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Politics
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First Thing: US military justice under scrutiny after pilot convicted of strangling British woman
Sarah Steele spoke of ‘degrading’ experience under US military justice after assault in England. Plus, why Toy Story 5 is the ultimate millennial girl movie Good morning. A UK justice minister has described the case of a British woman strangled by a US fighter pilot on UK soil as “really serious” and said the Ministry of Justice would examine it. Why did a US fighter pilot avoid British trial after strangling a woman in England? Technically, the UK authorities should have primary jurisdiction to prosecute crimes allegedly perpetrated by US service members off duty and off base. But the Wulfson case is one of several uncovered by the Guardian in which UK police and prosecutors appear to be ceding responsibility to their US military counterparts . What is temporary protected status (TPS), and why is it under threat? People with TPS have permission to live and work in the US because the Department of Homeland Security deemed their home countries to be unsafe. The Trump administration has attempted to slash the program for various countries in its anti-immigrant crusade. Continue reading...
Andrew Tate’s legal claim against prosecutors’ refusal to name alleged victims thrown out
Tate and his brother argued CPS acted unlawfully by not telling them the names before they return to UK A high court judge has thrown out Andrew and Tristan Tate’s attempt to bring a legal challenge against the Crown Prosecution Service after it did not disclose the names of their alleged victims in UK criminal proceedings. The pair are facing legal proceedings in Romania, where they live, but will be extradited to the UK upon their conclusion to face a combined 21 charges, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking. Continue reading...
Vandalism, taunts and hijabs torn off: Muslim leaders in UK say hate crime hitting new levels
Ministers accused of being more hesitant to respond as Reform has risen in polls, due to fear of ‘saying wrong thing’ During the May local elections in England, a canvasser was out in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham campaigning for her party. At one doorstep, the occupant asked if she was Muslim. When she said yes, he told her she should be hanged. It is one of dozens of stories that Akeela Ahmed, head of the British Muslim Trust (BMT), the government’s official partner for monitoring anti-Muslim hatred, has heard in recent weeks. Continue reading...
Court lifts anonymity order on 13 men charged alongside man accused of drugging and raping wife
Co-defendants in case against Stockport man include a paramedic, a football coach and a taxi driver The identities of 13 men charged alongside a man accused of drugging and raping his wife can be revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted. The main defendant in the case is due to go on trial in September. He stands accused of drugging and sexually assaulting his wife over a period of 20 years and conspiring with other men to engage in abuse. Continue reading...
Alarm over ‘extreme’ sentences for anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism
First amendment groups call 50-to-100-year prison terms chilling as legal experts say sentences unusually long The decades-long prison sentences for a group of Texas activists convicted of terrorism and other charges in connection to a Fourth of July protest last year has caused widespread alarm, given their unusually punitive length and for the apparent harsh criminalization of protest activity under Donald Trump ’s justice department. Eight people who participated in a protest at the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, were sentenced on Tuesday to between 50 and 100 years in prison. A ninth person, Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, the husband of one of the demonstrators, did not participate in the protest, but was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted of moving boxes containing leftwing zines and other materials after a prison phone call from his wife. Continue reading...
FDA to discuss easing restrictions on peptides despite safety concerns
Committee will meet in July to discuss peptides now sold in gray market despite limited evidence of safety and efficacy Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon hold a meeting about whether to ease restrictions on access to some research peptides, a group of drugs with a zealous following and thin evidence to support them. If restrictions are eased, US compounding pharmacies would be able to produce and fill prescriptions for Americans – a change that would effectively legalize a thriving gray market. Continue reading...
Trump forced to drain the reflecting pool swamp | Politics Weekly America
The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC will have to be drained again. Donald Trump has blamed vandalism for the failure to keep the water 'American flag blue'. But what if this small body of water is proof that the president can’t outrun the truth? Jonathan Freedland speaks to Arwa Mahdawi about why this project, which has cost the taxpayer millions of dollars, is proving to be such an embarrassing failure for a man obsessed with image Continue reading...
Mpox smuggling case prompts congressional scrutiny of National Institutes of Health
House committee seeks records after two agency scientists were charged over undeclared samples The US House committee on energy and commerce is “ examining concerns ” about the National Institutes of Health after two NIH scientists were charged with allegedly smuggling mpox into the United States and misleading investigators. Federal law enforcement alleges that Dr Vincent Munster, 53, a Dutch national and chief of the virus ecology section at the NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Montana, and Claude Kwe, 38, a research fellow from Cameroon, transported vials containing monkeypox, now known as mpox, into the country without declaring them to customs and then “lying about it”. Continue reading...
