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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Florida grand jury finds DeSantis administration ‘misappropriated’ funds from Medicaid settlement
Grand jury declined to indict anyone but said there was a ‘sophisticated scheme’ to use funds for political activity US politics live – latest updates A Florida grand jury has found that the administration of the governor, Ron DeSantis , “misappropriated” $10m in taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity with ties to DeSantis’s wife, before the money was reportedly “funneled” into “two political action committees”. In the grand jury report , which remains sealed but was obtained and published by CBS News Miami on Wednesday, the grand jurors wrote that “we conclude that these funds were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” but said that they found “insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally”. Continue reading...
Good Good Golf co-founder sorry for ad depicting violence against woman
Garrett Clark says controversial skit was in ‘poor taste’ Retailers have pulled Good Good products from shelves PGA Tour says sponsorship situation remains ‘fluid’ Good Good Golf co-founder Garrett Clark apologized in a video on Wednesday night, saying he hopes “we can move on” amid continued fallout from a since-deleted that many believe made light of violence against women. The video, posted on 21 August, was meant to promote a Callaway golf club. It showed Clark shoving Good Good personality Alexis Miestowski to the ground as she went to pull a Callaway club out of his bag. Clark then said, “Do not touch my new driver,” while standing over her. Continue reading...
Democrats to investigate ‘miraculous’ rise of Trump Jr’s investment firm
Congressman Jamie Raskin asks president’s son to detail firm’s recent success after he joined 1798 Capital as partner Democrats on a powerful US congressional committee have launched an investigation into a venture capital firm which has thrived since recruiting Donald Trump’s son. Donald Trump Jr joined 1798 Capital as a partner just days after his father won a second term in office in November 2024. Congressman Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the US House of Representatives judiciary committee, has asked the president’s son to detail the firm’s recent success. Continue reading...
Georgia senator Jon Ossoff slams racist posts allegedly from Republican opponent’s ex-staffer
Representative Mike Collins has been dogged by associations to white nationalism and antisemitism US politics live – latest updates The US senator for Georgia Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, has slammed a “disgraceful and disqualifying” report that a former staffer for his Trump-backed Republican challenger Mike Collins shared images online of a swastika and depicting himself in Ku Klux Klan robes. It is the latest instance of someone in Collins’s orbit facing scrutiny over racist or white nationalist conduct. Ossoff called the report “stunning” and said it “should shock the conscience of every Georgian”. Continue reading...
Actor Peter Cullen, voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore, dies aged 85
Montreal-born actor also voiced KARR in Knight Rider and the monster in Predator, having started his career on Canadian TV and radio Peter Cullen, the actor behind the voice of characters including Eeyore in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise and Optimus Prime in Transformers, has died aged 85. He died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, a statement said. Continue reading...
Burnham recently suggested £500k political donation cap that would be ‘reduced over time’
Exclusive: Campaigners accuse prime minister of U-turn after he decided not to back funding cap in elections bill Andy Burnham recently supported an even lower donations cap than previously reported, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian, as the row over next week’s elections bill escalates. The prime minister wrote to a campaigner in May outlining his support for a £500,000 individual donations cap, which he said would “guard against the perception of any one party being unduly influenced or swayed by one person or organisation”. Continue reading...
Watch Trump sign executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America - video
The US president signed order on 27 August amid growing trade war with Canada after the US enacted tariffs against its northern neighbor Continue reading...
Climate crisis could be destabilising mountain areas like Nepal, experts warn
Unusual heat this year may have melted ice and thawed bonds that hold glaciers in place – leading to catastrophe Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates What caused the flash flood in Nepal and Tibet? The devastating flash flood that ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilising the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people. Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause of the deadly torrent of mud, water and ice that tore along the Bhotekoshi River on Wednesday. It swept away buildings and roads and left at least 360 dead and 1,400 missing. Continue reading...
