length. Taking the Lead by John Crace is published by Little, Brown (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://if...

Pool 1: Exeter 21-64 Toulouse Lebel and Barassi score twice as visitors score 10 tries Another lop-sided pool game and a further reminder of life’s fluctuating fortunes. Five years ago Exeter were beating Toulouse en route to winning the Champions Cup and putting the seal on one of English team sport’s great Cinderella tales. These days the gap between the teams is such a yawning chasm that the French visitors had a bonus point wrapped up after just 35 minutes. To be fair to Exeter, the defending champions are in a sufficiently rich vein of form in this competition that it almost doesn’t matter whom they are playing against. Having topped 60 points at home to Ulster, Toulouse were once again in irresistible mood with the peerless Antoine Dupont artfully pulling the strings in a 10-try masterclass. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/nosSPFX

Sørloth moves Atlético above Real Madrid into second Hoffenheim snatch 1-1 draw with Bruun Larsen’s leveller Alexander Sørloth came off the bench to score with a header late in the second half and give Atlético Madrid a hard-fought 1-0 win over Getafe in La Liga, their 11th consecutive triumph in all competitions. Atlético went level with Barcelona at the top of the standings before the leaders’ home game against Leganés on Sunday night on 38 points, moving above Real Madrid who are third on 37. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/MiDEJFS

When Ruben Amorim oversaw his previous victory over Manchester City – with his old club Sporting in the Champions League – it was to push the reigning Premier League champions towards crisis. That was in early November and it was City’s third defeat on the spin. As Amorim repeated the trick here, it was to pep up his new project at Manchester United and leave Pep Guardiola on his knees. There seems no way out of the misery for the City manager, this an eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions, the decline of his all-conquering team stark and extraordinary. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ZUe4lTD

Six goals, 10 yellow cards, extra time and a penalty shootout that was won by the narrowest of margins. It will be of no consolation whatsoever to Rangers that they played their part in a Hampden Park epic. The scale of Celtic celebration as they reclaimed the League Cup gave a tacit admission of how hard they had to work to get there. Ridvan Yilmaz proved the Rangers fall guy. Rangers’ Turkish full-back missed the only one of 10 spot-kicks, Kasper Schmeichel saving low to his left. Celtic thereby took delivery of the one domestic trophy to elude them last season . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/wSHFtp6

A chemical attack on the town of Douma killed 43 people in 2018. Now Assad has fallen, the enforced silence of those who witnessed it is over For years, residents of Ghouta, an embattled opposition-held region on the outskirts of Damascus, grew used to death loudly announcing its presence. When Syrian and Russian jets or helicopter gunships roared overhead, bombs were never far behind. But the night of 7 April 2018 was different. According to an extensive investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), two yellow cylinders were dropped from a Syrian air force helicopter, crashing through the top floor of one apartment building and landing on a balcony of another, in the eastern Ghouta town of Douma. The noise they made was negligible compared with the explosions of barrel bombs and airstrikes. But the concentrated green-yellow chlorine gas that hissed out of the canisters was no less deadly. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Xp...

Residents in several counties of the state have reported sighting drones, sometimes over military facilities Since about mid-November, hundreds of New Jersey residents have been calling law enforcement and state officials after spotting what appeared to be drones in the skies over about a dozen counties. The reports have become more frequent in recent days. In some sightings, mysterious car-sized flying objects, sometimes in groups, were seen above military installations and critical infrastructure such as energy facilities, railway stations and reservoirs. Republican state senator Jon Bramnick said it amounted to “ a limited state of emergency ”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/XhawT09

Inflatable Santa Claus punctured and wires on Christmas lights cut in spate of Scrooge-like incidents An inflatable Santa Claus was punctured and wires on Christmas lights were cut in a spate of Scrooge-like incidents of criminal damage in five Suffolk villages. Officers are appealing for information about at least a dozen reported incidents that they believe are linked, and which happened between the evening of 5 and 6 December. Suffolk police said no arrests had been made. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/YyholLH

