Proposal heads to president’s desk to be signed after party-line vote was delayed by Jeffrey Epstein controversy
House Republicans passed Donald Trump’s funding cut proposal just after midnight on Friday – clawing back $9bn in federal dollars.
The vote was split on party lines, 216-213, with two Republicans, Mike Turner of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, opposing the package alongside all Democrats. The proposal will now go to the president’s desk to be signed and codified.
President’s latest effort to contain fallout comes after he directs Pam Bondi to request release of grand jury transcripts and threatens to sue Wall Street Journal
It was a friendship that spanned three different decades. To Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein was a “terrific guy”. Epstein believed himself to be Trump’s “closest friend”, and praised the future president as “charming”.
The relationship would eventually break down, the men falling out over a bidding war on a property in Florida. And after Epstein was convicted of child sex offences in 2008, Trump distanced himself from the financier, claiming he was “not a fan” and wondering, in recent days, why his supporters would “waste time and energy” on demanding that FBI and Department of Justice files on Epstein be released.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned by talking to older women, it’s that being a ‘bad girl’ shouldn’t faze you – it should embolden you
I remember the thrill I felt when someone would tell me that I was a “good girl”. I understood from a young age that, as a girl, goodness would be my supreme achievement – my calling in life. But what that looked like or how I might embody its essence took time to decode.
I remember being in the back seat of our brown HJ Holden when I was young, leaving a family party and being reprimanded by my parents for my “behaviour”. I was mystified. I had no idea what I had done that had caused them such embarrassment. Had I run when I was told not to? Or had I misunderstood an instruction? Was I a “bad girl”, I remember wondering.
State of domestic rugby union is at crossroads and the 2037 Lions tour operators may end up having their heads turned
The chatter may be mostly coming from British press, but its volume and repetition has made it impossible to ignore. About whether the Wallabies are worthy adversaries for the British & Irish Lions ahead of the first Test in Brisbane on Saturday. Whether Australia – especially without the injured duo Rob Valetini and Will Skelton – will muster much, if any, resistance.
Whether the mostly one-sided warm-up matches have provided the preparation the Lions would have liked or the spectators deserved. Whether, even, Lions officials should entertain interest from continental Europe, or South America, before committing to another tour to Australia in 2037.
Claims involve former finance minister Cristóbal Montoro and dealings with gas and other energy companies
Just when Spain’s opposition People’s party thought it had the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez on the ropes over a series of corruption scandals, it has been hit by a controversy of its own over alleged trafficking of influences by Cristóbal Montoro, the former finance minister.
It is alleged that Montoro established the “economic team”, a lawyer’s office linked to the finance ministry, which took kickbacks from gas and other energy companies in return for favourable government policy. It is claimed that between 2008 and 2015 Montoro and 27 other accused, among them senior treasury officials, were paid at least €11m (£9.5m) by big energy companies.
Celebrities have expressed disappointment and anger at the controversial decision to end the long-running Late Show, bringing an end to host Stephen Colbert’s award-winning tenure.
The late-night comedy show has been on CBS for 33 years and the news arrived just days after Colbert called out the network’s parent company Paramount for settling a “frivolous” lawsuit with Donald Trump for $16m. Paramount is seeking approval for a $8.4bn merger with Skydance, a company ran by David Ellison, son of close Trump ally Larry Ellison.
Saturday’s quarter-final is last chance for eight-time champions to meet expectations after Sweden rout
“A historically lousy Germany” – Welt. “DFB Women Light Years away from the World Top” – Bild. “One big defeat and many small ones” – Der Spiegel. These were just some of the headlines that emerged in the aftermath of Germany’s bruising 4-1 defeat at the hands of Sweden in their final Group C match.
In just a matter of days, the optimism surrounding Germany’s chances has seemingly dissipated. Despite qualifying for the quarter-finals with a game to spare, Christian Wück’s side have looked far from cohesive and defensively frail. They were also exposed by a Sweden attack that understood how to exploit their weaknesses. Carlotta Wamser’s red card was certainly a factor but there are long-standing structural issues that should be a cause for concern with an in-form France to come on Saturday in Basel.
In this week’s newsletter: To celebrate the Guide’s 200th edition, we look back at the films, shows, albums and more that mattered most over the last 25 years
The Guide is 200 issues old today – maybe not the biggest milestone, but one worth marking. So this week we’re doing just that, ending our recent miniseries on the culture of the past 25 years with a listicle spectacular.
