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President Biden in Washington DC on 14 November 2023. Photograph: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPresident Biden in Washington DC on 14 November 2023. Photograph: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesJoe BidenBiden’s first 2024 campaign ad highlights threats to US democracyPresident says preserving democracy ‘central issue of his presidency’ in ad timed for release on anniversary of January 6 Joe Biden’s first campaign ad of the year focuses on threats to US democracy, timed for release on the anniversary of the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.

OpinionFeminism This article is more than 10 years oldHow feminism became capitalism's handmaiden - and how to reclaim itThis article is more than 10 years oldNancy FraserA movement that started out as a critique of capitalist exploitation ended up contributing key ideas to its latest neoliberal phaseAs a feminist, I've always assumed that by fighting to emancipate women I was building a better world – more egalitarian, just and free. But lately I've begun to worry that ideals pioneered by feminists are serving quite different ends.

Internet This article is more than 2 years oldInternet freedom on the decline in US and globally, study findsThis article is more than 2 years oldThe study cited a lack of regulation in the domestic tech industry, and the rise of authoritarian agencies abroad Online freedom is continuing to decline globally, according to a new study, with governments increasingly cracking down on user speech and misinformation on the rise. The report from Freedom House, a Washington DC-based democracy advocacy group, found internet freedom declined for the fifth year in a row in the US and the 11th year internationally – for two distinct reasons.

Richard Adams's blogDonald TrumpMiss USA 2010: beauty and beastlinessRima Fakih's victory in the Miss USA 2010 beauty pageant shows off America's weirdness on all sorts of levelsIt's hard to think of a single event that so effortlessly combines the multiple contradictions at the heart of American life than this: the victory of Miss Michigan, Rima Fakih, an Arab American, in the Miss USA 2010 beauty pageant. It involves the following elements: Las Vegas (where the pageant was held), television (NBC, co-promoter), Donald Trump (the pageant's other co-promoter), sexism (again, obviously), and manufactured blogger controversy (sigh).

The ObserverRobert De NiroRobert De Niro Sr left notebooks that revealed struggles with his sexuality and mental health. His son still can’t bear to read them Robert De Niro has given the authors of a book about his artist father access to intimate journals written by the painter, even though he can’t face reading them himself. The journals reveal what the Oscar-winning actor describes as his father’s “demons”, including De Niro Sr’s struggle to make enough money and to find artistic recognition, as well as his anxieties over his mental health and his homosexuality, which broke up his marriage to a fellow artist when their son was a toddler.

World newsSpirit of Capone lives on in Mobtown, IllinoisMayor's $12m scam follows in footsteps of Scarface, Baldy and the Big TunaAl Capone marched into the Chicago suburb of Cicero on election day, seeking a safe refuge after Chicago itself had been taken over by a reformist zealot of a mayor. In Cicero, Capone put up his own candidate, and his men canvassed voters at gunpoint to make sure there was no mistake.

The ObserverJane GardamReviewJane Gardam paints an affectionate portrait of marriage, says Olivia LaingIn The Man in the Wooden Hat, Jane Gardam returns for the third and, presumably, final time to Sir Edward Feathers: judge, expat and former Raj orphan. Despite his impeccable cleanliness, Feathers is known by friends and enemies alike as Filth, the name deriving from the old acronym "Failed In London, Try Hong Kong". Gardam's first novel about Feathers, Old Filth, introduced him as a lonely widower washed up in the west of England, a cold, damp country that had never been his home.

New York senator Chuck Schumer has called on the FDA to investigate Prime, the beverage brand founded and backed by YouTube star Logan Paul. Photograph: Ron Adar/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenNew York senator Chuck Schumer has called on the FDA to investigate Prime, the beverage brand founded and backed by YouTube star Logan Paul. Photograph: Ron Adar/ShutterstockChuck Schumer This article is more than 6 months oldUS food agency called on to investigate Prime energy drink over caffeine levelsThis article is more than 6 months oldDrink backed by YouTube star Logan Paul has the equivalent caffeine of six Coke cans and has prompted bans in the UK

Food & drink industry This article is more than 14 years oldKFC accused of racism over Australian advertisementThis article is more than 14 years oldKFC advert showing Australian cricket fan placating West Indies supporters with chicken has caused anger in AmericaThe Australian arm of the fast-food chain KFC has been accused of racial insensitivity over a television commercial showing an outnumbered white cricket fan handing out pieces of fried chicken to appease a dancing, drumming and singing group of black West Indian supporters.