1 hour ago US senator says margaritas in photo with wrongly deported man planted by El Salvador – live

Chris Van Hollen of Maryland says drinks placed on table created hoax and neither he nor Kilmar Ábrego García touched themThe US is optimistic that it can end “the very brutal war” between Russia and Ukraine, Vice-President JD Vance said before a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.The meeting comes less than 24 hours after the pair met in Washington. Vance said:I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on.Since there are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close. Continue reading...

Culture

3 h. ago Kilmar Ábrego García ‘traumatized’ by threats in prison, Maryland senator says

Chris Van Hollen describes meeting with constituent held in Salvadoran prison against supreme court orderUS politics live – latest updatesWrongly deported Salvadoran man Kilmar Ábrego García has been held incommunicado and faced threats in prison that left him “traumatized”, a Democratic senator said Friday after returning from meeting him in El Salvador.Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the state Ábrego García had been living in with his US citizen wife and son until he was deported last month in what the Trump administration conceded was an “administrative error”, traveled to the central American country this week to see his constituent. After initially rejecting his request to meet Ábrego García and preventing him from traveling to the prison where he was being held, president Nayib Bukele’s government on Thursday facilitated a meeting at Van Hollen’s hotel. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago US senator says margaritas in photo with wrongly deported man planted by El Salvador

Chris Van Hollen of Maryland says drinks placed on table created hoax and neither he nor Kilmar Ábrego García touched themThe US is optimistic that it can end “the very brutal war” between Russia and Ukraine, Vice-President JD Vance said before a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.The meeting comes less than 24 hours after the pair met in Washington. Vance said:I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on.Since there are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close. Continue reading...

Culture

7 h. ago Wife of Kilmar Ábrego García speaks as White House defiant over US return

Jennifer Vasquez Sura relieved husband is alive but Trump officials say in mocking X post he is ‘never coming back’US politics live – latest updatesJennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Ábrego García, the man the Trump administration has admitted it mistakenly deported, expressed relief to learn he is alive after a Democratic US senator managed to meet with him in El Salvador – as the White House posted on social media that he is “never coming back” to the US.“It was very overwhelming – the most important thing for me, my children, his mom, brothers was to see him alive, and we saw him alive,” Vasquez Sura told ABC in an interview. Continue reading...

Events

8 h. ago Trump White House replaces Covid website with treatise on ‘lab leak’ theory

Site that once provided health information now includes criticism of Anthony Fauci, who led response to pandemicUS politics live – latest updatesThe Trump administration has replaced Covid.gov – a website that once provided Americans with access to information about free tests, vaccines, treatment and secondary conditions such as long Covid – with a treatise on the “lab leak” theory.The site includes intense criticism of Dr Anthony Fauci, who helmed national Covid policies under Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the World Health Organization (WHO) and state leadership in New York. Continue reading...

Politics

9 h. ago Trump says US will ‘take a pass’ on Ukraine peace deal ‘if parties make it difficult’ – live

US president tells reporters he needs to see ‘enthusiasm’ from both sides to end the war in UkraineThe US is optimistic that it can end “the very brutal war” between Russia and Ukraine, Vice-President JD Vance said before a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.The meeting comes less than 24 hours after the pair met in Washington. Vance said:I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on.Since there are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close. Continue reading...

Politics

12 h. ago Trump says Maryland senator ‘looked like a fool’ in El Salvador while meeting Ábrego García as legal battles continue – live

Trump administration insists it cannot do anything to free Ábrego García; senator’s visit comes amid court battles over returning Maryland man to the USThe US is optimistic that it can end “the very brutal war” between Russia and Ukraine, Vice-President JD Vance said before a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.The meeting comes less than 24 hours after the pair met in Washington. Vance said:I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on.Since there are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close. Continue reading...

Politics

14 h. ago Senate Democrat meets Ábrego García in El Salvador as legal battles continue – US politics live

Visit by Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen comes as a federal appeals court rules against the Trump’s administration’s efforts to block return to the USThe Democratic senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker, plans to travel to El Salvador, a source familiar with his itinerary said, as Democrats seek to pressure the Trump administration to return Kilmar Ábrego García, the wrongly deported Maryland resident.Booker’s trip to the Central American country would come after the Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen traveled there this week to meet with his constituent.The Supreme Court was clear: the Trump administration must act to facilitate the return of Kilmar Ábrego García to the United States. There is no room for debate – yet Trump is refusing, in defiance of a lawful court order.Every member of Congress should be standing up for the Constitution and demanding that the administration act to return Mr. Ábrego García to the U.S. and to his family.” Continue reading...

