5 h. ago State Department official boosted fake rumor about Rubio’s sexuality and called him ‘low IQ’ in since

Conservative Darren Beattie was appointed by Rubio last month to be the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs

Politics

6 h. ago NHS England to cut workforce by half as Streeting restructures

The health secretary will shrink NHS England’s workforce to save money and avoid ‘duplication’NHS England will lose half its staff and a huge swathe of its senior management team as part of a brutal restructuring under its new boss.Its workforce will shrink from 13,000 to about 6,500 as entire teams are axed to save money and avoid “duplication” with officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Continue reading...

Politics

42 h. ago Abuse by Guildhall tutor in 1980s left me in despair, says opera singer

Idit Arad calls for better protection for music students as London college admits failing in its duty of care to herIt should have been the start of a great career in classical music for Idit Arad. Everything was lining up for the talented 18-year-old opera singer. She had arrived in London from Israel in 1987, the proud winner of a sought-after scholarship to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. But instead of building the foundations of a successful future, she was singled out by a tutor 20 years her senior for a long period of obsessive attention and abuse.Paul Roberts pursued her from their first lesson, Arad says, inviting her for coffee and then for a dinner to discuss her talent, before sending a stream of explicit letters, calling her a “witch” and urging her into sexual intimacy. Senior leadership, it is now admitted, knew of their involvement and yet failed to discipline Roberts. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Musk’s DOGE ‘whiz kids’ flew to California to try and release water themselves during LA fires

A group of Department of Government Efficiency agents repeatedly pressured a federal official to open a large water pump system in California — and then flew there to do it themselves, according to a new report.

Events

4 d. ago US plans to close European consulates and cut state department workforce

State department also looks into merging some bureaus in Washington amid Trump effort to slash US governmentThe US state department is preparing to shut down a number of consulates that are mainly in western Europe in the coming months and looking to reduce its workforce globally, multiple US officials said on Thursday.The state department is also looking into potentially merging a number of its expert bureaus at its headquarters in Washington that are working in areas such as human rights, refugees, global criminal justice, women’s issues and efforts to counter human trafficking, the officials said. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Hundreds of US diplomats decry dismantling of USAid in letter to Rubio

Officials say slashing of US Department for International Development leaves power vacuum for adversariesHundreds of diplomats at the state department and US Agency for International Development have written to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, protesting against the dismantling of USAid, saying it undermines US leadership and security and leaves power vacuums for China and Russia to fill.In a cable expected to be filed with the department’s internal “dissent channel”, which allows diplomats to raise concerns about policy anonymously, the diplomats said the Trump administration’s 20 January freeze on almost all foreign aid also endangers American diplomats and forces overseas while putting at risk the lives of millions abroad that depend on US assistance. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago FedEx plane catches fire after bird strike in New Jersey, makes emergency landing

Cargo aircraft caught fire after striking bird shortly after departure from Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday morningA FedEx cargo airplane caught on fire after striking a bird shortly after the plane’s departure from Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday morning, according to officials.There were no injuries reported onboard, and the plane made an emergency return to Newark Liberty international airport. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Ravens GM calls sexual assault allegations against Justin Tucker 'concerning'

Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has called the allegations and the number of allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against kicker Justin Tucker “serious” and “concerning” and says the team will let the NFL's investigation play out before determining how to handle the situation

Events

1 week ago US threatens permanent visa bans on trans athletes based on sex markers

Exclusive: State department memo directs officers to bar those deemed to misrepresent birth sex on applicationsThe US state department has ordered officials worldwide to deny visas to transgender athletes attempting to come to the US for sports competitions and to issue permanent visa bans against those who are deemed to misrepresent their birth sex on visa applications.The 24 February state department cable obtained by the Guardian instructs visa officers to apply Immigration and Nationality Act section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) – the “permanent fraud bar” – against trans applicants. Unlike regular visa denials, this section triggers lifetime exclusion from the United States with limited waiver possibilities. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Elon Musk’s demand that federal workers document what they do provokes chaos

