UK PM hopes charm offensive will yield benefits but Eurosceptics in president's coterie could scupper planIs there enough love left in the US-UK special relationship or has the magic faded?That is the question that Keir Starmer arrived in Washington to pose at what Sir Peter Westmacott, Britain's ambassador to Washington from 2012 to 2016, called one of the most consequential meetings of a British prime minister and president that we have had since the second world war". Continue reading...
British politicians think they exercise a moderating force on strongmen. In practice, diplomacy' and pragmatism' only ease their pathWhy is Westminster, supposedly one of the world's great centres of democratic moderation, so welcoming to far-right foreign governments? For more than a century, since the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, authoritarians have often found allies, apologists or a deliberate absence of criticism in the Commons, despite our parliament's self-image as a historic enemy of fascism.One reason for this forgiving attitude is that foreign policy is a pragmatic business, and Britain has increasingly become a country that can't afford to make enemies. The Starmer government's determination to see no evil in the Trump administration can be partly explained in those terms.Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Democrats warn that cutting jobs at Noaa will cost American lives' - key US politics stories from Wednesday at a glanceThe Trump administration has fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US's pre-eminent climate research agency housed within the Department of Commerce, the Guardian learned on Thursday.This will cost American lives," said Democratic congresswoman and ranking member of the House science, space and technology committee, Zoe Lofgren, in a written statement. Her comments were issued alongside congressman Gabe Amo's, the ranking member of the subcommittee on environment, after news of the firings broke. Continue reading...
by Helen Sullivan (now); Maanvi Singh, Coral Murphy M on (#6VJBB)
This live coverage has ended. You can find the latest US politics news here.As Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk work zealously to slash tens of billions in federal spending by axing thousands of jobs and gutting some government agencies, Musk faces mounting claims he has conflicts of interest and no oversight, legal and ethics experts say.Trump's largest campaign donor and the world's wealthiest man, Musk was tapped by the president to lead the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) in a radical and opaque cost-cutting drive that allows him to keep control of SpaceX, Tesla and other huge companies with billions of dollars in federal contracts.We expect that today's meeting will be the first in a series of such expert consultations that will bring us closer to overcoming the disagreements that have arisen with the American side, strengthening confidence-building measures. Continue reading...
Attorney general had indicated justice department would release files related to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019The US justice department has released additional files related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The justice department gave a statement on Thursday evening, saying the release largely contained documents that had been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the US government". Continue reading...
Judge says office of personnel management lacks power to order firings, including those of probationary employeesA federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ordering the US defense department and other agencies to carry out the mass firings of some employees.The US district judge William Alsup said in San Francisco on Thursday that the US office of personnel management (OPM) lacked the power to order federal agencies to fire any workers, including probationary employees who typically have less than a year of experience. Continue reading...
US president Donald Trump praises Keir Starmer's 'very hard' lobbying as he again suggested the UK will be exempt from US tariffs. Trump said there was a chance that the UK and US could agree to a trade deal which would mean there wouldn't be a need for tariffs
Keir Starmer handed Donald Trump a letter from the king during his meeting with the president. It was an invitation for a state visit, a historic step as Trump has already had one state visit to the UK, and there is no precedent for a head of state making a second one. His first took place when the late Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne
In letter hand-delivered to Trump by Keir Starmer, Charles suggests he and Trump could meet in Scotland to plan visitKing Charles has invited Donald Trump to make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK in a letter handed to the US president by Keir Starmer.Queen Elizabeth II hosted Trump on a state visit in 2019. Precedent for second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama. Continue reading...
Group storms building with dean's office over expulsion of two students last month who interrupted a class on IsraelA group of pro-Palestinian student protesters stormed a Barnard College building on Wednesday to protest against the expulsion last month of two students who interrupted a university class on Israel.The demonstrators, who numbered in the dozens, staged a sit-in outside the office of Barnard's dean, Leslie Grinage, in the college's Milbank Hall, the Columbia Spectator reported. Continue reading...
Abdullah Ocalan's call for fighters to disarm is an important moment. But a lasting resolution will require greater rights for KurdsAfter four decades of violence that have claimed at least 40,000 lives, this was a momentous declaration. On Thursday, the leader of the Kurdish insurgency, Abdullah Ocalan, revered by his supporters, called on fighters to lay down arms. In a written statement from his prison cell - he has been held in isolation for a quarter of a century - he urged his Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) not only to disarm but to dissolve itself.Yet optimism must be tempered. Ten years ago, a two-year truce between the militant group and the Turkish state imploded and some of the worst violence of the long conflict ensued. More than 7,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, have died since then.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Agency had accused bank of cheating consumers out of more than $2bn in interest payments on savings accountsThe US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday dropped a legal action against Capital One, which the agency had accused last month of cheating consumers out of more than $2bn in interest payments on savings accounts.The dismissal continues Donald Trump's rapid moves to dismantle the agency, which he has said should be eliminated, but comes the same day as his nominee to head the CFPB, Jonathan McKernan, testified before the Senate in a confirmation hearing. Continue reading...
