US public health groups urge firing of EPA boss Zeldin, saying he ‘brazenly betrayed’ agency

• President Donald Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by five days on Monday, saying the U.S. will delay striking Iranian power plants to allow envoys to hold talks with Tehran leadership. • Trump stated his government was holding "productive talks" with Iran, but Iran denied any negotiations were occurring and fighting showed no signs of slowing. • An Iranian warhead with approximately 100 kilograms of explosives struck central Tel Aviv on Tuesday, causing significant damage, while Iranian missile attacks also hit Kurdish positions in Iraq, killing 6 Peshmerga fighters and wounding 30 others.

California governor backtracks and says he meant to apply term to Israel’s future if it continues on present trajectoryThe California governor, Gavin Newsom, backtracked on earlier remarks likening Israel to an “apartheid state” in a new interview with Politico published on Tuesday.In the interview, the Democrat, who is widely expected to launch a presidential bid in 2028, said that when he used the term three weeks ago, he meant it to apply to Israel’s future should it continue on its present trajectory. Continue reading...

Greg Bovino says Trump’s immigration crackdown hasn’t gone far enough in exit interview with the New York TimesAs his retirement looms, Gregory Bovino, the US border patrol’s former commander-at-large, has contended that efforts to curb illegal immigration by Donald Trump’s administration have not gone far enough – showing no remorse over federal agents’ killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis in January.“I wish I’d caught even more illegal aliens,” he told the New York Times on Tuesday in an exit interview, during which he also referred to the Republican president as “the Trumpster” and acknowledged his retirement at the end of March was not entirely voluntary. Continue reading...

Hedge fund tycoon faces questions in court over sexual harassment allegations that have left his career in tattersFacing a litany of questions over sexual harassment allegations that have left his career in tatters, hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey told a court he does not remember cornering a female employee after a boozy lunch and saying to her “I could attack you now”.The 67-year-old made the comments during his first day in the witness box, as part of a three-week court case which Odey hopes will overturn the City regulator’s decision to ban him from the UK’s financial services industry. Continue reading...

Airline CEOs have urged Congress to restore funding to the TSA as lengthy security lines plague US airportsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxDelta Air Lines is partly suspending its speciality service desk for members of Congress until funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is restored, the airline confirmed on Tuesday, as security lines stretch for hours at airports across the country due to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.The service desk is used to help members of Congress book flights at special government rates, secure airport escorts and make last-minute changes to flights. Continue reading...

The homeland security shutdown has snarled airport lines and halted pay for some, even as lawmakers negotiate a dealUS politics live – latest updatesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailRepublican senators are considering a bipartisan deal to restore funding to most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would initially exclude money for arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to media reports.Under the potential agreement, Republicans would accede to Democratic demands to restore funding to all parts of the department except for those involved in immigration enforcement operations, according to Politico and the Associated Press. The GOP would then move to pay for those enforcement operations using the budget reconciliation process, in which they can address spending and revenue issues without relying on votes from Democrats. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Group says measures to curb harmful content will also help to tackle violence against women and girlsMen and boys need as much protection as women and girls from harmful influencers and “the worst parts of the internet”, a group of MPs have told Ofcom, as they called for the regulator to give specific guidance to online platforms.More than 60 Labour MPs have written to the Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, urging her to protect men and boys from “manosphere” influencers, who expose them to gambling, sextortion and violent pornography. Continue reading...

Ruling linked to takeover of Autonomy in 2011 comes two years after tech tycoon died in superyacht disasterThe estate of late British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been ordered to pay £920m to the technology company Hewlett-Packard (HP) two years after he died in a superyacht disaster.The ruling by London’s high court said the estate was liable to pay the sum as compensation, costs and interest for HP’s acquisition of Lynch’s firm Autonomy, after a UK legal ruling in 2022 that he duped the US firm into paying £8.2bn for his software firm Autonomy. Continue reading...

Youth organisation says its belief in ‘dignity, respect and inclusion’ is unchanged but it ‘must operate lawfully’Transgender girls and women who are part of Girlguiding groups have been given until September to leave the organisation, under new rules introduced after the supreme court ruling on gender last year.In an announcement on Tuesday, Girlguiding said current members who were trans girls or trans young women could stay until 6 September 2026, at which point they would have to leave. Continue reading...

Chris Parry referred to members of neighbourhood watch group as ‘cosplayers’ after ambulance arson attackReform UK has suspended one of its key mayoral candidates after he described members of a Jewish neighbourhood watch group as “cosplayers” and likened them to “Islamists on horseback”.Chris Parry, who had remained the mayoral candidate for Hampshire despite a previous controversy in which he said David Lammy should “go home” to the Caribbean, made the latest comments on Monday about Shomrim, a volunteer group that safeguards communities including Orthodox Jewish families. Continue reading...

Industry groups say delay to defence investment plan (DIP) leaving UK behind in global race for fundingDefence manufacturers are going bust while others have been left in “paralysis” and “bleeding cash” as they wait for a long-delayed UK military spending plan for the next decade, MPs have heard.Industry groups said that a more than six-month delay to the defence investment plan (DIP) has also left the UK behind Germany and the US in attracting cash from global investors. Continue reading...