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    Pardons and prizes: five key takeaways from Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu

    US president hosted Israeli prime minister to discuss stalled Gaza peace plan, Iran and an award for TrumpTrump news at a glance: president greets Netanyahu, warns Hamas, threatens to sue Jerome PowellDonald Trump hosted Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for lunch at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. In remarks to reporters before, during and after their meeting, the two leaders said that they were in broad agreement on most issues, from next steps in Gaza and the possibility of bombing Iran again, to how very deserving Trump is of getting another award. Continue reading… More

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    Trump news at a glance: president greets Netanyahu, warns Hamas, threatens to sue Jerome Powell

    Israeli prime minister’s Florida trip included announcement that he will award Trump with Israel prize – key US politics stories from 29 December at a glanceDonald Trump has warned that Hamas will have “hell to pay” if it fails to disarm while offering full-throated support to Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with the Israeli prime minister in Florida.In a bravura display of mutual admiration, Netanyahu announced that the US president would be awarded the Israel prize, the country’s highest civilian honour, which since its inception in the 1950s has never before been given to a non-Israeli person. Continue reading… More

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    Hamas will have ‘hell to pay’ if it fails to disarm, Trump warns after Netanyahu meeting

    Israeli prime minister said he will award Trump with Israel prize, highest civilian honor, while visiting Mar-a-LagoDonald Trump has warned that Hamas will have “hell to pay” if it fails to disarm while offering full-throated support to Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with the Israeli prime minister in Florida.In a bravura display of mutual admiration, Netanyahu announced that the US president would be awarded the Israel prize, the country’s highest civilian honour, which since its inception in the 1950s has never before been given to a non-Israeli person. Continue reading… More

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    As the US media floundered this year, I couldn’t help but think: ‘Thank God I’m at the Guardian’ | Moira Donegan

    Other outlets have asked their writers to compromise, but the Guardian has never – and would never – ask me to pull a punchFunded by readers, the Guardian’s fierce independence is guaranteed. Please help us reach our year-end fundraising goal in these final crucial hoursIt might be most generous to characterize the behavior of major US media organizations since 2024 as negotiating between competing incentives.On the one hand, billionaires have consolidated their ownership over major news outlets and platforms. The Murdochs are squabbling over Fox. Jeff Bezos has remade the Washington Post in his own image. The pharmaceutical magnate Patrick Soon-Shiong places a thumb on the scale at the Los Angeles Times, and the Trump-aligned Ellison family has taken over Paramount and CBS, and spent the final weeks of this year making hostile takeover bids for CNN owner Warner Bros. The influence of these billionaire personalities has often reshaped their organizations’ newsrooms and editorial boards, directing investigations and particularly opinion sections towards ownership’s pet projects and preferred policies. Continue reading… More

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    Many Filipino healthcare workers in the US live in fear of ICE: ‘This is my place of work. I should feel safe’

    Filipinos make up a large percentage of the healthcare workforce, which includes undocumented peopleIn the Philippines, she spent three years providing end-of-life care for a family’s grandmother. When the grandmother died, family members told the healthcare worker to arrange her own way to the United States, where they operated home healthcare facilities.In California, they promised, she would have a place to stay and a stable job. They would look after her just as she had cared for their grandmother. Continue reading… More

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    From ‘global cooling’ to ‘beautiful coal’: Trump’s startling climate claims of 2025

    Trump ratcheted up his questionable claims about the environment and how to deal, if at all, with the threats to itIn the past decade at the forefront of US politics, Donald Trump has unleashed a barrage of unusual, misleading or dubious assertions about the climate crisis, which he most famously called a “hoax”.This year has seen Trump ratchet up his often questionable claims about the environment and how to deal, if at all, with the threats to it. In a year littered with lies and wild declarations, these are the five that stood out as the most startling. Continue reading… More

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    Americans are waking up. A grand reckoning awaits us | Robert Reich

    I’d like to believe that the horrific darkness of this past year is a necessary prelude to a brighter and saner futureAbout a year ago, at the start of the Trump 2.0 regime, a woman was about to pass me on the sidewalk and then stopped, turned toward me and almost shouted: “It’s a fucking nightmare!”It has been a “fucking nightmare”. Continue reading… More