Politics

29 h. ago EastEnders fans 'sobbing' as four characters make abrupt exit from BBC soap

EastEnders aired emotional scenes on Thursday, as Sonia left Walford, and it wasn't just her - three more characters were confirmed to be leaving the BBC soap

Politics

32 h. ago EastEnders announces four exits from BBC soap leaving fans 'sobbing'

EastEnders has confirmed four characters are departing the BBC soap for good, as emotional scenes saw Walford and viewers bidding farewell to some Albert Square icons

Politics

32 h. ago What is a ‘criminal’ immigrant? The word is an American rhetorical trap | Jonathan Ben

Allegations of criminality have always been deployed to justify state violence but even ‘imperfect’ victims deserve basic rightsUS politics live – latest updatesLast month, the Trump administration flew 238 Venezuelan immigrants to a brutal prison in El Salvador. Federal officials alleged that the detainees were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, calling them “heinous monsters” ,“criminal aliens”, “the worst of the worst”. The federal government has also revoked visas for a thousand international students over their alleged participation in protests against Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Some were abducted, like Mahmoud Khalil, who has spent more than a month incarcerated in one of the worst jails in the US. Officials alleged that Mahmoud “sided with terrorists who have killed innocent men, women, and children”.Media reports quickly revealed that the Trump administration is lying about “innocent” people to justify abducting them. But this raises a more important question: if Trump...

Events

35 h. ago Trump live updates: President says Fed Chair Powell’s ‘termination cannot come fast enough’ after tariff comments

President lashes out at Fed chair as European Central Bank moves to cut interest rates, saying he’s ‘always too late and wrong’

Politics

36 h. ago Foreign students sue Trump officials over revoked visas as 1,000 affected

Actions by state department to terminate students’ legal status place them at risk of deportation and detentionUS politics live – latest updatesSeveral international students who have had their visas revoked in recent weeks have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing the government denied them due process when it suddenly took away their permission to be in the US.The actions by the federal government to terminate students’ legal status have left hundreds of scholars at risk of detention and deportation. Their schools range from private universities such as Harvard and Stanford to large public institutions such as the University of Maryland and Ohio State University, to some small liberal arts colleges. Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago BBC EastEnders Sonia Fowler's exit storyline leaves fans 'fuming' as they make 'final' plea

EastEnders legend Sonia Fowler finally discovered the truth about her long-lost father Terry Cant on Tuesday's episode of the BBC soap - but fans are not pleased.

Sport

38 h. ago Trump approval rating knocked by poll showing Americans trust Democrats with economy more than Republicans: Live

Gold prices begin to slip after reaching a new record amid ongoing uncertainty over Donald Trump’s erratic tariff strategy

Politics

39 h. ago Badenoch calls for broader review of equality and gender recognition laws – UK politics live

‘These laws were written 20 years ago plus when the world was different,’ Tory leader saysThe chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that there may be legal challenges around the efficacy of gender recognition certificates (GRC) ahead.Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if yesterday’s supreme court ruling had rendered the legal document worthless, Kishwer Falkner said:I think the next stage of litigation may well be tests as to the efficacy of the GRC, and or other areas. We don’t believe they are [worthless]. We think they’re quite important.But I think there will be other areas, I mean, the Government is thinking of digital IDs, and if digital IDs come in, then what documentation will provide the identity of that person? So it’s going to be a space that we’ll have to watch very carefully as we go on.It’s a victory for common sense, but only if you recognise that trans people exist. They have rights, and their rights must be respected – then it ...

Politics

39 h. ago Trump approval rating knocked as poll shows Americans trust Democrats with economy more than Republicans: Live

Gold prices begin to slip after reaching a new record amid ongoing uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariff strategy

Politics

40 h. ago Trump live: Gold prices begin to slip after hitting record highs due to tariff inflation fears

The Trump administration has also hit out at a Democratic senator trying to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S

Economics

41 h. ago Gender ruling ‘a victory for common sense, but only if you recognise trans people exist’, says equalities watchdog – live

Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission says trans people ‘have rights, and their rights must be respected’The chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that there may be legal challenges around the efficacy of gender recognition certificates (GRC) ahead.Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if yesterday’s supreme court ruling had rendered the legal document worthless, Kishwer Falkner said:I think the next stage of litigation may well be tests as to the efficacy of the GRC, and or other areas. We don’t believe they are [worthless]. We think they’re quite important.But I think there will be other areas, I mean, the Government is thinking of digital IDs, and if digital IDs come in, then what documentation will provide the identity of that person? So it’s going to be a space that we’ll have to watch very carefully as we go on.It’s a victory for common sense, but only if you recognise that trans people exist. They have rights, and their rights m...

Politics

42 h. ago Donald Trump calls Harvard a ‘joke’ and says it should be stripped of funds – US politics live

President says university should lose government research contracts after it refused demands to accept outside political supervisionSeveral international students who have had their visas revoked in recent weeks have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing the government denied them due process when it suddenly took away their permission to be in the US. The actions by the federal government to terminate students’ legal status have left hundreds of scholars at risk of detention and deportation. Their schools range from private universities like Harvard and Stanford to large public institutions like the University of Maryland and Ohio State University to some small liberal arts colleges. At least 901 students at 128 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since mid-March, according to an Associated Press (AP) review of university statements and correspondence with school officials. In lawsuits against the Department of ...

Politics