US president Donald Trump said he was confident a deal could be agreed to end the war in Ukraine as the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, arrived at the White House for a bilateral meeting
As Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk alter US media, the connections between wealth and power are in plain sightOne of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we've entered is that it is revealing for all to see the putrid connections between great wealth and great power.Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It's like hitting the reveal codes" key on older computers that let you see everything. Continue reading...
The Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman has died at the age of 95. Born in 1930, he joined the US marines in the late 1940s and decided to study acting in the late 1950s. Hackman befriended Dustin Hoffman at the Pasadena Playhouse and the two were voted 'the least likely to succeed'. He went on to win two Oscars for his roles in The French Connection and Unforgiven
Fresh out of jail, does it matter that his 2017 festival was one of the biggest social-media-driven deceptions of our time? Not a bitSince 2016, Fyre has been the most talked about festival in the world," organiser Billy McFarland told a US broadcaster when tickets for Fyre 2 went on sale this week. McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for wire fraud in 2018, related to his organisation of the first Fyre (he served only four). Whatever you think about the first Fyre - with its famous limp cheese sandwiches, its disaster-relief-tent accommodation, the absence of advertised headliners, the $26m of unpaid debt, the rats (were the rats influencer hyperbole? Perhaps, but on the other hand the festival happened on the parking lot of an abandoned resort development, and where else is a rat supposed to live?), you have to admit it lived up to one promise: it was legendary.Wire fraud is any swindling that happens electronically, whether by text, email, phone or social media. It's so easy to fall on the wrong side of that - you could commit it just by sending a round robin, asking for a million dollars. Really, all that is standing between so many of us and jail is the sucker who will give us a million dollars. It's really the suckers who belong in prison, if you think about it. Anyway, back to McFarland. Obviously, a lot of that [talk] has been negative ... but if it's done well, I think Fyre has the chance to be this annual festival that really takes over the festival industry," he said. Continue reading...
The gamble on staging the season opener in the brash desert city appears to be paying off - but the real promised land is still a long way offBigger, bolder and better. The desert dust had barely settled on the NRL's first trip to Las Vegas before league boss Andrew Abdo was doubling down. With a longer runway to plan and prepare for the rugby league extravaganza the next time around, the NRL chief executive was soon promising to go even larger. Now that the league has arrived at its destination, there are more fans in town, more events on the ground, and teams from more countries putting the finishing touches on their own show. Twice as many matches as last year are still to come when all the off-field glitz and glamour are put to one side and the quadruple-header finally kicks off at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).The NRL was quick to talk up the wins, no matter how big or small, from its first foray on to the rocky terrain of the US sporting landscape last year. A crowd of 40,746 was the largest for a rugby league game on American soil. More than 23,000 of those tickets were sold in the US. Tickets were bought in another 30 countries. New subscriptions to the international streaming app Watch NRL soared 167% - admittedly from a low base - compared to the same period leading into the previous season. And, most hopefully, an average of 61,000 Americans households watched the Sea Eagles' win over the Rabbitohs, while 44,000 later watched the Roosters defeat the Broncos. Continue reading...
Research pitting people against AI systems gives AI an edge by asking us to perform in machine-like waysTechno-optimists are evangelizing a vision of superhuman" artificial intelligence (AI). Dario Amodei, the CEO of the AI company Anthropic, predicts within a few years, AI will be better than almost all humans at almost everything". Elon Musk's so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) is proposing replacing government workers with chatbots in the name of efficiency. And some scientists are claiming that AI can already outperform humans even in domains previously thought to be exclusively human, like empathy, creativity and conflict resolution.It's true that in several prominent studies, researchers have staged competitions" in which AI technology appears to outperform humans in these very human areas. But a closer look reveals that these games are rigged against us humans. The competitions do not actually ask machines to perform human tasks; it's more accurate to say that they ask humans to behave in machine-like ways as they perform lifeless simulacra of human tasks. Continue reading...
The president's official feeds are traditionally relatively sober but the 2025 version projects a petulant wannabe kingTraditionally the White House social media feeds have been a relatively sober way for administrations to communicate with the public. The X and Facebook accounts promote their presidents, but have tended to stop short of full-fledged propaganda.Not any more. Under Trump's presidency the White House's digital communications have blasted past mere propaganda, to a level of bad taste and sycophancy that has shocked observers and prompted concerns that Trump sees himself as a monarch. Continue reading...