Crowe’s safari-going Russian oligarch is the main redeeming feature of this Spider-Man-adjacent tale but there’s not much to like elsewhere Only the robust presence of Russell Crowe – and what might conceivably be a sly visual joke about exiled Russian plutocrat Mikhail Khodorkovsky – make this generic slice of superhero action worth watching. Kraven the Hunter has been an exotic, marginal figure in the Spider-Man part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now he gets his own film and Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays him as an ultra-muscly super predator with Spidey’s skill in whooshing up and down buildings and a sense for something amiss – although the great arachnid himself does not appear. Kraven thinks of human beings as the only worthy game (that is: bad people who deserve what’s coming to them) and despises people who presume to kill noble beasts. Taylor-Johnson himself gets to fearlessly wrestle with a few digital big cats. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/fJ...

Sara’s father and her stepmother were convicted of murder after a dramatic courtroom confession Sara Sharif ‘was doing her best to be a child’ – while suffering years of abuse What were the missed chances to prevent Sara Sharif’s death? Urfan Sharif’s family refused to believe he killed his daughter, Sara, even after he told jurors: “I want to admit that it’s all my fault.” His brother Imran Sharif told the Guardian at the time from the family’s eight-bedroom home in Pakistan’s northern city of Jhelum: “Urfan’s admission has left us devastated and heartbroken. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/HGCUnjq

Over 20 million Americans engage in prepping. Closing the hatch is a logical response to a hollowed-out state A family of six pulls up to the Be Prepared Expo in Farmington, Utah. They are concerned about supply-chain failure, sure of the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic was only a taste of what’s to come. They want to buy seeds for their garden so they can grow food to preserve and stash in the basement. The kids pet the puppies at breeder booths selling guard dogs, the father exchanges opinions about the best weapons to cache, and the mother gathers pamphlets about hoarding gold and the crises of the international economy. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/aYxAmQ8

Intelligence chiefs have to decisively analyse the risk posed by group once affiliated to islamists al-Qaida When Sir Richard Moore, the head of MI6, warned in a speech given 10 days ago that he had “never seen the world in a more dangerous state” Syria was mentioned just once. The context was that jihadist terrorism was on the retreat in the country, but after the lightning success of the rebel offensive , questions will inevitably be asked again. Intelligence chiefs are now having to quickly reassess the triumphant Syrian rebels, and in particular, the leading group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now designated as a terror organisation by the US and the UK. Once a Syrian offshoot of al-Qaida, HTS cut its affiliation in 2016 and under the leadership of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani the group has sought to project a moderate image as it has led the counter offensive from Idlib to Damascus, telling CNN in an interview with CNN he would respect Syrian minorities and “no one has the right to er...

Hamilton admits ‘turbulent year’ was a challenging one Lando Norris feels ‘incredibly proud’ of win for McLaren Lewis Hamilton described his time with Mercedes as the greatest honour of his life after the seven-time champion bowed out with his final race for the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. After a superlative drive at the Yas Marina circuit, Hamilton also admitted that, after a difficult year, it was good to bid farewell on a high. Hamilton drove from 16th to fourth in Abu Dhabi, another mighty performance to sit alongside what has been an unmatched partnership of success with Mercedes since he joined the team in 2013. He has taken six titles with them and 84 wins over those 12 seasons and at his last race before he joins Ferrari next year , he took a moment to contemplate it all at the close when he was given a special place to park on the start-finish straight alongside the top three, where he knelt beside his car. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3X...

As everyone danced two full routines for the first time, JB Gill led the way, while Pete Wicks was rock bottom. But who is doomed to face the last dance-off of the series? The Hit List on BBC1 now. Better or worse than Alan Carr’s Numberwang , do we reckon? Because it’s a Strictly special, I’m saying better. Just a couple of minutes to wait… Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/tZeCgdy

The World Cup has never seemed quite so far from its founder’s ideals as it does now with the confirmation of the 2034 hosts The greatest trick the devil ever learned was to overwhelm the critical capacities of those who would hold him to account. Use the word “garbage” once and there is a mass outbreak of close reading, drilling into the true meaning: did he say “supporters” or “supporter’s” ? Be a convicted felon who splurges out insults and non sequiturs constantly, though, and the response becomes too disparate, too unfocused, moving always to the next outrage so that none ever quite sticks. Saudi Arabia will be awarded the right to host the 2034 World Cup on Wednesday. There may not even be a vote, just the applause of acclamation . Lise Klaveness , the Norwegian Football Federation president, has been an admirably consistent critic of Gianni Infantino, and last month raised a number of questions about the bidding process for 2034, but there seems little even she can do now. Ot...

