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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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‘A sanitized view of America’: inside Trump’s campaign to erase US history from national parks
Critics say the Trump administration is trying to rewrite and whitewash history by removing and altering scores of signs on public lands Jerry Bransford, a former US National Park Service (NPS) ranger, has always had a deep connection with the land he grew up on – and the land hundreds of feet below it. His great-great-grandfather, Materson “Mat” Bransford, was one of the earliest explorers of Mammoth Cave in south-central Kentucky, the largest known cave system on the planet. But for decades, Mat wasn’t paid for his work. Enslavers rented him out for $100 a year to a man who wanted to turn the site into a tourist attraction – what would later become Mammoth Cave national park. Continue reading...
‘Riot of colour’: Gillian Ayres show in Devon just the tonic for gloomy times
Plymouth retrospective of artist, who died in 2018, aims to ‘champion and celebrate the power of the imagination’ She spoke about indulging in colour, feasting on beauty, feeling a little giddy when drinking in glorious hues and textures – and not searching too deeply for meaning. So in these gloomy times, a major retrospective of the work of the artist Gillian Ayres in her adopted Devon homeland may be just the job. Continue reading...
Is Starmer deliberately leaving a mess for Burnham? – podcast
Keir Starmer has been accused of leaving Andy Burnham with a £4.7bn black hole in defence funding. The government announced on Tuesday the defence investment plan, complete with a £15bn boost – but nearly £5bn would have to be found by a future chancellor. Allies of Burnham have called the announcement an ‘unexploded bomb’, so what options does the PM-in-waiting have? Kiran Stacey and Jessica Elgot discuss the political fallout. Plus Kiran and Jess answer your questions on Labour, No 10 North and Burnham Continue reading...
US employers added 57,000 new jobs in June – less than what economists predicted
The country’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.2% as US job growth also slowed for the month Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email US job growth slowed in June with employers adding 57,000 new jobs– just about half of what economists had predicted – and revised its figures from the past two months down by a total of 74,000. The country’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.2%, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau revised the unexpectedly high May figures from 172,000 new jobs to 129,000, and revised the April figures from 179,000 to 148,000. Continue reading...
‘Birth tourism’ in Trump administration’s sights after supreme court setback | First Thing
Federal prosecutors to focus on issue despite court backing constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. Plus: Greek priest whose metal music has become cult smash Good morning. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, has said federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers will focus on combating so-called “birth tourism” – which involves tourists, temporary visitors, or undocumented immigrants traveling to the US primarily to give birth and and secure birthright citizenship for their children. What did Blanche say? “There’s other things … the federal government can do in the visa process, and the application process, to try to minimize or limit the opportunity of folks coming here not to visit, and not to do what they’re saying they’re doing on the tourist visa, but just to have a baby that can then be a US citizen. What we have to do as Department of Justice is make sure our agents … and the FBI are focused on stopping that.” Continue reading...
MPs seek to end UK broadcast of Russian cartoon Masha and the Bear
Cross-party group writes to ministers of concerns children’s show contains unsubtle ‘propaganda content’ UK politics live – latest updates A cartoon for preschoolers depicting the adventures of a small girl and a retired circus bear may seem an unlikely source of parliamentary concern. Yet a cross-party group of MPs has written to ministers urging them to examine whether they can stop the globally popular Masha and the Bear from being broadcast in the UK, alleging it amounts to a cuddly form of Russian propaganda. Continue reading...
Ministers call for better tracking of teenagers at risk of dropping out of work or training in England
Councils and schools urged to do more as figures show there is no information on whereabouts of 32,100 ‘Neets’ The government has urged councils and schools in England to drastically improve the way they identify young people at risk of dropping out of training and work, as it admitted thousands are unaccounted for. Publishing official figures on Thursday, the government said councils had no information on the whereabouts of 32,100 young people aged 16 to 17 who were not in education, employment or training (Neet). Continue reading...
Papua separatists kill American pilot in ‘message’ to US and Indonesia
Rebels shoot pilot and set his civilian plane on fire amid long-running low-level battle for independence in region Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments. Sebby Sambom, a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters set his plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province. Continue reading...
Bitcoin firm advertised by Nigel Farage loses 15% of asset value
Exclusive: Finance experts warn against investing in bitcoin treasury companies after Stack BTC assets plunge A bitcoin company that Nigel Farage has advertised lost more than 15% of its asset value, prompting finance experts to warn investors against investing in those types of firms. The Reform UK leader has invested £215,000 in a bitcoin treasury company named Stack BTC. A bitcoin treasury buys the cryptocurrency on behalf of its shareholders, and Stack aims to purchase other companies with the increase in value it gets from holding bitcoin. Continue reading...
