President Trump personally directed the use of taxpayer money for ads praising his presidency, according to people familiar with the matter. Our White House correspondent, Maggie Haberman, explains.

Judge unseals bodycam footage from officers who responded to 911 from McDonald’s in Pennsylvania

Police bodycam footage released Friday shows the moment officers located and arrested Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s in connection with the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan.

In one video, officers ask Mangione to lower the face mask he was wearing to hide his identity.

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© Photograph: Altoona Police Department/AP

© Photograph: Altoona Police Department/AP

© Photograph: Altoona Police Department/AP

Newly released police bodycam footage shows officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, approaching, searching and arresting Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's on 9 December 2024 in connection with the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The Guardian has edited the video from multiple cameras to show the moments of the arrest

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© Photograph: Atloona Police Department via AP

© Photograph: Atloona Police Department via AP

© Photograph: Atloona Police Department via AP

The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.

© via YouTube

Health screenings and criminal background checks may go only so far in identifying pilots who have become radicalized or try to hide their mental health issues, experts said.

© Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The country was shaken after nearly 30 people were killed in two separate mass shootings. South Africans are demanding greater government intervention.

© Emmanuel Croset/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are now considering setting trained falcons on the urban birds

The mass transit authorities in the greater Boston region are clawing around for ways to mitigate the excessive local pigeon population – or more graphically, pigeon poo all over stations – and have swooped on the possibility of setting trained falcons on them.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the public system commonly known as “the T”, issued a “request for information” (RFI) last month from falconry experts on the potential use of birds of prey, such as falcons, to control the crowds of urban birds widely considered a public nuisance.

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© Photograph: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

© Photograph: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

© Photograph: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Prosecutors want remote testimony for witnesses unable or unwilling to travel to Guantánamo. The defense wants jurors to be told that, guilty or innocent, the defendant will not go free.

© Marisa Schwartz Taylor/The New York Times

After the co-pilot stabbed the captain, two pilots who were seated in the cabin intervened alongside passengers and safely landed the Boeing 737 in Saudi Arabia.

© Erik Marmor/Getty Images

Support for 37-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins could upend the governor’s race in the heavily Republican state

This July, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spent four days and 450 miles (725km) wending his way down the Yukon River in a 24ft Alweld skiff, a flat-bottomed aluminum boat built for shallow Alaska rivers.

Starting in Koyukon Athabascan country, he passed through Indigenous Deg Hit’an communities like Anvik, before ending among the Yup’ik villages of the lower river, Russian Mission and Pilot Station among them. The boat carried him through 11 villages – some only reachable by water or small plane, and most with fewer than 300 residents, and fewer still who could recall the last time they had seen a candidate for Alaska governor, Republican, Democrat or independent.

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© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

As the Republicans try to hold their majority, the Senate Leadership Fund is diverting resources to Kansas, which has become a growing concern for the party.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Economies in Latin America and Europe rely on American diesel. Stopping exports could tip some countries into recession, hurting trade with the United States.

© Diego Vara/Reuters

A badly wounded Indian pilot managed to unlock the cockpit door. Four Israeli men teamed up to overwhelm an attacker and avert disaster.

© Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press

The Senate Leadership Fund is diverting money to Kansas, which has become a growing concern for the party as it seeks to hold its majority.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

The Group of 7, which includes Britain, France and Japan, announced the release of 100 million barrels over four months, effective immediately.

© Hilary Swift for The New York Times

The government had proposed more protections for tenants after outrage at the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

© Anadolu, via Getty Images

The Coast Guard has intercepted two small boats it says were carrying illegal fuel to Cuba as the United States enforces a fuel blockade aimed at Cuba’s Communist government.

© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

As LeBron James and other NBA stars wholeheartedly embrace the murk of betting and prediction markets, the San Antonio Spurs’ 22-year-old cornerstone has drawn a refreshing line

If the song from LeBron James’s agonizing Polymarket ad is as stuck in your head as mine thanks to the commercial playing during every YouTube video and HBO show (all I wanted to do was rewatch The Leftovers), let Victor Wembanyama be your antidote. At the Spurs’ practice on Thursday, San Antonio Express-News columnist Mike Finger asked Wembanyama if he would ever partner with a sports betting firm. It couldn’t have been easier for the 22-year-old to say yes. The NBA displays ads for both FanDuel and DraftKings, in addition to hawking betting odds on its broadcasts. Until the streaming service met its end a few months ago, plenty of NBA games streamed exclusively on FanDuel Sports Network. Then there are Wembanyama’s legendary peers: James is the new face of Polymarket; Kevin Durant reads FanDuel odds and invests in Kalshi; Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Kalshi shareholder.

“Absolutely not,” Wembanyama said instead. “I will never do that. Honestly, I think it’s very sad to see some players promote it. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”

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© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Capt. Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed by his co-pilot midair between Dubai and Tel Aviv, said he “had to act” to prevent a crash despite serious injuries.

© Israel's Foreign Ministry, via Associated Press

The attack, on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, halted the only direct service between the two cities since the war in Iran disrupted air traffic.

© Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows the danger of using AI in warfare. Humans must remain at the center of wartime decisions

As tech leaders warn about the threats of artificial intelligence, most conjure up images of AI agents running amok, such as hacking systems used to run our critical infrastructure, banks or even militaries. Yet one serious danger is mentioned less frequently – the threat posed by AI–empowered lethal weapons. Fully autonomous versions of these weapons are colloquially known as killer robots.

Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows that, in an important respect, such AI weapon systems are already here. An algorithm has been deciding who lives and who dies.

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© Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

© Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

© Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

In effort to avoid panic at pumps, Keir Mather insists supply of fuel to Britain is ‘inherently resilient’

• UK diesel price hits record high of £2 a litre

• Business live – latest updates

The government has sought to avert panic at the pumps, insisting that the UK is not facing a diesel shortage after Donald Trump threatened to cut off US supplies of the fuel.

The transport minister Keir Mather said on Friday that the UK has a wide range of sources of the fuel and is in talks with other European countries over the potential release of emergency diesel stockpiles.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Truckers are among the hardest hit by the soaring cost of diesel fuel. High prices are forcing some to stay on the road for months and others to park their rigs.

© Hilary Swift for The New York Times

Earl Caldwell was staying at the Memphis hotel where the civil rights leader was killed.

© Barney Sellers/ZUMA Press Wire, via Reuters Connect. Illustration by Matt Dorfman

Iran has been launching drones and missiles at commercial ships in the waterway each week, though it has often failed to strike its targets, according to a Western security official.

© Tomas Munita for The New York Times

Ukraine showed European partners what it said were intercepted Russian plans to cut off major cities from power, heat and water this winter.