El Niño climate patterns supercharged by burning of fossil fuels, study finds
‘Godzilla’ event currently brewing could push 50 million people into acute hunger before the end of next year A series of strong El Niño climatic patterns in recent decades, such as the “Godzilla” event currently brewing that is set to warp weather around the world, have been supercharged by the broader overheating of the planet caused by the burning of fossil fuels, a major new study has found. El Niño is a naturally occurring phenomenon, taking place every two to seven years, when the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean heat up, causing a cascade of impacts around the world. The latest developing El Niño, set to peak later this year, is set to be the strongest in living memory and has been informally dubbed a “Godzilla” event. Continue reading...
Trump signs executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America
Symbolic move to rename lake bordering New York and Canada comes amid escalating trade war with northern neighbor US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario, making it Lake America. The largely symbolic move comes amid an escalating trade war with Canada. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on energy costs: vulnerable households need help with their bills | Editorial
Soaring prices are plunging struggling families into debt. The government must support them in the short term as it invests in a clean energy future Fuelled by the consequences of Donald Trump’s disastrous war on Iran, household energy debt in Britain is continuing to soar, rising to a record £6bn by the end of June. That figure is set to hit £7bn by the end of the year, as the government’s cap on gas and electricity prices goes up to a three-year high in October. The human cost among the less well off will be more people regularly choosing whether to skip meals, ignore other bills or stay cold this winter. Such is life at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, which Andy Burnham has made it his priority to address since arriving in Downing Street. The day after he became prime minister, Mr Burnham announced that VAT would be removed from electricity bills from the beginning of October. But the Middle East-related rise in the price cap, announced on Wednesday, more than wipes out the effect of his cut. In an era of geopolitical volatility, high energy costs have become the new normal. Continue reading...
Woman found guilty of indecent assault against two pupils at London boys’ school in 1980s
Sally-Anne Bowen, now 65, convicted of assaulting boys at Christ’s College, Finchley, where she was chemistry teacher A chemistry teacher has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two teenage pupils at an all-boys school in the late 1980s. Sally-Anne Bowen, who taught at Christ’s College in Finchley, north London, assaulted the teenage boys when they were aged around 14 to 15 and she was in her mid-20s. Continue reading...
Ex-Barclays boss denies having sex with a woman dressed as Snow White
Jes Staley made the comments to US lawmakers investigating his links to Jeffrey Epstein The former Barclays boss Jes Staley has denied having sex with a woman dressed as Snow White, after being questioned about an infamous email exchange about Disney princesses with Jeffrey Epstein. The comments were detailed in newly released transcripts from a closed-door interview last month with US lawmakers as part of their investigation into Epstein, who died in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges. Continue reading...
Trump’s war on Iran is rapidly draining US navy budget, documents and interviews reveal
Exclusive: Experts and former officials say accounts are running dry, and funding a war with no clear endgame is the main challenge Donald Trump’s war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to documents obtained by the Guardian, and interviews with navy officials, contractors and defense analysts. The US-Israeli operation, which has depleted US munitions stockpiles and prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East, is piling pressure on budgets across the military. Continue reading...
Jury deliberations begin in Lindsay Clancy murder trial after her attorney blames medical system
The state concludes: ‘This wasn’t a woman suffering from a lack of care’ or ‘a lack of resources’ Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial has moved into deliberations as jurors decide whether the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children in January 2023. Over the past five weeks, the trial, which has been called “America’s saddest murder trial” , has renewed nationwide attention on postpartum mental healthcare. Clancy’s defense maintains that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis – a condition estimated to affect around 2 women per 1,000 births – and therefore should not be held criminally responsible for her actions. Continue reading...
Greek Orthodox priest and cult musician clarifies views on homosexuality
Father Dionysios Tabakis says his views are those of the Orthodox church ‘nothing more, nothing less’ A Greek Orthodox priest whose home-recorded album of drone metal and religious dubstep has made him a cult figure in experimental music circles has issued a statement in which he has clarified his stance on homosexuality and the Greek radical right. “As can be seen from my musical expression, I am in favour of unity, love, empathy and help for every needy, wronged and suffering person in life,” Father Dionysios Tabakis said in a public statement shared with the Guardian. “Whoever they are, whatever they believe, whether they are a saint or a sinner.” Continue reading...