‘King Trump’ is stronger than ever after US supreme court bolsters his agenda
Birthright citizenship ruling only a surface level setback, with the court granting president’s multiple power grabs The symbolic and high profile defeats cannot obscure a more uncomfortable truth. The US supreme court – a vital cog in the US constitutional framers’ vision of an intricate system of checks and balances aimed at reining in an excessively assertive president – has made Donald Trump stronger than ever, and shows little inclination to stop. Continue reading...
The scourge of the death penalty hangs over America | Austin Sarat
The restoration of capital punishment in 1976 was based on a fantasy of fairness. It must be abolished Thursday will mark the 50th anniversary of the rebirth of the death penalty in the United States. On 2 July 1976, the supreme court handed down decisions in five cases that laid out a formula for passing constitutional muster. The formula the court devised and explained at length in one of those cases, Gregg v Georgia , was built on a wish and a prayer. It was a fantasy of fairness, powerful enough, its authors thought, to keep capital punishment alive and to lend it legitimacy, but it was a fantasy nonetheless. Austin Sarat, associate dean of the faculty and William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author of Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty Continue reading...
Nippon Steel takeover doesn’t mean safer, cleaner conditions, US workers and residents say
Pennsylvania families note promised investment has yet to deliver safer mills or cleaner air in the Mon Valley It was two days before Father’s Day, and Trisha Quinn was wondering how her six, 12 and 17-year-old nieces and nephews would handle the first of many without their dad. Timothy Quinn, 39, worked at the Clairton Coke Works plant south of Pittsburgh, one of US Steel’s biggest production sites and the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere, for 18 years. Last August, he and colleague, Steven Menefee, were killed there in an explosion. Continue reading...
June’s sunshine adds extra sweetness to bumper summer for UK strawberries
Weather this year has encouraged smaller but earlier cropping of sweet and bountiful fruit in gardens, RHS says If your bowl of strawberries and cream tastes particularly sweet this year, you’re not mistaken. It is a bumper summer for strawberries, with the recent weather conditions making them more abundant and delicious than ever, according to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Continue reading...
Social media platforms ‘monetise gore and fringe content’, eSafety regulator tells antisemitism commission
Julie Inman Grant singles out X when giving evidence to royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Mainstream platforms are fighting to distribute and monetise “gore” and “fringe” content, the eSafety watchdog has told the antisemitism royal commission. Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Thursday singled out X, telling the inquiry her office has to fight its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, to try to keep footage – including some posted of the Bondi terror attack – restricted or off the platform. Continue reading...
Couple arrested on Empire State Building after apparent proposal – video
Two people were arrested after an apparent marriage proposal atop the Empire State Building’s spire on Wednesday, having climbed well above the section open to the public. The pair were identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, Russian 'rooftoppers' known for carrying out similar stunts in cities including Los Angeles and Tianjin in China. Dressed in black and with their faces covered, they unfurled a large black banner bearing the words: 'When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.' It remains unclear how they reached the uppermost section of the building, which rises 1,454ft (443 metres) above midtown Manhattan. The New York police department said charges were pending and the investigation remained ongoing. CBS News later reported that the pair were facing charges including burglary, criminal trespass and reckless endangerment Continue reading...
Forecasters warn of record-breaking US summer heat amid intense El Niño
More than 100 million people could be affected in week leading to 4 July, with increased risks of droughts and wildfires Meteorologists are anticipating a tumultuous summer that could rank as one of the US’s hottest ever. New data released on Tuesday showed the first six months of the year were the hottest ever measured for parts of eight western states. Continue reading...
Convicted people smuggler reportedly living in UK should be deported, Tories say
Man once called ‘godfather’ of Calais migrant camps lives in Leicestershire and is said to be trying to claim asylum A convicted people smuggler who has been found living in Britain should be arrested and deported, the Conservatives have said. The man, once labelled “the godfather” of the Calais migrant camps, was tracked down by the BBC to Leicestershire, where he reportedly changed his name from Twana Jamal, and was working illegally while attempting to claim asylum. Continue reading...
Côte d’Ivoire floods kill 59 as west Africa endures torrential rains
Authorities say rainy season deadlier, with Ghana reporting 13 dead and floods also hitting Benin, Togo and Nigeria Floods in Côte d’Ivoire have killed 59 people since May, the communication minister told a cabinet meeting in Abidjan. There are fears the toll could further rise as rescue teams continue to search for victims during the rainy season, which runs from May until July, the minister, Amadou Coulibaly, added. Continue reading...