We’ve picked a piece of popular culture for each year of the 21st century so far. Which isn’t to say a definitive list of the best culture of the 21st century – the Guardian’s arts desk already did that far more conclusively than we ever could. Instead, we’ve selected 21st-century TV shows, films, plays, podcasts, artworks, albums and games that together hopefully help explain how culture has evolved in that time.
Arrest under the Terrorism Act happened after the man refused to stop displaying the sign when asked by police
A man has been arrested in Glasgow for holding a paper sign allegedly supportive of the proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, the third arrest of its kind across the city in the past week.
Police Scotland confirmed that the 64-year-old man, who had been speaking to a small group of protesters gathered at Nelson Mandela Place in the city centre on Friday afternoon, had been arrested in connection with an offence under the Terrorism Act “for displaying a sign expressing support for a proscribed organisation”.
Guilty verdict widely expected for Brazil’s ex-president accused of plot to seize power after losing 2022 election
Federal police have raided Jair Bolsonaro’s Brasília mansion, banned him from communicating with foreign diplomats and ordered him to wear an electronic ankle tag amid fears Brazil’s ex-president may abscond to avoid punishment over an alleged coup attempt.
A supreme court trial examining claims that Bolsonaro masterminded a murderous plot to seize power after losing the 2022 election is expected to reach its conclusion in the coming weeks.
The president has long exploited useful fictions embraced by his supporters. Now he’s trying to change the narrative
Donald Trump’s followers, and the conspiracist influencers turned-government officials through whom he persuades them, have turned on the president and US attorney general after they declared an end to federal inquiries into Jeffrey Epstein’s death. But it would be a mistake to think that the investigation scandal is sui generis. It’s more like the culmination of a long-running trend, one in which Trump’s exploitation of the conspiracist fictions, distrust of institutions, and prurient fascinations of his base have finally come back to bite him.
A pedophile ring at the center of power is a recurring theme in rightwing conspiracy theories of the Trump era. During the 2016 presidential election, supporters of Trump, then an outsider challenger for the Republican nomination, began to spread dark claims about his rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton. Online, far-right trolls and members of the population now called “low trust voters”– people who believe that something nefarious and conspiratorial is going on in the halls of American power, even if they don’t know exactly what – speculated that Clinton was at the head of a massive human trafficking and pedophilic abuse ring based inside Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington DC. There was no secret ring. But that didn’t stop a disturbed man from showing up with a gun.
A 2018 county meeting foretold the Texas flood that overwhelmed the summer camp for girls
Investigators of the catastrophic Hill Country flooding in Texas may never be able to pinpoint a precise moment that sealed the fate of 27 young girls, teenage counselors and staff who perished after a wall of water surged through Camp Mystic on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
But perhaps no bigger clue can be found than the account of an otherwise unremarkable and sparsely attended meeting of Kerr county commissioners in March 2018.
Treatments to boost the protein are all the rage, but the evidence is uncertain and any results could be short-lived
From high-end aesthetics clinics to the middle aisle of Lidl, collagen is having a moment. Whether it’s in the form of fruity shots or powdered supplements, this structural protein is being touted as the secret to youthful skin and glossy hair.
Celebrities are also singing the praises of a collagen-boosting procedure called NeoGen, with the actor Leslie Ash claiming earlier this week that it had “taken 10 years off her”.
The strongest contender that Football Daily could find for the worst penalty shootout of all time was predictably held between two English teams. In January 1998, under-10 pair Mickleover Lightning Blue Sox and Chellaston Boys faced off in the Derby Community Cup. After the regular game finished 1-1, a total of 56 penalties failed to break the deadlock, with referee Peter Shieff even moving the spot two yards closer and offering a coin toss to decide the result (which the sides declined). Despite saving 31 consecutive spot-kicks in the sudden-death decider, Chellaston Boys’ goalkeeper Ben Hodder ended up on the losing side as Blue Sox romped home 2-1, after a grand total of 66 kicks had been taken, a world record verified by David Barber, the FA’s official statistician. A thought, then, for the parents that day 27 years ago, stood on the sidelines, outwardly encouraging their youngsters while internally being tortured and scorched with the fires of a thousand flamethrowers.
There is such a feeling of sadness and disbelief around this awful tragedy that we wanted to make this tribute of our own as soon as we could. Like everyone else, we’ve been stunned by events, and we remember what a wonderful player Diogo was for Wolves during that unforgettable promotion season under Nuno and our early years back in the Premier League. His record of 44 goals at Wolves, and then 65 at Liverpool as a Premier League title winner, speaks volumes. So many fans across the game – especially in Portugal after he helped them win the Nations League this summer – are feeling his loss deeply. We saw no reason to delay this decision” – Wolves induct Diogo Jota into their hall of fame.
