USPS rejects hundreds of troop care packages as charity turns to Trump for 'Christmas miracle'
































© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
New poll shows 55% of Americans hold Trump administration accountable for cost of living rises – a day after Trump makes false claims on economy
Representative Haley Stevens, a Democrat from Michigan who is also running for Senate, announced today that she has filed articles impeachment against Robert F Kennedy Jr, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
Stevens said that Kennedy has “turned his back on science and public health and on the American people”. In a video posted to social media a short while ago, she added that “families are less safe” since he started leading HHS.
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© Photograph: Allison Dinner/AP

© Photograph: Allison Dinner/AP

© Photograph: Allison Dinner/AP
Buying the Zombies, Run! studio wasn’t part of my plan, but a post-apocalypse game with stories that make people feel seen pulled me in
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A few days ago, I clicked a button on my phone to send funds to a company in Singapore and so took ownership of the video game I co-created and am lead writer for: Zombies, Run! I am a novelist, I wrote the bestselling, award-winning The Power, which was turned into an Amazon Prime TV series starring Toni Collette. What on earth am I doing buying a games company?
Well. First of all. Zombies, Run! is special. It’s special to me – the game started as a Kickstarter and the community that grew up around it has always been incredibly supportive of what we’re doing. And it’s special in what it does. It’s a game to exercise with. You play it on your smartphone – iPhone or Android – and we tell stories from the zombie apocalypse in your headphones to encourage you to go further, faster, or just make exercise less boring. Games are so often portrayed as the bad entertainment form, but I made a game that fundamentally helps people to be healthier.
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© Illustration: Simon Garbutt/Zombies Run! Ltd

© Illustration: Simon Garbutt/Zombies Run! Ltd

© Illustration: Simon Garbutt/Zombies Run! Ltd













Remember the protocol everyone must follow: look convincingly happy and never say what you actually think about a disappointing present
To paraphrase George Michael, last Christmas my friend gave her sister-in-law a book. The sister-in-law opened it, immediately said, “Oh I’ve already got this,” and handed it back. If you just winced, you are correct.
Common decency dictates that you gratefully receive a jumper, making multiple exclamations of how thrilled you are, even if you’re wearing an identical one as you open it. The very next day, you give it away. That’s how it works, and why charity shops are inundated in December and January. This is the season of goodwill, not honesty – white lies are so festively appropriate, they’re the colour of snow. Ho-ho-hope you kept the receipt, said no one ever.
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© Photograph: Posed by model; CentralITAlliance/Getty Images

© Photograph: Posed by model; CentralITAlliance/Getty Images

© Photograph: Posed by model; CentralITAlliance/Getty Images




Baby Ruth Villarama’s documentary Food Delivery depicts those struggling with the superpower to retain their trade. The director describes capturing their boats getting rammed by the Chinese coast guard
During a televised debate in 2016, populist presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte made a typically belligerent statement that he himself would jetski to Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and plant a Philippine flag there. Duterte claimed that he was ready to die a hero to keep the Chinese out of the bitterly contested maritime territory.
“That made millions of Filipino workers and fishers vote for him because of that one promise,” says film-maker Baby Ruth Villarama. As her new Oscar and Bafta-contending documentary Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea reveals, it wasn’t a promise Duterte kept. “He would make excuses that the jetski has broken down. Eventually there was an official pronouncement that it had just been a campaign joke. From then on, the fisherfolk were really enraged.”
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© Photograph: Voyage Studios

© Photograph: Voyage Studios

© Photograph: Voyage Studios
Ghana’s capital is a party and entertainment hub but members of the diaspora would do well to experience its spectacular art scene
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After more than 50 editions surfing across the waves of the global Black diaspora with Nesrine, this will be my final dispatch for the Long Wave, as I move on to a new role on the Opinion desk at the Guardian. I am heartbroken to be leaving, but I am so thankful to all of our readers for being so encouraging and engaged throughout the past year.
Any who, time to cut the sad music (this is my farewell tune of choice), as I have one more edition for you. In late autumn, I took my first trip to Ghana for Accra Cultural Week. While there, I visited the historic area of Jamestown, which was reflected in an exhibition by artist Serge Attukwei Clottey.
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© Photograph: Nii Odzenma/Gallery 1957

© Photograph: Nii Odzenma/Gallery 1957

© Photograph: Nii Odzenma/Gallery 1957