Teesside MPs call for more police and fire service resources after Middlesbrough and A66 deaths
Statement asks government for more backing after week in which nine people have died in series of incidents Five MPs on Teesside have called on the government to provide more help to local police and fire services after a week in which nine people have died. The MPs said the communities they represented should get the “strongest possible backing from the government”. Continue reading...
Is NBC’s Premier League coverage in the US too English? | Leander Schaerlaeckens
One wonders when, if ever, a US broadcast can win the same plaudits presenting the English league with a more American voice There they were again, signaling with their unchanging faces and voices and their unchanging studio backdrop that another Premier League season had begun. On Friday afternoon, and again on Saturday and Sunday morning, Rebecca Lowe welcomed American viewers to what is somehow already the 14th season of the world’s most popular sporting circuit to air on NBC. She was flanked, as ever, by her merry band of pundits, her gang of fellow British expats. The Robbies and the other ones. Also, Tim Howard as the token American, albeit one who spent 13 seasons of his goalkeeping career in the Premier League, deemed sufficiently English by osmosis to join the crew. Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now . He teaches at Marist University. Continue reading...
Race to get aid into Nepal and Tibet amid warnings another lake could burst
Flash floods have killed at least 359 people while homes and infrastructure have been swept away Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates What caused the flash flood in Nepal and Tibet? The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake formed at the site where the deadly torrents occurred was rising and at risk of bursting. The catastrophic flash floods, which hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and obliterating entire villages, killed at least 359 people and left more than 1,300 missing. Continue reading...
Tate brothers urge release on bail in Miami as they fight extradition to UK
Andrew and Tristan Tate’s lawyer tells court that pair, who are wanted on rape charges, are not a flight risk A lawyer for the social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate urged a US judge on Thursday to release the brothers on bail from a Miami jail as they contest extradition to Britain, where they are wanted on rape charges. Howard Srebnick, a lawyer for the Tate brothers, told the Miami-based US magistrate judge Lauren Louis that they had regularly appeared in court in Romania, where they are on pre-trial release, which he said was evidence they were not a flight risk. Continue reading...
US Postal Service says new mail ballot rules tied to Trump order are in effect
Move from USPS comes amid Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting in November’s midterms The US Postal Service (USPS) said on Thursday that new requirements for mail-in voting are now in effect as Donald Trump seeks to crack down on the practice. The move is expected to trigger a new round of legal challenges. The Trump administration has sought to impose new rules requiring state election leaders to submit their voter rolls for inspection as part of a broader bid to increase federal government oversight over voting and elections. Continue reading...
Judge orders mental health evaluation for man found with gun at Trump golf course in LA
Judge ruled Jeanine John Taele, discovered with firearm days before Trump visit, was unfit to face felony charge A judge in California has suspended criminal proceedings against a man found with a loaded gun near Donald Trump ’s golf course in Los Angeles, and instead ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation. Jeanine John Taele, 38, of Downey, California, was arrested for weapons violations days before the president spoke at a 5 August Republican fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. Continue reading...
Number of asylum seekers living in hotels across UK halves within a year
Small boat crossings also down 23% year-on-year, with Home Office citing more trafficking arrests UK politics live – latest updates The number of asylum seekers living in hotels has halved within a year, including 13 closures over the past month alone, according to new migration statistics. Sweeping changes to the asylum system have also seen a significant drop in legal arrivals and asylum claims. But the numbers of asylum seekers who are now being housed in private accommodation has increased, as the government shifts numbers being housed in hotels into privately rented houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). Continue reading...
Officials urge calm after malaria outbreak kills two staff at Frankfurt airport
Mosquito traps are set up at Germany’s biggest airport, with doctors told to watch for symptoms of deadly disease German health officials are seeking to reassure the public after two workers at the country’s biggest airport died of malaria. Mosquito traps have been set up at Frankfurt airport and a mosquito monitoring process is under way. A detailed investigation is being conducted to clarify how the workers contracted the disease. Continue reading...