Thousands are left without power as flood warnings are issued in the wake of fierce winds and rain James Woodbine was woken up by Storm Darragh at 5am, roughly the time the power cut began. His 300-year-old cottage is at the top of a hill in Trofarth in north Wales where yesterday’s winds were fiercest, measured at 93mph nearby in Capel Curig. “The noise was the strangest thing,” Woodbine said. “There was a thrum coming from the ground, a rumble going through the building whenever there was a gust. I’ve never heard that before. I’ve been here for 30 years and we had Storm Doris come through in 2017, and this is far worse. I’ve never seen a storm like it.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/JgVvpjz

The Christmas bird has now been financially weaponised I’m calling this column “Turkey, Revisited”, after “Toads, Revisited” by Philip Larkin, a poet who was most definitely not a gourmand (“I was too lazy to buy rations in London, so today has been a poached egg, macaroni & tinned spinach”). Some years ago, you see, I wrote about my dislike of the bird in one of these columns, a piece that continues occasionally to reverberate in the form of messages from readers. Riffing on an essay by the great American food writer Jeffrey Steingarten , who once tried a legendary turkey recipe whose stuffing has 32 ingredients, the piece in question detailed my adventures with a Kelly Bronze I’d mortgaged my house to buy: the baroque trumpets that played as it entered the kitchen; the spa treatments I administered to its skin; the tea towel of finest cashmere that covered it before it was carved. It also came to the conclusion that, in spite of all of the above, I had completely wasted my time....

Ruling follows revelation of declassified intelligence alleging Russia ran online campaign to promote far-right outsider A top Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after declassified intelligence alleged Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round. The momentous move by the court effectively voids the national election, which will have to be re-run. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/i7epQrA

Anger at salary and bonuses paid to top executives RFU reported £40m loss and made staff redundant Three former chairmen of the Rugby Football Union have called for the mass resignations of the union’s ­current hierarchy in the wake of the row over record financial losses and the salary and bonuses paid out to its top executives. In a year when the union has reported an annual loss of almost £40m, the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, was paid a total of £1.1m , comprising a salary of £742,000 and a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) bonus of £358,000. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/mAOK3z4

New research estimates a 32% increase in deaths of people under 35 if greenhouse gases not radically cut Extreme heat fueled by the climate crisis is often viewed as primarily a problem for vulnerable segments of the population, such as elderly people. But it is people aged under 35 that are set to suffer the brunt of heat-related deaths as temperatures climb, new research has suggested. While older people are susceptible to heatwaves, they currently make up the bulk of cold-related deaths. As the world heats up, it will be younger people that will suffer disproportionately as the mortality burden shifts, with the new study estimating a 32% increase in deaths of people under 35 years old this century from heat if greenhouse gases emissions aren’t radically cut. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xYLgCUM

Quake originating near Ferndale sparked tsunami alerts but warnings were withdrawn shortly after noon local time A series of earthquakes struck the northern California coast on Thursday morning, rattling communities and activating emergency alerts for both shaking and tsunami risks just before 11am local time. The largest, registered as a magnitude 7.0 and originating near the historic and picturesque town of Ferndale in Humboldt county, could be felt in San Francisco more than 260 miles (418km) away. Roughly 1.3 million people felt the shaking, according to initial estimates provided by the US Geological Survey (USGS), which also reported that risks to human life remained low . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/9oPCSH0

Couple discovered animal in their driveway in northern Ontario, where climate crisis can change bear behaviour A man who “leapt on” a polar bear to protect his wife in a northern First Nations community in Canada is expected to fully recover from the severe injuries he sustained in the attack. But experts caution that changing environmental conditions will lead to a shift in where and when polar bears are spotted , increasing the risk of surprise encounters. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/KV9X7Hs

