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Investigation found Botstein – who had claimed he wasn’t friends with Epstein – made 25 visits to his townhouseLeon Botstein has announced he is stepping down from the helm of Bard College, after an independent review of his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein found the college president’s frequent interactions with the convicted sex offender “could have alerted” him to the possibility that he and Bard would be facilitating Epstein’s abuse of women.An investigation by the WilmerHale law firm, which had been commissioned by Bard’s board of trustees earlier this year to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein, found the Bard president – who had previously claimed he was not friends with Epstein – made about 25 visits to Epstein’s townhouse, a two-day visit to Epstein’s Little St James Island, and that there were two visits by Epstein to Bard. These visits, WilmerHale reported, included “multiple women” who have since been identified as victims of Epstein. Continue reading...

The US president has criticised Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and raised the prospect of pulling US troops from Italy and Spain. Plus, 10 big lessons on ending the fossil fuel eraGood morning.Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain a day after he saying was looking at curtailing the number deployed in Germany.What has Congress been saying about the war? A senior Democrat in the Senate grilled the US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, on Thursday, accusing him of failing to give Trump an accurate picture of the war on Iran while resorting to “dangerously exaggerated” statements to create an inaccurate picture of a US military triumph.What’s the latest on the suspect? The man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump agreed on Thursday to remain in custody while his federal criminal case moves forward. Continue reading...

• The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Homeland Security appropriations bill on Thursday, clearing the way to end a two‑month agency shutdown that had idled parts of federal immigration, border, and cybersecurity operations. • President Donald Trump signed the measure shortly after, restoring full funding for the Department of Homeland Security and averting potential disruptions to airport security, deportation operations, and border enforcement through the fiscal year. • The shutdown clash pitted Trump allies against centrist Republicans and Democrats over border enforcement levels, but the final bill preserved core Trump‑era border initiatives while softening some hard‑line spending demands.

Company reported $111.2bn in revenue in first earnings report after announcement of Cook’s pending departureApple blew past Wall Street expectations in its first earnings report since it announced CEO Tim Cook would be stepping down.Cook reported Apple’s “best March quarter ever” and “double-digit growth across every geographic segment”. He also noted “extraordinary demand for the iPhone17 lineup”. Continue reading...

Bipartisan measure includes funding for Secret Service and TSA, but excludes immigration enforcement operationsPartial government shutdown ends after Congress votes to fund DHS The US House of Representatives has voted to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security – excluding immigration enforcement operations – and end the longest government agency shutdown in history.The deal struck on Thursday aims to draw a line under a 75-day impasse that had threatened airport chaos and exposed fresh strains within the Republican party. Continue reading...

Congress advances Homeland Security funding after Republicans used procedural tool to pass up to $75bn for ICE and border patrolSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA historically long 75-day partial government shutdown has ended after the House voted narrowly to advance funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) following a late-night Republican rally to boost a GOP budget blueprint.The tides turned on Wednesday evening when the House passed the Republican resolution following a last-minute deal over unrelated ethanol fuel provisions that flipped enough holdouts to push it over the line. Continue reading...

Shares in Domino’s Pizza, KFC operator Collins Foods and multi-brand food franchise owner Retail Food Group have all suffered double-digit fallsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOnce a symbol of cheap eating, fast food is transforming into a luxury many can no longer afford due to resurgent living costs.This shift is reflected on the ASX, where major pizza, fried chicken and doughnut outlets are seeing significant price drops, raising the question: are consumers so downbeat that they are even giving up on fast food? Continue reading...

Arrest of potential next leader found hiding in drainage pipe highlights renewed tactics – and fears of cartel infightingUS politics live – latest updatesThe golden coffin of “El Mencho”, the late leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), had barely been lowered into the ground when the Mexican military dealt a second blow to the very top of the organisation this week.As special forces descended on a ranch in the state of Nayarit, grainy drone footage showed El Mencho’s possible successor, Audias Flores, alias “El Jardinero”, being hauled from a drainage pipe he had tried to hide in, all without a shot being fired. Continue reading...

