39 m. ago ‘He is innocent’: families of deported Venezuelans rebuke Trump claims

US president has painted Venezuelan migrants deported to notorious El Salvador prison as ‘heinous monsters’ Donald Trump’s White House has described the Venezuelan migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador as “heinous monsters” and terrorists who “rape, maim and murder for sport”.But relatives of Francisco Javier García Casique, a 24-year-old from the city of Maracay, say he was a hairdresser, not a crook. Continue reading...

Politics

72 m. ago Foreign minister ‘strongly condemns’ China’s executions of four Canadians

Mélanie Joly says Ottawa would ask for leniency for other Canadians facing the same fateNever miss global breaking news. Download our free app to keep up with key stories in real time.Canada has strongly condemned the execution of four of its citizens who were put to death in China on drug-smuggling charges, amid lingering diplomatic tensions between the two countries.The minister of foreign affairs, Mélanie Joly, said on Wednesday that all four were dual citizens and were executed earlier this year. She added that Ottawa would ask for leniency for other Canadians facing the same fate. Continue reading...

Politics

79 m. ago Thomas Tuchel orders England players to talk more with each other on pitch

More communication wanted in difficult momentsTuchel shows squad Euro 2024 final interactions graphThomas Tuchel has demanded that England’s players speak to one another more during difficult periods in games, as he starts his quest to win the World Cup next year.The new head coach underlined the importance he attaches to communication by showing his squad a graph detailing how interactions reduced significantly in the second half of the Euro 2024 final defeat by Spain. Continue reading...

Sport

87 m. ago Prosecutor says at trial that Iran put $500,000 bounty on head of Iranian

A prosecutor has told a jury at a murder-for-hire trial that the Iranian government put a $500,000 bounty on the head of an outspoken Iranian-American journalist

Events

94 m. ago Greenpeace to appeal verdict ordering them to pay at least $660m to energy firm for pipeline protests – live

Organisation condemns verdict that could bankrupt its US operation and risks ‘destroying right to peaceful protest’Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions over Dakota pipeline protests, says juryDemocratic congressman Glenn Ivey told constituents at a town hall meeting in his Maryland district that Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic minority leader, should step down from his position after a bitter intraparty fight over government funding last week, HuffPost reports.Ivey is the first member of Congress to say Schumer should leave his leadership position, after the leader supplied enough votes to pass a Republican-backed government funding bill through the Senate. House Democrats had near-unanimously rejected the measure, and many in the party believe Schumer, who argued the bill was better than allowing a shutdown that could be exploited by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, gave up leverage he could have used against the administration. Continue reading...

Economics

1 hour ago Amtrak CEO steps down as Musk insists ‘sad’ rail service needs to be privatized

Stephen Gardner left position to ‘ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration’

Economics

1 hour ago Dark energy: mysterious cosmic force appears to be weakening, say scientists

Findings could open up possibility the universe will end in a reverse big bang or ‘big crunch’, say cosmologistsExplainer: Is dark energy destined to dominate the universe?Dark energy, the mysterious force powering the expansion of the universe, appears to be weakening, according to a survey that could “overthrow” scientists’ current understanding of the fate of the cosmos.If confirmed, the results from the dark energy spectroscopic instrument (Desi) team at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona would have profound implications for theories about the evolution of the universe, opening up the possibility that its current expansion could eventually go into reverse in a “big crunch”. Continue reading...

Science

1 hour ago Taiwan prepares for '2027 invasion' as it nurses tense relations with China

Taiwanese military officials said in a statement the country's military is conducting drills that would join commanders "at all operational and tactical levels" in its annual war games

Events

1 hour ago Greenpeace must pay at least $660m over Dakota pipeline protests, says jury

Non-profit, which will appeal decision, says lawsuits like this are aimed at ‘destroying the right to peaceful protest’A jury in North Dakota has decided that the environmental group Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the pipeline company Energy Transfer and is liable for defamation and other claims over protests in the state nearly a decade ago.Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70bn, had sued Greenpeace, alleging defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017, claiming the organization “incited” people to protest by using a “misinformation campaign”. Continue reading...

