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UNAids chief ‘shaken and disgusted’ by US cuts that will mean millions more deaths

Winnie Byanyima tells the Guardian she considered resigning when Donald Trump cancelled Pepfar funding

The head of the global agency tackling Aids says she expects HIV rates to soar and deaths to multiply in the next four years as a direct impact of the “seismic” US cuts to aid spending.

Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAids, said that if the funding permanently disappeared, the world faced an additional 6 million HIV infections and 4 million Aids-related deaths by 2029.

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© Photograph: Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters

© Photograph: Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters

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Trump kicks off 4 July celebrating tax-and-spending bill and promising UFC fight at White House

At a rally in Iowa, the president said he ‘hates’ lawmakers who opposed his signature bill, and looked ahead to plans to mark the 250th anniversary of America

Donald Trump has celebrated the passage of his signature tax and spend legislation by declaring “there could be no better birthday present for America” on the eve of the 4 July holiday.

The US president took a victory lap during an event in Des Moines, Iowa, that was officially billed as the start of a year-long celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, in 2026.

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© Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

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Stateless Palestinian woman detained after honeymoon released from Ice jail

Ward Sakeik, 22, who came to US aged eight, tells of ‘joy and a little shock’ after more than four months in detention

Ward Sakeik, a stateless Palestinian woman who was detained in February on the way back from her honeymoon, was released from immigration detention after more than four months of confinement.

“I was overfilled with joy and a little shock,” she said at a press conference on Thursday. “I mean, it was my first time seeing a tree in five months.”

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© Photograph: Change.org

© Photograph: Change.org

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Twisted arms and late-night deals: how Trump’s sweeping policy bill was passed

With narrow majorities and intra-party splits, Republicans faced a battle to give Trump his bill to sign – but they did it

Just a few months ago, analysts predicted that Republicans in Congress – with their narrow majorities and fractured internal dynamics – would not be able to pass Donald Trump’s landmark legislation.

On Thursday, the president’s commanding influence over his party was apparent once again: the bill passed just in time for Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.

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© Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

© Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

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Hakeem Jeffries breaks record for longest House floor speech while opposing GOP tax bill

Democratic leader spoke for more than eight hours to rail against Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending bill

The Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries broke the record for the longest House floor speech ever on Thursday after he spoke for more than eight hours to delay a vote on Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-spending bill.

Early on Thursday, after a marathon night of arm-twisting, cajoling and pressure by tweet, House Republicans said they were finally ready to vote on Trump’s $4.5tn tax-and-spending package – a colossal piece of legislation the president wants passed by Friday, the Independence Day holiday.

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© Photograph: Mariam Zuhaib/AP

© Photograph: Mariam Zuhaib/AP

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Michael Madsen’s brooding charisma needed Tarantino to unlock it | Peter Bradshaw

The Reservoir Dogs and Donnie Brasco actor had a rare, sometimes scary power, as well as a winning self-awareness and levity

Until 1992, when people heard Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel on the radio, they might smile and nod and sing along to its catchy soft-rock tune and goofy Dylan-esque lyrics. But after 1992, with the release of Quentin Tarantino’s sensationally tense and violent crime movie Reservoir Dogs, the feelgood mood around that song forever darkened. That was down to an unforgettably scary performance by Michael Madsen, who has died at the age of 67.

Stuck in the Middle, with its lyrics about being “so scared in case I fall off my chair”, was to be always associated with the image of Madsen, whom Tarantino made an icon of indie American movies, with his boxy black suit, sinister, ruined handsomeness and powerful physique running to fat, playing tough guy Vic Vega, AKA Mr Blonde. He grooved back and forth across the room, in front of a terrified cop tied to a chair, dancing to that Stealers Wheel number, holding his straight razor, which he had removed from his boot – smirkingly preparing to torture the cop (that is, torture him further) by cutting off his ear.

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© Photograph: Myung Jung Kim/PA

© Photograph: Myung Jung Kim/PA

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US supreme court clears way for deportations of eight men to South Sudan

Court halts ruling that allowed migrants to challenge removal to countries where they could be in danger

The supreme court has allowed the Trump administration to deport the eight men who have been held for weeks at an American military base in Djibouti to war-torn South Sudan, a country where almost none of them have ties.

