Pete

• Die Demokraten im Repräsentantenhaus befragten Verteidigungsminister Pete Hegseth während einer Anhörung am 29. April zum ersten Mal seit Beginn des Iran-Krieges skeptisch und drängten auf Antworten zu Strategie und Kosten. • Ein Demokrat warf Hegseth Parteilichkeit vor und zitierte in einem hitzigen Wortgefecht dessen frühere Aussagen. • Die Konfrontation verdeutlicht die parteipolitische Spaltung über die wirtschaftlichen Folgen des Krieges und Trumps Außenpolitik angesichts sinkender Umfragewerte.

Während sein Verteidigungsminister vor einem Hausausschuss aussagte, postete Trump ein KI-generiertes Bild von sich selbst mit einer Waffe und der Bildunterschrift „NO MORE MR. NICE GUY“. • Pete Hegseth hat bestritten, dass der US-israelische Krieg gegen den Iran ein „Sumpf“ sei, und behauptete, dass Kritiker der Operation eine größere Bedrohung für die USA darstellten als der Iran selbst, während er unter Druck geriet, Washingtons Strategie für den Konflikt darzulegen. • Bei seinem Auftritt vor dem Bewaffneten Dienste-Ausschuss des Repräsentantenhauses zusammen mit General Dan Caine, dem Vorsitzenden der Joint Chiefs of Staff, bat der US-Verteidigungsminister die Gesetzgeber, ein Budget von 1,5 Billionen USD für Militärausgaben zu genehmigen – und bezeichnete einige von ihnen anschließend als „die größte Herausforderung“ für die Kriegsanstrengungen. Weiterlesen...

Where Olly Robbins relied on recollections, Cabinet Office’s top civil servant was at pains to link her account to paper trail Seen through the Westminster bubble, the Peter Mandelson vetting affair looks like an age-old conflict pitting ministers against mandarins. Yet the latest top civil servant to testify to parliament over what some are now calling “Mandygate” gave an intriguing account that suggested it has never been as simple as that.Cat Little, the top civil servant at the Cabinet Office, did not put it in these terms, but what she revealed was an extraordinary dispute between the country’s most senior civil servants. Continue reading...

Permanent secretary, Cat Little, to give evidence to foreign affairs committee as pressure increases on Keir Starmer The UK government budget came in below its annual borrowing target by £700m, official figures show – but the Iran war is likely to blow a hole in Rachel Reeves’s carefully calculated fiscal “headroom” over the coming months. Tom Knowles has the story.Good morning. As Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot report in the Guardian’s splash, “Keir Starmer is looking increasingly isolated over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal with divisions emerging in cabinet over his decision to sack the Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Adrian Fulford will also examine wider national security vetting system after Foreign Office controversyUK politics live – latest updatesA retired high court judge is expected to review Peter Mandelson’s vetting process and the wider national security vetting system.The review, commissioned by Downing Street, comes after a Guardian investigation revealing that security officials decided Mandelson should not receive developed vetting clearance, but were overruled by the Foreign Office to allow him to become US ambassador. Continue reading...

• The Kansas City Chiefs secured All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters with a three-year contract extension worth $45 million, keeping their secondary anchor through 2029. • Peters recorded 8 interceptions and 22 passes defensed last season, maintaining his elite performance level at age 31. • The move solidifies Kansas City's defense ahead of the 2026 NFL season after their Super Bowl LXII victory last February.

Former UK ambassador to US was photographed in November outside George Osborne’s London homeThe former senior Labour figure Peter Mandelson faces a fixed-penalty notice after being caught urinating in public, it has emerged.Mandelson was photographed in the act while standing outside the home of the former chancellor George Osborne last November, shortly after he had been sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US over his relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...