FBI head Kash Patel tells agents to ‘pause’ responses to order as unnamed Pentagon official calls it ‘silliest thing in 40 years’US politics live – latest updatesElon Musk has poured fuel on to the fire raging across the US government over his ultimatum that federal workers document what they do at their jobs or face dismissal – by attacking a Pentagon official who had criticized the scheme as “the silliest thing I’ve seen in 40 years”.The billionaire businessman, who has been authorised by Donald Trump to slash the federal bureaucracy as head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), stoked the flames in a post on his social media platform X late on Sunday night. He slammed the unnamed Department of Defense (DoD) official quoted by CNN, saying that “anyone with the attitude of that Pentagon official needs to look for a new job”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump's Justice Department enforcer has long shrugged off criticism of aggressive style

Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official, has plowed through norms and niceties, whether scolding FBI leadership for “insubordination” in refusing his request to hand over the names of agents who investigated the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol or forcing out attorneys who worked those cases

Politics

2 w. ago DwP benefits hotline spends £8m a year of taxpayers cash on translators for 90 different languages

Official figures have shown that the Department for Works and Pensions is spending almost £8million a year on translation services which include some of the world's rarest languages.

Economics

2 w. ago Top Trump official enforcing president’s political agenda at justice department

Dismissal of case against Eric Adams reflects new directive for prosecutors to toe White House’s policiesEmil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, moving with ruthless efficiency last week to dismiss the corruption case against New York mayor Eric Adams appeared to reflect the new praxis at the justice department where Trump’s political agenda will guide prosecutorial decisions.The department filed the motion to dismiss on Friday with the signatures of Bove and two trial attorneys – the public integrity section’s senior litigation counsel Edward Sullivan and the acting head of the criminal division Antoinette Bacon – that cemented the decision. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Brazil mayor shot in ‘fake attack’ for election boost before losing vote in landslide anyway

José Aprígio da Silva was seriously hurt in October by assailants with assault rifles but police say it was fakedAs campaign strategies go it was unorthodox and illegal: buy an AK-47, hire a pair of phony hitmen, and stage a fake assassination attempt against the mayor that would generate public sympathy and help him win a second term in power.That, Brazilian police claim, was the gameplan last October when, on the eve of the local election, an armoured vehicle carrying José Aprígio da Silva came under fire in Taboão da Serra, a town on the outskirts of São Paulo. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Brazil mayor was shot in ‘fake attack’ for election boost – but still lost in landslide

José Aprígio da Silva was seriously hurt in October by assailants with assault rifles but police say it was fakedAs campaign strategies go it was unorthodox and illegal: buy an AK-47, hire a pair of phony hitmen, and stage a fake assassination attempt against the mayor that would generate public sympathy and help him win a second term in power.That, Brazilian police claim, was the gameplan last October when, on the eve of the local election, an armoured vehicle carrying José Aprígio da Silva came under fire in Taboão da Serra, a town on the outskirts of São Paulo. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Female prison officer jailed after sending lag more than 4,000 sexual messages

Prison officer Toni Cole, 29, sent thousands of messages to the lag and took part in 18 videos calls while engaging in 'contact which was sexualised or flirtatious', a court heard

Events

2 w. ago ‘He targeted me’: Guy Pearce says he ‘sobbed’ over Kevin Spacey encounters

The Oscar-nominated actor has said he is attempting to be more candid about his former co-star’s alleged behaviourGuy Pearce, the actor Oscar-nominated for his role in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, has opened up about his experiences when working with Kevin Spacey on 1997 film LA Confidential.Pearce had previously been oblique about his time with Spacey, who has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, which Spacey has always denied, calling him “a handsy guy” in 2018. But speaking on Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter, the actor said he was now attempting to be franker about his co-star’s alleged behaviour. Continue reading...

Events