The north (in the west) starts at the Cheshire/Staffordshire border. This puts Stoke in the midlands (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) and Crewe in the north. This isn’t just my opinion (I went to grammar school in Crewe) but also the opinion of a person originally from Merseyside who wrote a book about the north that started by him defining where the north started and the first chapter was him visiting Crewe” – Mike Walsh.
Looking at the James, Parker, Chapman, Jack golfing quartet (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition), I couldn’t help but wonder which one of them would have the flag showing ‘Fashion, Golf, Arsenal. In that order’” – Ken Muir.
Further to Yannick Woudstra (yesterday’s letters) wondering if a move to Old Trafford could materialise for Jordan Henderson. I seem to recall that Alex Ferguson once put the kibosh on a move for Henderson in the early-2000s over concerns about his running style. Well the good news for Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s brains trust is that, at the age of 35, running won’t be something Henderson will be doing a lot of. Sign him up!” – Joel Flood.
The Austrian extreme sports pioneer Felix Baumgartner, known for his record-breaking 2012 skydive from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding accident in central Italy, police have said. Baumgartner, 56, lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant’Elpidio in Marche on Thursday. He fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel. The cause of the accident remains unclear
Police say eight officers were assaulted when crowds surrounded a small counter-demonstration
Two people have been arrested after a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers during which eight officers were assaulted, Essex police said.
Riot police wore helmets and took up position while crowds of men, some masked, surrounded a small counter-demonstration by anti-racism activists on Thursday evening.
The long-running US television staple is coming to an end, signalling the slow death of late-night comedy and the worrying cultural power of Trump
The idea that the political career of Donald Trump would be a goldmine for comedy died a long time ago, with the coffin accepting stray nails for the past five years. The latest and possibly last such nail is the cancellation of The Late Show, the CBS late-night talkshow hosted by Stephen Colbert since the fall of 2015, and originated by David Letterman when the network poached him from NBC in 1993. At this point, Trump hasn’t just made topical late-night comedy look outdated, hackneyed and an insufficient response to his reign of terror; he’s also made a chunk of it flat-out go away.
There will be time to eulogize Colbert’s particular talkshow style later; the Late Show isn’t leaving the air for another 10 months, when his contract is up. Surely that leaves plenty more time to savage the president – and Colbert has been in this slot since right around the time Trump became a real contender in the presidential race, so why has this only now come to a head? Seemingly because the axing of the Late Show franchise follows the $16m settlement of a frivolous Trump lawsuit against CBS and their newsmagazine show 60 Minutes over the show’s editing of a 2024 interview with presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Colbert made great fun of his bosses’ payout as a cowardly “bribe” designed to appease the Trump administration, who are in the position to approve or deny the sale of Paramount, the corporate owners of CBS, to the company Skydance. In other words, the pre-merger nixing a comedian who regularly goofs on Trump on network TV seems like a convenient bit of timing – maybe even an unspoken bonus to go along with those millions of dollars.
Israel grants access after ‘stray’ tank round kills three people and wounds Catholic priest
Israel has granted two senior Christian leaders rare access to Gaza after an Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory’s only Roman Catholic church killed three people.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, led a delegation on Friday to the Holy Family Church, whose shelling the day before triggered international condemnation.
Social media star will face Fiji on Saturday before the Eagles men play England. As US World Cups loom, it’s a big moment for the global game
At the ESPY Awards in Hollywood on Wednesday, Ilona Maher was named Best Breakthrough Athlete.
“It’s taken me seven years and two Olympics but I finally broke through,” the 28-year-old US Eagles center, social media sensation, swimwear model and reality TV star said, with a delighted laugh.
Kamala Harris running mate strikes regretful tone after calling for Democrats to ‘bully the shit out of’ US president
Donald Trump “brings out the worst in people, and he brings out the worst in me”, Tim Walz has said in a new interview in which Minnesota’s governor struck an apologetic tone over a recent plea for his fellow Democrats to “bully the shit out of” the Republican president.
Walz, who was Kamala Harris’s running mate as she unsuccessfully ran for the White House against Trump in November, made those comments in a conversation with the Minnesota news station KMSP that was published Thursday.
Matteo Vercher has crossed the line with a time of 30:01:67. He did a wheelie to the crowd’s delight.
Also, you might have spotted that the preamble had some strange time gaps and GC rankings mentioned. This has been fixed now! Apologies. All I can say is that it was written before I’d had a cup of tea and an almond croissant.
1.49pm CEST/12.49pm BST – Luke Plapp (Jayco-Alula)
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