Plans are outlined to eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multi-year USAid contract awards, for a cut of $54bn to foreign aid. Plus, Jeff Bezos directs Washington Post opinion section to celebrate free markets'Good morning.The Trump administration has said it is eliminating more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60bn in overall US assistance around the world.What will be the likely impact? Earlier this month, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: There are actions that the US government is taking ... which we're concerned are having a serious impact on global health."What happens now? With the transfer, the two sides have completed the obligations for the first six-week phase of the ceasefire. Hamas said on Thursday it was ready to start talks on a second phase. Continue reading...
by Rachel Leingang and Alice Herman with photographs on (#6VJD5)
With Trump back in the White House, the state's superintendent is making efforts to install Christian viewpoints in governanceRyan Walters bowed his head in prayer at his desk in the Oklahoma state superintendent's office.Dear God, thank you for all the blessings you've given our country," the rising star on the Christian right said in the mid-November video. I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change for our country." Continue reading...
Eric Swalwell says threats to them and their families are stopping GOP officials from criticizing presidentRepublicans on Capitol Hill are shying away from criticizing Donald Trump's policies over fears for their physical safety and that of their families, a Democratic member of Congress has said.Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative from California, said his Republican colleagues were terrified" of crossing Trump not only because of the negative impact on their political careers, but also from anxiety that it might provoke physical threats that could cause personal upheaval and require them to hire round-the-clock security as protection. Continue reading...
A deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV league would directly benefit the US president's family businessIn his first month in office, Donald Trump destroyed federal agencies, fired thousands of government workers and unleashed dozens of executive orders. The US president also found time to try to broker an agreement between two rival golf tournaments, the US-based PGA Tour and the LIV Golf league, funded by Saudi Arabia.If concluded, the deal would directly benefit Trump's family business, which owns and manages golf courses around the world. And it would be the latest example of Trump using the presidency to advance his personal interests. Continue reading...
by Ramon Antonio Vargas in Kenner, Louisiana on (#6VJBK)
Adan Manzano and the woman charged with robbing him, Danette Colbert, did not have benzodiazepine prescriptionsA television sports journalist who was found dead in his hotel room near New Orleans while covering Super Bowl LIX had the presence of a sedative in his system - a kind of drug for which he did not have a prescription and was later seized from the home of a woman who is charged with robbing him, an investigator testified recently.Adan Manzano had a benzodiazepine in his body at the time of his death in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner on 5 February, four days before the Super Bowl, local police detective Jeffrey Fitzmorris said at a criminal court hearing on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Players' cycles, once deemed to be a minor inconvenience, are now seen as potential keys to unlock big gains in performanceIn 1921, the English Football Association banned women's soccer, declaring the game unsuitable for females". The sport has reclaimed its place on the world stage over the subsequent century-plus, but another outdated notion persists; that the players' menstrual cycles are just an inconvenience rather than a key performance variable worth studying.Now, a collection of researchers and medical professionals are lending their expertise to what could be the sport's next big evolution. Continue reading...
The Oscar-winning actor, star of The French Connection and Unforgiven, has died at the age of 95. Here we look back on a that career that spanned five decades and numerous awards Gene Hackman and his wife found dead - news
The UK prime minister said on Thursday there was 'no more important relationship' to the UK than that with the US. Keir Starmer spoke from the residence of the British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, where he met business leaders in an effort to strengthen the US-UK relationship. He vowed to 'get things built, reduce barriers to investment and growth' and said the UK was 'open for business, open for investment'
As the NFL gathers for the combine, we look at the plots that will dominate the news cycle in the coming weeks and monthsStafford and the Rams are in another contractual standoff, with Los Angeles giving their quarterback permission to seek a trade. Stafford is set to earn $27m next season, putting him way behind the highest earners at the position. According to reports, Stafford is looking for a new two-year, $110m deal from the Rams that slices the difference between Dak Prescott (who will earn $60m in 2025) and Trevor Lawrence ($52m). Continue reading...
The Wigan player will follow in the footsteps of his uncle and grandpa when he performs in Las Vegas on SaturdayBy Gavin Willacy for No Helmets RequiredWhen Wigan coach Matty Peet brings Tyler Dupree on to the field during their Super League clash with Warrington in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Dupree's mother Jackie will greet his arrival with whoops. But his uncle Billy Joe Dupree - who played in three Super Bowls - will not even know his nephew is playing.Billy Joe Dupree joined Dallas in 1973 and immediately established himself in Tom Landry's fabled team, taking Mike Ditka's No89 jersey. A Super Bowl win against Denver Broncos in 1978 was sandwiched between two defeats to Pittsburgh Steelers. Dupree smashed records galore in Dallas, going 11 seasons without missing a game. His nephew Tyler has won two Super League titles, a World Club Challenge and a Challenge Cup in less than two seasons with Wigan. Yet Billy Joe is oblivious to his success. Continue reading...