California’s landmark anti-plastics law sparks anger as 17 states moves to sue
Ambitious plan to phase out single-use plastic opposed by chemicals industry – while green groups say law too timid A groundbreaking California law that compels packaging producers to phase out single-use plastics is already sparking anger from the chemicals industry and environmental groups just weeks after going into effect. The law, which was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 but only took hold in May, requires plastic and packaging companies to use less single-use plastic, and ensure by 2032 that all packaging is either recyclable or compostable. The big idea is to incentivize producers of plastics to consider the end of their products’ life in order to create better, more sustainable bottles, containers and wrappings. Continue reading...
Trump finds partner in supreme court in his war against immigration
Recent rulings have bolstered president’s pitiless campaign against people of colour fleeing violence and disaster In the US supreme court, it seems Donald Trump has found loyalists in his crusade against immigration and immigrants. In a pair of rulings Thursday, the court allowed the Trump administration to end humanitarian protections that have granted people from Haiti and Syria the right to live and work legally in the US for more than a decade, and cleared way for the government to turn away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border by physically blocking them from setting foot on US soil. And on Tuesday, the court granted border officials broad discretion to deport lawful permanent residents or green card holders. Continue reading...
Billionaire Leon Black to appear before House panel over ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Scrutiny of Black’s association with Epstein has intensified after DoJ released millions of files last year and this year The billionaire financier Leon Black is scheduled to appear Friday morning before the House committee on oversight and reform as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein . The interview will be conducted behind closed doors, though the committee is expected to release a transcript at a later date, as it has done with previous interviews. Continue reading...
Whereabouts of nearly 300 people with Ebola unknown in DRC
Fears over ‘huge, huge community transmission’ as modelling predicts thousands of cases and deaths by September The whereabouts of almost 300 people who have tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently unknown, according to Africa’s top public health official. The humanitarian crisis amid the conflict in the affected areas means more than 1 million people are living in camps to which health workers have no access, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Thursday. Continue reading...
VW plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs and shut plants, report says
German firm reportedly considering doubling previously announced staff reductions amid Chinese competition Business live – latest updates Germany’s Volkswagen is to cut up to 100,000 jobs and reduce and eventually stop production at some plants, according to reports. The company has refused to comment on reports of a management presentation at a board meeting outlining dramatic cost cutting, but if it goes ahead it would mean Volkswagen doubling previously announced staff reductions. Continue reading...
Digested week: Another PM bites the dust and it’s surprisingly moving | John Crace
Plus, World Cup fever, EU referendum 10th anniversary, feeling the heat in Westminster and cancer Hard to believe, but in my 12 and a half years as the Guardian’s political sketch writer, I am about to embark on my seventh prime minister. There was a time when we Britons took the piss out of the Italians for their rapid turnover of prime ministers. Now the laugh is on us. Continue reading...
‘Chock full of incredible animals’: marine expedition uncovers 31 new species in two weeks
International experts able to work in ocean midwater off Brazil at near-record speeds thanks to cutting-edge tech A marine biology expedition in international waters off the coast of Brazil has discovered 31 new species in just two weeks. The researchers believe the speed at which the species were found and identified may be a record, in part because of the cutting-edge tech designed and built by the science and engineering team. For the first time on board a ship, the researchers were able to observe the living 3D cellular structure of microbial life thanks to a new technological breakthrough nicknamed the Squid. Continue reading...
Radio 2 DJ Trevor Nelson taking break from broadcasting over health issues
BBC presenter, 62, ‘concentrating on getting better, being back to 100% me and getting back behind the mic’ Trevor Nelson has announced he is taking a break from broadcasting because of health issues. The BBC Radio 2 presenter and DJ, who has not been on air all week, said he was taking time out after being advised to go for medical tests following a routine check-up. Continue reading...
Great Britain’s grid operator warns again over power supplies in heatwave
Neso asks generators to provide extra electricity on Friday evening to meet demand from fans and air conditioning Business live – latest updates Great Britain’s energy system operator has raised the alarm over electricity supplies for the second time this week as a heatwave continues to disrupt Europe’s energy markets. The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice late on Thursday asking generators to provide any extra electricity possible to Friday evening to help meet rising demand as households turn on air conditioners and electric fans to cope with the heat. Continue reading...
