Good morning – and happy holidays! This is the last First Thing of 2024. We will be back on 2 January.
On Thursday morning, workers at seven Amazon facilities across the country went on strike early during the holiday shopping rush, aiming to pressure the retailer into union contract talks.
Warehouse workers in cities – including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco – are taking part in the “largest” strike at Amazon, said the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 10,000 workers at 10 of the firm’s facilities.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” said Sean O’Brien, the union’s general president.
What are the details of the dispute? The union had given Amazon a 15 December deadline to begin negotiations and warehouse workers had recently voted to authorize a strike. Teamsters says Amazon “fails to pay its workers enough to make ends meet” and has “pushed workers to the limit”, despite “obscene profits”. The company reported above-expected revenue growth in the third quarter, with revenue of $158.9bn, 11% higher than the same period in 2023.
How disruptive will the strike be? Amazon said it did not expect any effect on its operations during one of the busiest times of the year. Analysts said the company was unlikely to come to the table to bargain as that could open the door to more union actions.
Why? Unions represent only about 1% of the Amazon workforce, with the company – one of America’s largest by market cap – accused of anti-union practices. Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos, whose personal wealth Forbes estimates to be $239bn.
Elon Musk showcases grip on Washington by impeding bipartisan spending bill
Using the power of the social media platform he owns and the threat of spending millions against Republicans in primaries, Elon Musk helped tank a bipartisan congressional spending bill that would have kept the government running.
After their initial failure at Musk’s hands, House Republicans on Thursday scrambled to put together another deal. But the pared-down spending bill failed to pass the House of Representatives in a vote on Thursday evening, in a humiliating setback for Donald Trump.
Senator Bernie Sanders attacked the exercise of unelected power from Musk, who is worth about $40bn, according to Forbes estimates. “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government,” Sanders said. “The richest man on Earth, President Elon Musk, doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring?”
What is the debt ceiling? Congress is in charge of setting the debt limit, which currently stands at $31.4tn. This limits the amount of money the government can borrow to pay for services such as social security, Medicare and the military. The debt ceiling has been raised 78 times since 1960, under both Democrat and Republican presidents.
What happens now? Without action from Congress, a government shutdown looms, starting tomorrow at 12.01am.
Inside Aleppo: the Guardian visits the city Assad left to rot for the first time in ten years
Aleppo, a cosmopolitan and ancient merchant city on the silk road between the Mediterranean port of Antioch, now Antakya in Turkey, and the Euphrates, which flows to the Gulf, has survived calamity and catastrophe in its 8,000-year history: earthquakes, plagues and millennia of wars between Arab, Turkic, Persian and Christian kingdoms.
But a decade on from the Guardian’s last visit, during the four-year-long battle for Aleppo between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces, it is clear that Syria’s vicious civil war has ripped it apart, tearing at the social fabric and wreaking physical destruction that cannot easily be mended.
The brutal toll of Assad’s war: at least 30,000 people were killed in Aleppo, hundreds of thousands more lives ruined and centuries’ human heritage destroyed.
The conditions in Aleppo today: entire neighborhoods in the east and south of the city are still rubble, their residents long gone. The destruction was left as a silent reminder of the price to be paid for opposing the regime. Bodies buried under the mounds of rebar and concrete have never been retrieved.
In other news …
Vladimir Putin has said Russia is ready for a missile ‘duel’ with the US, in his end-of-year press conference. He also said in hindsight he would have invaded Ukraine earlier than 2022.
At least 35 children have died and six others were seriously injured in a crowd crush in Ibadan, Nigeria. A homicide investigation had been opened.
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson, has been charged in Manhattan federal court on four counts, including murder, stalking and firearms offenses.
Mediators have pushed on with Gaza ceasefire talks in Egypt and Qatar, amid continued airstrikes from Israel on the devastated Palestinian territory – which killed 44 people on Thursday, Gaza health officials said.
Stat of the day: 55 people died crossing Darién Gap this year trying to reach the US, Panama says
Fifty-five people trying to reach the US 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. Panamanian authorities suspect the total death toll is higher. Non-profits say a lack of limited legal pathways to the US helps drive people to take the deadly Darién route.
Don’t miss this: The most striking photojournalism images of the year
Guardian and Observer picture editors highlight the work of photojournalists – often working in treacherous conditions – who captured the striking moments of 2024, from airstrikes in Gaza to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria to the floods of Texas.
… or this: Clairo on making one of 2024’s best albums
Clairo’s third album, Charm, pairs Claire Cottrill’s distinctive voice with vintage soul. Guardian critics voted it the fourth-best album of the year. “Charm is kind-of the dust settling, picking up the pieces, feeling a little more grown-up and refined,” the artist tells the Guardian’s Elle Hunt.
Climate check: Blob-headed fish and amphibious mouse among 27 new species found in ‘thrilling’ Peru expedition
Researchers in the Alto Mayo region of north-west Peru have discovered 27 species that are new to science, including a rare amphibious mouse, a tree-climbing salamander and an unusual “blob-headed fish”. “The function of this ‘blob’ remains a complete mystery,” one scientist said.
Last Thing: ‘I’ve been eating the same batch of my mother’s frozen mince pies for 20 years’
Richard Newson’s mother was known for her delicious homemade mince pies. When she died in 2003, he found a container of pies in the freezer. “For the past 20 years, I have been slowly making my way through them by eating one on 1 December every year,” he said. “Each pie fills me with joy and nostalgia, as I reminisce about past Christmases.”
Wishing you a great festive period. See you in 2025.
Sign up
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