Most of the men are from countries including Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. Just one is from South Sudan.

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© Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters

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Trump’s tax-and-spending bill passes Congress in major win for president

Early-morning negotiations proved enough to persuade hardline House conservatives to back bill in 218-214 vote

The US House of Representatives passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill on Thursday, handing the president the first major legislative victory of his second term and sending to his desk wide-ranging legislation expected to supercharge immigration enforcement and slash federal safety net programs.

The 218-214 vote came after weeks of wrangling over the measure that Trump demanded be ready for his signature by Friday, the Independence Day holiday. Written by his Republican allies in Congress and unanimously rejected by Democrats, the bill traveled an uncertain road to passage that saw multiple all-night votes in the House and Senate and negotiations that lasted until the final hours before passage. Ultimately, Republicans who had objected to its cost and contents folded, and the bill passed with just two GOP defections: Thomas Massie, a rightwing Kentucky lawmaker, and Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a Pennsylvania district that voted for Kamala Harris in last year’s election.

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© Photograph: Graeme Sloan/EPA

© Photograph: Graeme Sloan/EPA

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Michael Madsen, star of Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Donnie Brasco, dies aged 67

The actor, best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, was found unresponsive in Los Angeles

The actor Michael Madsen has died aged 67 at his home in Malibu, according to authorities and his representatives. No foul play is suspected, the sheriff’s department confirmed, after deputies responded to the Los Angeles county home following a call to the emergency services on Thursday morning.

He was pronounced dead at 8.25am. In an email, Madsen’s manager, Ron Smith, confirmed his client had died from cardiac arrest.

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© Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The Guardian

© Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The Guardian

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Former world champion Julio César Chávez Jr arrested by Ice over alleged cartel ties

  • Chávez Jr arrested by Ice in Los Angeles

  • DHS flagged him as threat but let him re-enter US

  • Linked to Sinaloa cartel and faces deportation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has arrested the Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr in California and begun proceedings to deport him, citing cartel affiliations, multiple criminal convictions and an active arrest warrant in Mexico for weapons trafficking and organized crime.

Chávez Jr, 39, the son of the legendary world champion Julio César Chávez Sr, was taken into custody by Ice agents on Tuesday in Studio City, a Los Angeles neighborhood known for celebrity residences. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), he had been living in the US unlawfully and posed a significant threat to public safety.

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© Photograph: Harry How/Getty Images

© Photograph: Harry How/Getty Images

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Extreme heatwaves may cause global decline in dairy production, scientists warn

Israel-based study finds that by 2050 average daily milk production could be reduced by 4% as a result of worsening heat stress

Dairy production will be threatened by the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves, a study has found.

Drawing on records from more than 130,000 cows over a period of 12 years, the researchers report that extreme heat reduces dairy cows’ ability to produce milk by 10%.

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© Photograph: Bill Holden/Getty Images/Image Source

© Photograph: Bill Holden/Getty Images/Image Source

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California blaze spreads in hot, windy conditions in year’s largest wildfire

Madre fire, one of at least a dozen in the state, has burned more than 50,000 acres in San Luis Obispo county

A fast-growing wildfire in central California has become the largest in the state this year, surpassing the size of January’s wildfires that devastated parts of Los Angeles, as the flames spread in hot, windy conditions.

The Madre fire had exploded to more than 50,000 acres by Thursday morning, after breaking out in San Luis Obispo county on Wednesday afternoon and tearing through grasslands as dry. Extreme heat has raised the fire risk for large portions of the state before the Fourth of July holiday.

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© Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

© Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

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‘Our sense of safety was violated’: a Black suburb in Ohio confronts repeated threats from white supremacists

Residents formed a safety watch after a neo-Nazi march in Lincoln Heights, but racist incidents still cause turmoil

Despite its proximity to a busy highway, Lincoln Heights’ rolling hills, parks and well-kept lawns are pictures of calm suburban life north of Cincinnati.

Today it’s home to about 3,000 mostly African American people a few miles from Kentucky and the Ohio River, which divided free northern states from the slave-owning south. In the 1920s, Lincoln Heights became one of the first self-governing Black communities north of the Mason-Dixon line.

