Asked about media report that new acting intelligence director has been told to make significant personnel changes, Trump claims staffing was ‘way too high’Sign up for the Breaking News US emailNine out of 15 migrants deported from the US to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in April have returned to their home countries, Congo’s government, a migrant and her lawyer said on Friday.The 15 migrants arrived in Congo on 17 April as part of a bilateral agreement with the Trump administration announced two weeks earlier to accept third-country deportees from the US. Congo’s government said in a statement on Friday that “more than half” of the migrants had since returned to their countries and that others would return “shortly“. Continue reading…

Trump administration has asked DC circuit court of appeals to reverse lower court decision which blocked construction of $400m ballroomNo court has the authority to halt construction of Donald Trump’s White House ballroom and a secure underground facility, a Department of Justice lawyer has argued, suggesting only US Congress had the power to stop the project.The Trump administration has asked the Washington DC circuit court of appeals to reverse a lower court decision which blocked construction of a $400m ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing. Construction of a secure bunker for staff underground at the site was allowed to proceed while the dispute between Washington DC preservationists and the White House continues. Continue reading…

Pouria Zeraati of Iran International TV was stabbed three times outside his London home in attempt to ‘silence’ himTwo men have been found guilty of involvement in a targeted knife attack on an Iranian journalist in London said to have been carried out on behalf of the regime in Tehran.Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was working for Iran International, a Farsi-language dissident broadcaster, when he was stabbed in the leg outside his west London home in 2024. Continue reading…

US vice-president speaks out over UK teenager’s death after Keir Starmer rebuffs claim of two-tier policing​JD Vance, the US vice-president, has blamed the murder of the British teenager Henry Nowak on mass migration, just hours after Keir Starmer rejected the US government’s claim that there was “two-tier policing” in the UK.The senior Republican politician weighed into the case of the murdered 18-year-old, claiming in a post on X that Nowak would be alive “if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it”. Continue reading…

Russian president describes letter from his Ukrainian counterpart as rude and says he can no point in face-to-face talksVladimir Putin has rejected an offer from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hold a face-to-face meeting, insisting instead that Russia will achieve its war goals in Ukraine, including seizing all of the eastern Donbas region.Speaking at the Saint Petersburg economic forum, the Russian president described the open letter from his Ukrainian counterpart containing the offer as rude. He refused to use Zelenskyy’s name, referring to him only as its author. Asked if they could meet to discuss an end to the conflict, Putin replied: “So far I see no point.” Continue reading…

Long-serving presenter talks about diagnosis in documentary on mining disaster to be broadcast on 20 JuneThe former Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, the Alzheimer’s Society has said.Snow, who presented his last news bulletin in December 2021, will take part in a documentary that will be broadcast on Channel 4 and in which he talks about his diagnosis. Continue reading…

Chagos Refugees delegation says issue ‘hijacked within the halls’ of politics on visit to UKA Chagossian delegation visiting the UK has urged parliamentarians to complete stalled legislation to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which they say has been “hijacked within the halls” of UK politics.The six-person contingent from the Chagos Refugees group expressed their full support for the UK to conclude an agreement after the government was forced to shelve legislation when the US dropped support for the agreement. Continue reading…

Stahl and Whitaker had been wild cards after new CBS News management fired multiple people in recent weeksSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailLesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim announced on Friday their decision to remain at CBS’s 60 Minutes after the tumultuous firings of several of the show’s senior correspondents and top producers.The three correspondents issued a joint statement, saying: “We have had a hard time deciding whether to stay … We don’t want to see 60 Minutes die. We have been grieving because this whole mess has wounded and damaged the broadcast. Continue reading…

State department’s incendiary charge into UK politics comes from Trump who leaned into personal feud with London mayor, Sadiq Khan• Henry Nowak: controversy behind US intervention in a murder case that has rocked BritainIn the state department of past administrations, how to respond to an incendiary event such as the murder of the British student Henry Nowak would have required deliberations, memos and meetings. Given how it has roiled the UK and inflamed tensions over migration and race, the cautious diplomats at Foggy Bottom probably would have said nothing at all.Now they tweet from the hip. “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline,” the department’s official account posted on Thursday. “They must be rejected across the West.” Continue reading…

Settlement over alleged child molestation by school janitors is latest in troubling string of allegations spanning decadesOne of the most prominent Catholic high schools in New Orleans has agreed to pay a seven-figure monetary sum to settle a lawsuit claiming child molestation by janitors at the institution decades earlier.The plaintiff struck the agreement with Jesuit high school ahead of a trial scheduled to start in the Louisiana city’s civil district courthouse on 15 June, roughly six years after he sued under a pseudonym. Continue reading…

Experts warn primary vote-counting could go on for days in governor’s race, LA mayoral race and congressional racesThree days after Californians headed to the polls, key races in the primary election remained too close to call and experts warned the counting could continue for days.In the governor’s race, the British-born conservative pundit Steve Hilton was narrowly leading with an estimated 60% of ballots counted by Friday morning. Xavier Becerra, a former US health and human services secretary under Joe Biden, followed closely behind, and billionaire Tom Steyer trailed behind the pair. The top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November. Continue reading…

Thousands flee including from village hosting at least 2,500 displaced people, one day after Hezbollah rejects ceasefireThousands fled their homes after Israel issued forced evacuation orders for nine villages in southern Lebanon before strikes that killed six people on Friday, a day after the Hezbollah militant group rejected a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon.Hundreds of families left Anqoun, a village hosting at least 2,500 displaced people, after the Israeli military said it would soon operate against what it said were Hezbollah targets there, ordering residents to leave. The roads leading to Sidon, the closest large city, were choked with cars as families sought shelter. Continue reading…

Thousands have protested in the streets of the Albanian capital, Tirana, this week against a planned luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.Groundwork has begun on the $1.6bn complex in an area long seen as one of the Mediterranean’s most environmentally sensitive, containing 200 species of birds including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans.After builders began erecting a concrete-based, barbed wire-topped fence around the site, alarm turned to public outrage at the environmental damage and lack of political transparency around the deal.Lucy Hough speaks to US live news editor Chris Michael – watch on YouTube Continue reading…

Team now plans to see if they can use yeast strains harvested from Ötzi the Iceman to brew beer tooScientists have baked a sourdough loaf of bread using yeast strains harvested from a 5,000-year-old mummy and now plan to see if they can use them to brew beer too.The yeast came from Ötzi the Iceman, a famous corpse remarkably preserved by being frozen in Alpine ice near the Italy-Austria border until he was discovered in 1991. Ötzi has been the subject of intense study since he was found and has shed much light on pre-historic European people and their way of life. Continue reading…

Von der Leyen tells Balkans summit that bloc needs to make enlargement process ‘faster and more credible’The EU must prove its willingness and ability to take in new members and speed up its enlargement process, leaders of the bloc have said, as they gathered with their counterparts from six western Balkan countries that hope to join soon.“The European Union has to show that it is capable of enlarging and willing to enlarge, and we want to discuss that here,” Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told reporters on Friday at the summit in Tivat, a coastal town in Montenegro. Continue reading…