Economics

1 hour ago Deadly crashes and fire in Wyoming highway tunnel started with pickup losing control, NTSB says

Federal investigators say a series of chain-reaction crashes and a fire in a Wyoming highway tunnel that killed three people started when a pickup truck lost control after leaving the tunnel and partially blocked both lanes of the slick highway

Events

2 h. ago Ontario’s police force using ‘growing ecosystem’ of Israeli spyware – report

Findings raise questions about extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyberweaponsResearchers have uncovered “possible links” between Ontario’s provincial police force and an Israel-based military-grade spyware maker called Paragon Solutions, raising questions about the extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyber weapons.The new findings were published by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks and identifies digital threats against civil society, and come three years after a parliamentary committee in Canada called for Ottawa to update the country’s privacy laws in the wake of press reports that the national police force was using spyware to hack mobile phone devices. No laws were ever passed to address the controversy. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found

France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searchedFrance’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration.“I learned with concern that a French researcher” on assignment for the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) “who was traveling to a conference near Houston was denied entry to the United States before being expelled”, Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister of higher education and research, said in a statement on Monday to Agence France-Presse published by Le Monde. “This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy,” the minister added. Continue readin...

Politics

2 h. ago Federal authorities search for longtime LA gang leader suspected of murder and human trafficking

Authorities are searching for a longtime leader of a Los Angeles street gang who investigators say ran a “mafia-like” criminal enterprise that included murder, human trafficking and extortion while he also worked as an entertainment entrepreneur

Events

2 h. ago I am a Palestinian political prisoner in Louisiana. I am being targeted for my activism | Mahmoud Khalil

The Columbia graduate and green-card holder, held in Louisiana by immigration agents, dictated this letter to family and friendsMy name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana where I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices under way against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law.Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here. It isn’t the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo and his family an ocean away. It isn’t the 21-year-old detainee I met who stepped foot in this country at age nine, only to be deported without so much as a hearing. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago White House calls judge challenging Trump deportation order a ‘Democrat activist’

Press secretary says judge who weighed legality of Trump deportation order ‘does not have that authority’The White House on Wednesday labeled the federal judge challenging the Trump administration on whether it defied his court order to halt flights deporting migrants without a hearing “a Democrat activist”.The press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, singled out by name at a White House press briefing federal judge James Boasberg, who weighed the legality of Donald Trump’s deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, and is now evaluating the government’s compliance. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Inside the Olympic conclave: Coe bids to relive 2012 glory but mystery surrounds vote

At a Greek resort surrounded by 131 infinity pools, six waterslides and a golf course designed by Bernhard Langer, Sebastian Coe is taking aim at a fourth Olympic triumph – but his path to victory is narrowOne question, more than any other, swirled around the exclusive Costa Navarino resort on Wednesday evening. Could Sebastian Coe really pull it out of the fire again? At the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics he bounced back from defeat in the 800m to take 1500m gold. Then, against the odds in Singapore in 2005, he brought the 2012 Games to London ahead of Paris and Madrid.And now, in the final hours before Thursday’s vote for the next International Olympic Committee president, he was busy pressing flesh and securing promises in the hope of a fourth Olympic win. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Newly released JFK assassination files reveal more about CIA but don't yet point to conspiracies

Newly released documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 are giving curious readers more details Wednesday into Cold War-era covert U.S. operations in other nations but didn’t initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK

Politics

3 h. ago Commuter plane that crashed in Alaska was half a ton overweight for conditions

National Transportation Safety Board releases preliminary report on loss of aircraft that killed all 10 onboardA commuter plane that crashed on sea ice off Alaska, killing all 10 people onboard, was half a ton overweight for the weather conditions, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released on Wednesday.The report said the plane was too heavy for conditions that cause icing at the speed and altitude it was flying. Continue reading...

Events

3 h. ago Original body model of ET expected to fetch up to $1m at Sotheby’s

Daughter of Oscar-winning special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi hopes item will ‘continue to inspire’It was last seen standing at the entrance to a spaceship with a potted plant of chrysanthemums, its chest glowing bright red as it stared down at the tearful young boy on the ground below.Now, the original body model of ET, the Extra-Terrestial, is expected to fetch up to $1m (£700,000) when it is sold at Sotheby’s auction house at in April. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago Article on Jackie Robinson’s military career restored to defense department website

Baseball legend served in US Army in second world warSimilar moves have been made in attack on DEIAn article detailing Jackie Robinson’s military career has been restored to the Department of Defense’s website amid a purge of material considered to be related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).Robinson, who Donald Trump last month described as helping “drive our country forward to greatness”, is widely considered a national hero in the US. He broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 when he suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers; he went on to be elected to his sport’s Hall of Fame. Robinson also served in the US Army during the second world war. However, on Tuesday night ESPN’S Jeff Passan noted a page detailing Robinson’s army career had been taken down and “dei” added to the URL. Continue reading...

Events