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© Photograph: Evendale Public Info

© Photograph: Evendale Public Info

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Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ tour was a calculated celebration of the dystopian

The detention center visit seemed to represent a landmark in a defining issue since even before his first term: migration

Donald Trump’s tour of the bloodcurdlingly monikered – and hastily constructed – “Alligator Alcatraz” migrants detention center in Florida’s Everglades had the hallmarks of a calculatedly provocative celebration of the dystopian.

Accompanied by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis and a phalanx of journalists, the US president saw only virtue in the vista of mesh fencing, barbed wire and forbidding steel bunk beds.

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© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces growing wave of civil suits as criminal trial ends

Combs remains jailed awaiting sentencing as more than 50 civil cases alleging abuse and assault move forward

After two months, the federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs came to a close on Wednesday with a mixed verdict. The jury acquitted the 55-year-old music mogul of the most serious charges – racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking – but found him guilty on the two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

Still, this verdict marks only one chapter in Combs’s mounting legal battles. Combs, who remains incarcerated at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn, is now awaiting sentencing and faces a growing number of civil lawsuits against him alleging sexual assault and abuse.

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© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

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Jimmy Swaggart obituary

American hellfire Pentecostal preacher brought down by sex scandals who tearfully begged for forgiveness on TV

The American televangelist hellfire preacher Jimmy Swaggart, who has died aged 90, fell by the wayside not once but twice with sex workers, spectacularly ending his previously successful TV ministry that screened in 140 countries and was reputed to bring in $150m a year in merchandising sales.

On the first occasion, when he was filmed with a woman at a motel near his church in the suburbs of New Orleans in 1988, he prayed for forgiveness in a tearful TV address. On the second occasion three years later in California when he was caught with a woman in his car, he just told his congregation: “The Lord told me it’s flat out none of your business.”

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© Photograph: Cindy Karp/Getty Images

© Photograph: Cindy Karp/Getty Images

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US supreme court to weigh transgender student sports bans in key rights case

Justices will hear Idaho and West Virginia appeals on laws barring trans girls from female public school teams

The US supreme court announced on Thursday that it will consider a bid by West Virginia and Idaho to enforce their state laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams at public sector schools.

The decision means the court is prepared to take up another civil rights challenge to Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people.

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© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

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Four dead and 14 injured in shooting at Chicago party for rapper Mello Buckzz

Album launch party was ending when three people in an SUV began firing on a crowd outside a nightclub

Four people were killed by gunfire and 14 others hospitalized overnight after a drive-by shooting outside a private nightclub event in Chicago, police said on Thursday.

At least three were in critical condition. City news outlets reported that the incident happened after a launch party for the new album by the local rap star Mello Buckzz and that her boyfriend was one of those shot.

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© Photograph: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/AP

© Photograph: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/AP

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‘We thought we’d got the numbers wrong’: how a pristine lake came to have the highest levels of ‘forever chemicals’ on record

Holloman Lake was a haven for wildlife and seemed an ideal campsite. But strange foam around the shoreline turned out to be more than just an oddity – and reveals the alarming way forever chemicals move through ecosystems

For years, Christopher Witt took birdwatchers to Holloman Lake in the Chihuahuan desert off the route 70 highway in New Mexico. By mid-morning the sun would beat down as they huddled in the scant shade of the van. There were no trees other than a collection of salt cedars on the lake’s north shore. But the discomfort didn’t matter when the peregrine falcons appeared, slicing through the sky. “It was hard to leave that place,” says Witt.

The lake – created in 1965 as part of a system of wastewater catchment ponds for Holloman air force base – is an unlikely oasis. Other than small ponds created for livestock it is the only body of water for thousands of square kilometres in an otherwise stark landscape. However, Witt says there was always something slightly weird about the foam that would form around the edge. “But I only saw that stuff once I knew.”

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© Photograph: James Kenney/New Mexico Environment Department/AP

© Photograph: James Kenney/New Mexico Environment Department/AP

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EU closing in on ‘framework’ trade deal with US to avoid Trump’s 50% tariffs

Diplomats and officials say bloc willing to accept 10% tariffs, but talks may go down to wire before Wednesday deadline

The EU and US are closing in on a high-level “framework” trade deal that will avert 50% tariffs being imposed on all exports from the bloc next Wednesday, Donald Trump’s self-imposed deadline.