No 10 accepts all recommendations in Southport attack inquiry, Mahmood says
First phase of inquiry identified multiple failings to prevent murders of three girls, which government will ‘urgently’ address Downing Street has accepted all recommendations for changes made by an inquiry which found the Southport killings could have been prevented and identified “fundamental failings”, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said. Mahmood said the government would do “whatever is needed to protect the public” as she accepted the recommendations from the first phase of the Southport inquiry in full. Continue reading...
All the whey up! A dairy byproduct is now the star of the ‘proteinmaxxing’ boom – but is demand too high?
As GLP-1s drive the current protein craze, a supplement once only taken by powerlifters is now so popular US producers are struggling to keep up For generations, the Meives family made cheese. Tony Meives’s grandfather, a Swiss immigrant, and his father both ran small cheese factories in Wisconsin, in the heart of America’s dairyland. “I worked in the cheese factory my whole life,” Meives says. “I have four world-class cheesemakers in my family.” But when it came time to inherit the family business, Meives found there was more money in the industrial runoff that his grandfather would have once thrown away. Today, the 39-year-old bodybuilder and gym owner runs a company that sells whey protein powder, the watery byproduct of cheesemaking that was once considered waste. “Twenty years ago, the only people who took whey were bodybuilders,” he says. “Over the past five years, the market has really opened up to each and every type of person you can probably think of.” When Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, declared late last month, that “the war on protein is over”, he sounded a bit like one of those Japanese soldiers of second world war lore, who spent years bunkering in the jungles of south-east Asia, oblivious to the fact that hostilities had long ceased. Perhaps there was a time when advice leaned more towards a diet based around fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates – but by May 2026, the war on protein was surely over. Protein had won. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer issues formal state apology over forced adoption scandal
After decades of campaigning by those affected, PM says state ‘did not do enough to protect’ mothers and children Keir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state’s role in historic forced adoptions after decades of campaigning by mothers and children affected. The government said the “state did not do enough to protect mothers, children and families”, that it “failed to prevent harm from continuing” and that it bore responsibility for funding and legitimising the system that allowed the adoptions to take place. Continue reading...
Vatican excommunicates all members of ultra-conservative rebels SSPX
Schism caused by ordaining of four bishops without papal consent presents first crisis for Pope Leo Europe live – latest updates The Vatican has excommunicated a rebel group of ultra-conservative Catholics who defied Pope Leo by ordaining bishops without his consent, creating a schism in the Roman Catholic church. In a statement on Thursday, cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who heads up the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the group from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), founded in the Swiss village of Ecône in 1970, had “committed an act of a schismatic nature” which, under canon law, is punishable with automatic excommunication. Continue reading...
Far-right French mayor causes outrage after barring staging of play about migrant
Playwright says decision is warning of what may happen if National Rally runs country amid accusations of cultural censorship In Anglo-French playwright Alexis Michalik’s play Passeport, a young man has been beaten and left for dead in the notorious Calais refugee camp known as ‘the Jungle’. When he wakes up, he has no idea who he is – and his only possession is a blue Eritrean passport containing the name Issa. With two others from the camp he decides to leave, but not to take the perilous Channel crossing to the UK but instead to try to integrate into France and obtain the necessary papers to remain. Continue reading...
Anger as report says Trump hijacked US anniversary to serve own agenda – US politics live
Newly-released congressional report says president hijacked United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations to serve ‘political ideology and pet projects’ Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. Donald Trump hijacked the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations to serve “political ideology and pet projects”, a congressional report released today has revealed. I can’t, in my time here in Congress, remember anything even remotely like this: watching this trusted, venerable charity organisation, the National Parks Foundation, literally be hijacked for a craven political agenda that tries to steal the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and turn it into something that’s all about Trump, advancing this very divisive agenda and even enriching Trump and those around him. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche , said that federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers will focus on keeping pregnant non-citizens from giving birth in the US to acquire birthright citizenship. He did not mention that Donald Trump ’s father was born in New York to a non-citizen mother who arrived six months pregnant. Trump batted down questions about the $1.2bn he earned from crypto businesses , according to his latest annual financial disclosures. Trump refused to renew the North American trade pact he once championed as his signature deal, opting instead to keep it alive on a short leash of annual reviews. The mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani , plans to deliver what his office calls a “major address” on Friday to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, “surrounded by recently naturalized citizens.” A federal judge blocked a proposed restriction on mail-in voting across the US, challenging a crackdown on elections ordered by Donald Trump . During a visit to a new museum dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt , Trump asked an AI rendition of the 26th president about the Panama canal. Trump then lied to supporters about the exchange. Continue reading...