Trump’s Pentagon pick says president-elect supports him; Joni Ernst appears still unsure and says senators want to ‘make sure that any allegations have been cleared’ The acting director of the US Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, laid out a series of changes that the agency is enacting following the attempted assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a campaign rally in July. Rowe told the House task force examining the assassination attempt that the Secret Service has created an aviation unit for drone surveillance of potential threats, expanded the use of counter-drone systems, streamlined communication at protective sites and increased security of Trump throughout the rest of the presidential campaign. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/aH2crZn

Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of drunken, irresponsible and predatory behavior, would be in charge of the world’s most powerful military It takes a lot to get a man’s mother to declare him an “abuser of women”. Mothers, as a rule, are not known for their ungenerous assessments of their sons’ behavior. But Penelope Hegseth, the mother of the Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, once did just that in an email to her son . “I have no respect for a man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego,” Hegseth’s mother wrote to him. “You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains and embarrasses me to say that, but it’s the sad, sad truth.” The email – which Hegseth’s mother later disavowed – appears to have come around the time of the dissolution of Hegseth’s second marriage; during Hegseth’s first marriage, according to a new report by Vanity Fair, he confessed to n...

Minority coalition of PM Michel Barnier falls after three months, the shortest of any administration of France’s Fifth Republic France has been plunged into political crisis after a no-confidence vote brought down the government, ending the beleaguered minority coalition of the rightwing prime minister Michel Barnier after only three months. The no-confidence motion brought by an alliance of left-wing parties was supported by MPs from Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, far-right, National Rally. A total of 331 lawmakers — a clear majority — voted on Wednesday night to bring down the government. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/0PjcS7K

The 50-year-old had climbed up the ranks of the health insurance giant over 20 years and lived in Minnesota Manhunt under way after UnitedHealthcare CEO killed New York shooting – latest updates For 20 years Brian Thompson, the healthcare executive killed in a Manhattan shooting on Wednesday, climbed to the top of UnitedHealthcare. The 50-year-old chief executive of the main division of the conglomerate UnitedHealth Group, the US’s largest health insurer, was gunned down in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning by a masked assailant in what police are calling a “brazen targeted attack.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/30ifTKd

The Georgian Dream government’s suspension of EU talks has sparked an existential struggle for democracy In recent years, Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has brazenly pursued a policy of gaslighting an overwhelmingly pro-European population. Rhetorically, it has paid enthusiastic lip service to the national goal of eventual accession to the European Union, an aim that is enshrined in the constitution. In practice, a party founded by the billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili – whose wealth was accumulated in Russia – has been pulling Georgia ever further into the authoritarian orbit of Vladimir Putin. “Foreign agent” legislation passed earlier this year – provoking large protests in Tbilisi – copied and pasted Russian laws designed to curtail the influence of independent civil society organisations. Subsequent restrictions placed on LGBTQ+ rights came from the same playbook. Having awarded EU candidate status to Georgia in 2023, these illiberal moves led Brussels ...

By drawing attention to the troubling behaviour of a male celebrity, Kirsty Wark recalls the spirit of #MeToo Famous men should not take advantage of their status to engage in sexually inappropriate behaviour, or make explicit remarks, at work. If and when this happens, their bosses should ensure that it is stopped. This might seem obvious. But in an interview for BBC News last week, Kirsty Wark , the former Newsnight host, described how when she was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011, she complained to the production company about the show’s co-presenter Gregg Wallace. She thought a sexualised monologue he delivered early one morning on set was so ill-judged that it made her angry, and worried that staff on short-term contracts would not feel able to object. BBC News also heard from 12 other people making various allegations. That it has taken so many years for these claims to emerge strongly suggests that the impunity enjoyed by celebrities is an ongoing cultural pro...

Serie A match halted as Bove treated by paramedics Players form protective barrier around 22-year-old The Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove was taken off the pitch in an ambulance after collapsing shortly after the start of their Serie A match against Internazionale. Sky Sport Italia reported that Bove was transported to the Careggi hospital near the Stadio Franchi in Florence, was breathing on his own and had regained consciousness. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/mPgp3hy