Talks in Washington could go down to the wire, but multiple diplomats and officials said the EU was now willing to accept Trump’s 10% blanket tariffs. However, negotiators will accept this only in exchange for an extension in talks and possible concessions on a 25% car tariff, which is hurting the German car industry, sources said.

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© Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

© Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

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US economy adds 147,000 jobs in June, surpassing expectations amid Trump trade war

Economists anticipated drop, but 8,000 new positions were added in June compared with May, with unemployment rate down to 4.1%

The US economy added 147,000 jobs in June, a sign of continuing strength in the labor market amid Donald Trump’s trade war.

The number of jobs added surpassed expectations, as economists largely anticipated a drop in openings. Instead, 8,000 more jobs were added in June compared with May, according to new job figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The unemployment rate actually decreased to 4.1%, down from 4.2% in May.

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© Photograph: Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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‘Accelerated censorship’: advocates criticize US supreme court ruling on LGBTQ+ books

Opponents say the decision allowing parents to let their kids opt out of lessons featuring LGBTQ+ themes will hurt the US education system

Kiernan, a 24-year-old transgender person from Colorado, feels drained from dealing with legislation that consistently limits the spaces and freedoms of people like him. Since he transitioned in 2016, it’s been the same – first bathroom bills, then censorship in the education system – routine attacks on LGBTQ+ rights that Kiernan feels have now just become part of living in the US.

Now, in the wake of the Mahmoud v Taylor supreme court ruling, the stigmatization of these communities is likely to worsen.

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© Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

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I’m no fan of Elon Musk. But Trump’s threat to deport him is sickening | Justice Malala

The president said he would ‘take a look’ at deporting the US citizen amid a political feud, as Republicans make similar remarks about Zohran Mamdani

Elon Musk is an utterly deplorable human being. He has unashamedly flashed an apparent Nazi salute; encouraged rightwing extremists in Germany and elsewhere; falsely claimed there is a “genocide” in South Africa against white farmers; callously celebrated the dismantling of USAID, whose shuttering will lead to the deaths of millions, according to a study published in the Lancet this week; and increased misinformation and empowered extremists on his Twitter/X platform while advancing his sham “I am a free speech absolutist” claims. And so much more.

So the news that Donald Trump “will take a look” at deporting his billionaire former “first buddy” Musk has many smirking and shrugging: “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”

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© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AFP/Getty Images

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After 47 years in the US, Ice took this Iranian mother from her yard. Her family just wants her home

Donna Kashanian, 64 and a community service volunteer, arrived in 1978 on a student visa and has no criminal record

Kaitlynn Milne says her mother is usually always up first thing in the morning, hours before the rest of the family. She enjoys being productive in the quiet hours around sunrise. It’s an especially optimal time to do yard work, when the rest of her New Orleans neighborhood still sleeps and she can count on peacefully completing chores.

Gardening and rearranging the shed is how an average morning would go for Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian, a 64-year-old Iranian mother, wife, home cook, parent-teacher association (PTA) member and lifelong community service volunteer.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design/Photos from the family of Donna Kashanian

© Illustration: Guardian Design/Photos from the family of Donna Kashanian

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America is over neoliberalism and neoconservatism. Trump is not | Samuel Moyn

Between his so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ and his bombing of Iran, Trump has confirmed he is a man of a familiar past

The convergence of the US Senate’s passage of Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” in domestic policy with his strike on Iran in foreign policy has finally resolved the meaning of his presidency. His place in history is now clear. His rise, like that of a reawakened left, indicated that America was ready to move on from its long era of neoliberalism and neoconservatism. In office, Trump has blocked the exits by doubling down on both.

The first of those slurs, neoliberalism, refers to the commitment across the political spectrum to use government to protect markets and their hierarchies, rather than to moderate or undo them. The second, neoconservatism, is epitomized by a belligerent and militaristic foreign policy. The domestic policy bill now making its way through Congress, with its payoff to the rich and punishment of the poor, is a monument to neoliberalism; the Iran strike a revival of neoconservatism.