So much of our intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US - if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gatesAll the talk now is of how we might defend ourselves without the US. But almost everyone with a voice in public life appears to be avoiding a much bigger and more troubling question: how we might defend ourselves against the US.As Keir Starmer visits the orange emperor's court in Washington, let's first consider the possibilities. I can't comment on their likelihood, and I fervently hope that people with more knowledge and power than me are gaming them. One is that Donald Trump will not only clear the path for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, but will actively assist him. We know that Trump can brook no challenge to his hegemony. Russia is no threat to US dominance, but Europe, with a combined economy similar to that of the US, and a powerful diplomatic and global political presence, could be. Continue reading...
As much as the basketball itself has started to round into shape for the Lakers and Mavs after the biggest trade in NBA history, the wounds have only just begun to healA lot of emotions, not much sleep ... I'm just glad it's over." Those were 25-year-old Slovenian basketball phenom Luka Doni's succinct and surprisingly vulnerable initial thoughts on Tuesday night after his first rendezvous with his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, when his Lakers hosted them in Los Angeles. It was a highly anticipated game, the culmination of weeks of NBA drama following the biggest blockbuster trade in league history, when Doni was traded for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. Davis was sidelined on the bench with an adductor strain on Tuesday, which slightly dampened the dramatic potential. But with both Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and minority owner Mark Cuban joining Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss in attendance, the tension was palpable. There's really no such thing as a hands-clean breakup, but this one has been particularly messy, and as much as the basketball itself has started to round into shape for both clubs, the wounds from the parting have only just begun to heal.The wins" and losses" of the trade have been covered ad nauseam. The basketball of it all, the Xs and Os, what might work, what might not, have been dissected to death. The drama, trying to figure out what conspiracy theories could have been at play to set it into motion, has made for unassailably compelling television. But, as is the case in many sports sagas, the human element of it all seems to have gotten somewhat lost in the shuffle. Continue reading...
A pack of Americans looks to make its mark as the Nordic world ski championships begin in Trondheim, where one of the sport's most electric atmospheres awaitsCompeting in a Nordic world ski championships is always special, but doing so in the heartland of cross-country skiing elevates the experience to a whole different level. This year's edition kicks off in earnest on Thursday with the first medal events in Trondheim, the picturesque university town seated on the lip of a fjord in central Norway. More than 190,000 tickets have already been sold and the sport's most passionate fans will spend the next week and a half packed into vertigo-triggering grandstands around the finishing area. The intensity and tradition of ski racing in Norway create an intoxicating backdrop for any athlete, a challenge an upstart American contingent is keen to embrace.Jessie Diggins knows what's coming and what's required to meet the moment better than anyone. Reflecting on her first world championships at Oslo's storied Holmenkollen when Norway last hosted, she recalled Tuesday in a conference call with reporters, It's quite painful for me to watch my technique [in 2011], but I skied with a lot of guts and that has not changed." She was just 19 then, still seven years away from her historic Olympic gold at Pyeongchang. Now 33, Diggins has built a legacy unlike any other American in the sport's history, but as she heads into this year's worlds, her famous tolerance for discomfort will be put to the test like rarely before. Continue reading...
Support for Ukraine means that closer ties to Europe are now a patriotic priority, opening up avenues that Brexit had once blockedIt would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging British upside to Trump's efforts at crashing the post-cold war order. It might even get a boost from Thursday's Washington visit by Keir Starmer.In July 2024, when Starmer became prime minister, Labour was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority was to reconnect with leave voters. Everything about Europe was thus sidelined during the election. Only vague generalities were permitted. The only foreign leaders pictured in the party manifesto were Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada's Justin Trudeau.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Jeanne Shaheen discusses Trump's demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to rare-earth reserves for helping end warDonald Trump may be pursuing a mineral rights deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia as well as with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, a top Senate Democrat has warned, discussing the US president's demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to 50% of its rare-earth reserves, as a price for helping end the war three years after Russia invaded.I think anything that helps position Ukraine for any peace negotiations is a positive move," said Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations and armed services committee, who recently visited Ukraine. Continue reading...
Internal memo and court filings reveal president to also eliminate $60bn in overall US assistance around worldThe Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60bn in overall US assistance around the world.The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAid projects for advocates to try to save in what are current court battles with the administration. Continue reading...
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