Why did Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene leave the Republican party? | Geoffrey Kabaservice
Disillusioned America firsters, like Carson and Greene, are angry at Trump’s foreign interventions, may sit out the midterm elections Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene – once among Donald Trump ’s most prominent champions – announced recently that they have left the Republican party. Both rightwing superstars had feuded with the president throughout his second term, but their split was provoked by Trump’s war with Iran and what they viewed as his elevation of foreign affairs over domestic concerns like inflation and high gas prices. Although both have said that they will not support Democrats, their defection points to serious divisions within the Republican party that could weaken its prospects in the midterm elections and beyond. Geoffrey Kabaservice is the director of political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, as well as the author of Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party Continue reading...
Outrage as woman jailed for three years after criticising Somali government online
Sentencing of 27-year-old Sadia Moalim Ali condemned by former president and prime ministers as well as rights groups A rickshaw driver in Somalia has been sentenced to three years in prison for comments she made on social media, in a case that has caught the public’s attention and provoked outrage in the country. Sadia Moalim Ali, a 27-year-old nursing graduate, was originally charged with insulting government institutions and incitement to commit a crime, but convicted only of the former. Her sentence, immediately condemned as “fundamentally unjust”, was handed down on 25 June. Continue reading...
First hydropower projects in Great Britain in 40 years given go-ahead
Three pumped storage hydroelectric power station sites in Scotland on list of 16 long-duration electricity storage plans The energy regulator has given the provisional green light for the construction of the first new hydropower projects in more than 40 years, part of plans to reduce Great Britain’s reliance on energy imports. Ofgem has published a list of 16 long-duration electricity storage projects, facilities that can store and release electricity for periods of eight hours or more, it has provisionally agreed can proceed. Continue reading...
Minister says he ‘won’t be intimidated’ by home secretary as public row escalates
Shabana Mahmood has demanded Mike Tapp be sacked over call for care worker exemption to migration rules UK politics live – latest updates An extraordinary public row between the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and one of her junior ministers has escalated after he said he “won’t be intimidated” in response to calls by her for him to be sacked. Mahmood demanded on Thursday that the migration minister, Mike Tapp, should be fired for writing an unauthorised article in the Times calling for overseas care workers to be exempt from controversial changes to the immigration rules. But Keir Starmer has so far not sacked Tapp for apparently breaking the rules around ministerial conduct. Continue reading...
USA 2-3 Turkey: how Maurico Pochettino’s players rated in World Cup Group D match
Berhalter was USA’s pass master, McKennie led the side well but back line struggled against Turkish attacks Matt Turner In a surprise start, Turner was unable to stop the three shots he faced on his net, which will do little for the nearly extinguished case for him to start over Matt Freese. Then again, there were a couple of timely sweeper actions and he is now part of a select group of US goalkeepers to start in multiple World Cups. 4 Continue reading...
Ignore the miserabilists: Andy Burnham as PM is a moment when things really can get better | Polly Toynbee
He’s the only person who can keep Nigel Farage out of Downing Street, so let’s embrace his unique blend of optimism and realism As Keir Starmer bid a brief and emotional farewell at that pillory of a lectern, there was a moment for some to ask: what have we done, and why? He’s not a bad man, not a Boris Johnson or Liz Truss rogue prime minister. How decadent, if lack of charisma has become a sacking offence. But the reason why isn’t written in Westminster. It’s there in councils up and down the country where the hard-right Reform UK troopers swept through last month , from Barnsley to East Sussex. Look north, where Sunderland has 58 Reform councillors to Labour’s five. Look next door at South Tyneside, where Labour was nearly wiped out, left with only one councillor. Many Labour MPs now find themselves all but alone, their local parties hollowed out in an alien sea of Reform. Here’s why it matters beyond the green benches, beyond MPs’ personal careers, out in the very real world where services are (or aren’t) delivered locally. Continue reading...
Venezuela earthquakes: frantic search for survivors continues, with 235 confirmed dead so far – latest updates
“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible’, says the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, but authorities fear the death toll will be in the thousands A senior American military official has arrived in Venezuela’s capital Caracas to oversee US relief efforts, the US Southern Command (Southcom), whose area of responsibility covers Latin America and the Caribbean, said. US Marine Corps Maj Gen Kevin Jarrard is serving as the senior Southcom official on the ground to coordinate relief operations with local teams, Southcom said in a post on X. Continue reading...