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© Photograph: Thomas Peipert/AP

© Photograph: Thomas Peipert/AP

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US couple could face trial in France over stolen shipwreck gold

Novelist and husband suspected of helping to sell bullion taken decades ago from ship that sank off Brittany in 1746

An 80-year-old US novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from an 18th-century shipwreck after French prosecutors requested that the case go to court.

Eleonor “Gay” Courter and her husband, Philip, 82, have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago. They have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.

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© Illustration: www.gotheborg.com

© Illustration: www.gotheborg.com

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Pentagon reviews arms exports to allies as munition stockpiles reportedly drop

Spokesperson Sean Parnell confirms defence department reviewing shipments may not affect only Ukraine

The Pentagon has said that it is reviewing weapons deliveries to allies around the world as reports grow of concerns over dwindling stockpiles of crucial munitions including anti-air missiles.

The announcement came after the White House confirmed that it was limiting deliveries of weapons to Ukraine to “put America’s interests first following a Department of Defense review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries around the globe”.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

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House vote on Trump’s big bill hangs in balance as Johnson vows to ‘get it over the line’

Speaker struggles to muster enough Republican votes as lawmakers object to provisions and cost

Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-spending bill is hanging in the balance as Republicans struggle to muster sufficient votes in the US House of Representatives.

House speaker Mike Johnson is determined to pass the bill as soon as possible, but has been frustrated by lawmakers who object to its provisions and overall cost. They have blocked House Republicans from approving a rule, which is necessary to begin debate on the measure and set the stage for its passage.

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© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

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Like English, Spanish is constantly evolving. Unlike some English speakers, we welcome that | María Ramírez

Purists’ attempts to police our global languages are doomed – there’s joy and inspiration in new expressions from all over the world

Even your own language can have the capacity to surprise you. I recently joined a panel at a journalism conference with a reporter and a lawyer, both from Colombia. I found myself captivated by some of the words they used that aren’t – or rather weren’t – so common in Spain. The investigative journalist Diana Salinas referred to her craft as la filigrana, the filigree. I wouldn’t have used the term in that context, and yet it struck me as perfect to describe the intricate, careful work that investigative reporting requires.

Filigrana is not even considered a Latin-Americanism – it comes from Italian – but it has somehow been forgotten in everyday speech in Spain. As is often the case with Spanish in Latin America, usage and context enriches the word.

María Ramírez is a journalist and the deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain

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© Photograph: Cargo/Getty Images/Imagezoo

© Photograph: Cargo/Getty Images/Imagezoo

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Kilmar Ábrego García was tortured in Salvadorian prison, court filing alleges

New court documents allege physical and psychological torture at Cecot in one of first looks at conditions in prison

Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and detained in one of that country’s most notorious prisons, was physically and psychologically tortured during the three months he spent in Salvadorian custody, according to new court documents filed Wednesday.

While being held at the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador, Ábrego García and 20 other men “were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM”, according to the court papers filed by his lawyers in the federal district court in Maryland.

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© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

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Pentagon says US strikes set back Iran nuclear program ‘one to two years’

Sean Parnell repeats Trump claim that key sites were destroyed, based on ‘assessments inside the department’

The Pentagon has collected intelligence material that suggests Iran’s nuclear program was set back roughly one to two years as a result of the US strikes on three key facilities last month, the chief spokesperson at the defense department said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The spokesperson, Sean Parnell, repeated Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s key nuclear sites had been completely destroyed, although he did not offer further details on the origin of the assessments beyond saying it came from inside the defense department.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs found guilty on two of five counts as lawyers call verdict ‘great victory’

Jury finds music mogul not guilty on most serious charges but judge denies request for bail

A New York jury has found Sean “Diddy” Combs guilty of two counts and not guilty on three counts, following a closely watched seven-week federal trial marked by emotional and graphic testimony.

The mixed verdict saw Combs being found not guilty of the biggest charge, racketeering conspiracy, not guilty of the sex trafficking of Casandra Ventura or the sex trafficking of “Jane”, and guilty of both the transportation to engage in prostitution related to Casandra Ventura and the transportation to engage in prostitution related to “Jane”.

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© Photograph: Elizabeth Williams/AP

© Photograph: Elizabeth Williams/AP

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Idaho student stabbings suspect pleads guilty to murder to avoid death penalty

Ex-criminal justice student Bryan Kohberger admits to killing four University of Idaho students in 2022

Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to murder on Wednesday in the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022 that stunned and terrified the campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.

Kohberger, who was a criminal justice graduate student at nearby Washington State University, admitted to the slayings before entering a formal guilty plea in a deal with prosecutors that will allow him to avoid the death penalty. He was set to go to trial in August.

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© Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

© Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

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US researchers launch new mission to solve mystery of Amelia Earhart’s fate

Researchers to follow fresh clues that suggest pioneering aviator may have crash-landed on remote Pacific island

A new mission to locate Amelia Earhart’s long-missing plane is being launched, researchers announced on Wednesday, following fresh clues that suggest she may have crash-landed on a remote island in the South Pacific.

A satellite image may show part of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E protruding from the sand on Nikumaroro, an isolated island in Kiribati about 1,000 miles from Fiji, according to Richard Pettigrew, head of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, a non-profit based in Oregon.

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© Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

© Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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Republican voters on Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spend legislation: ‘This bill is a no-brainer!’

We asked the president’s supporters what they thought of his ‘big, beautiful bill’ – the answers revealed a wide split

So confident is Donald Trump in the sweeping tax and spending legislation that Republicans are trying to push through Congress by the slimmest of margins that he refers to it as his “big, beautiful bill”.

The measure, which the House of Representatives could pass on Wednesday, is centered on making permanent tax cuts created during his first term, creating new exemptions for tips, overtime and car loan interest, and funding mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. To lower its price tag, Republicans have proposed the largest cuts ever to Medicaid, which provides healthcare to poor and disabled Americans, and to the food assistance program known as Snap. They have also included provisions to phase out tax incentives meant to encourage the expansion of clean energy technologies that were created under Joe Biden.

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© Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

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Tesla vehicle deliveries drop sharply as Musk backlash affects demand

Tesla said it delivered 384,122 vehicles in the second quarter, down 13.5% from 443,956 units a year ago

Tesla posted another big drop in quarterly deliveries on Wednesday, putting it on course for its second straight annual sales decline as demand falters due to backlash over CEO Elon Musk’s political stance and an ageing vehicle lineup.

Tesla said it delivered 384,122 vehicles in the second quarter, down 13.5% from 443,956 units a year ago. Analysts had expected it to report deliveries of about 394,378 vehicles, according to an average of 23 estimates from the financial research firm Visible Alpha, though projections went to as low as 360,080 units based on estimates from 10 analysts over the past month. Analysts use the number of vehicles delivered to customers as a metric of success to evaluate both automotive sales and production.

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© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Seven weeks, 34 witnesses, a media circus: inside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s trial

One of hip-hop’s most influential figures found guilty on two of the lesser counts, marking end of trial that captured global attention

After seven weeks in a Manhattan federal courtroom, the high-profile sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of hip-hop’s most influential figures, has come to a close.

On Wednesday, a jury of 12 New Yorkers found Combs guilty of the Mann Act transportation related to former girlfriends Cassie Ventura and “Jane”, and not guilty of running a criminal enterprise and two counts of sex trafficking.

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© Photograph: Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images

© Photograph: Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images

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Foo Fighters release first new song since Dave Grohl infidelity scandal and firing of drummer

Rock band put out new single Today’s Song, and look towards their return to live music in October

Foo Fighters have released their first brand new music after a difficult period for the band during which frontman Dave Grohl announced he had fathered a child outside his marriage, and drummer Josh Freese was let go from the group.

Today’s Song, which features artwork by Grohl’s daughter Harper, is a typically anthemic Foo Fighters track with Grohl full of existential angst: “I woke today screaming for change / I knew that I must / So, here lies a shadow / Ashes to ashes / Dust into dust.”

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© Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

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Trump administration sued for giving Medicaid data to deportation officials

Twenty states say giving immigrants’ health data to DHS broke privacy laws and threatens access to emergency care

The Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials, a group of 20 states allege in a lawsuit.

Last month advisers to the secretary of the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS), Robert F Kennedy Jr, ordered the release of a dataset that includes the private health information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington DC to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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© Photograph: Javier Gallegos/AP

© Photograph: Javier Gallegos/AP

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