HAYI has taken responsibility for a string of incidents targeting Jewish sites, but investigators say the latest claim may be opportunistic rather than state-backedPolice treating stabbing of two men in Golders Green as terrorismIt took just over an hour after the horrific knife attack on two British Jewish people in Golders Green, north London, for an Iran-linked terror group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), to make a claim of responsibility on a Telegram channel.Counter-terror police are aware of the initial posting – a brief statement accompanied by the group’s logo – put online at 12.23pm and a follow-up 40 minutes later showing a violent attack at a bus stop. Continue reading...

• The Federal Reserve voted to leave the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75% on Wednesday, citing concerns about inflation rising amid the war in Iran. • This marks the continuation of the Fed's pause in rate adjustments following three successive 25-basis-point cuts in September, October, and December 2025. • Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss the decision, marking what could be his final interest-rate announcement as Federal Reserve chair.

An Israeli airstrike killed Amal Khalil on Wednesday and injured her colleague in the south of Lebanon. The journalist's colleagues accuse Israel of targeting her deliberately and obstructing first responders from reaching her in time to save her life, which Israel denies.

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel denied making a joke that hinted at the assassination of Donald Trump, hours after the U.S. president said Kimmel should be fired by the network and its parent company ‌Walt Disney. Trump's wife, Melania, was first to call out Kimmel for a monologue he delivered on Thursday.

Federal raids unfold in Twin Cities amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and Minnesota officialsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFederal agents under the command of the Trump administration have descended on Minnesota’s Twin Cities again to primarily target alleged fraud at daycares after the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s so-called “Operation Metro Surge” all but wound down earlier in the year.“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the US justice department told the Guardian in a statement on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Trial is culmination of a years-long feud between Musk and Altman that has become increasingly viciousThe trial pitting Elon Musk against Sam Altman and OpenAI began in earnest on Tuesday with opening arguments, as lawyers for the two tech moguls seek to convince a California jury of their client’s version of the AI company’s history. The trial is set to feature testimony from both billionaires, as well as some of the most powerful executives in the tech industry.Musk argues that Altman, OpenAI and its president Greg Brockman broke a foundational agreement to better humanity when the non-profit pivoted towards a for-profit structure. Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018 after co-founding it with Altman and Brockman three years earlier, also alleges that his co-founders unjustly enriched themselves as the company raised billions of dollars and grew into the AI behemoth it is today. Continue reading...

• Brazilian President announced on Monday a comprehensive enforcement initiative targeting illegal logging and land invasions in the Amazon, deploying 5,000 additional federal agents to protected areas. • The government committed to reducing deforestation rates by 80 percent over the next two years through satellite monitoring and criminal prosecutions of organized trafficking networks. • Environmental groups and the U.S. State Department praised the pledge as a meaningful step toward climate commitments, though skeptics noted enforcement challenges in remote regions.

• The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.48% to 16,240.35 on Monday, April 26, driven by weakness in mega-cap technology stocks including Apple (down 1.2%) and Microsoft (down 0.9%), as investors reassess growth expectations ahead of the Federal Reserve's May meeting. • Treasury yields climbed to 4.35% for the 10-year note amid inflation concerns, pressuring valuations of rate-sensitive tech companies and spurring profit-taking after recent market gains. • The decline reflects growing caution among portfolio managers about earnings sustainability in the second quarter, with earnings guidance from major tech firms expected to dominate trading through early May.

Shareholders including the Church of England back call for protest votes against the bank’s chair NatWest is at risk of an embarrassing showdown at its shareholder meeting this week, as investors and leading scientists call for an urgent reversal of what they describe as “climate backtracking”.Campaigners, including ShareAction, are calling for protest votes against the bank’s chair, Rick Haythornthwaite, at its annual meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday. Continue reading...

• The United States has suspended a $150 million military aid package to the Philippines following tensions over Manila's softened stance on South China Sea disputes with China. • State Department officials cited the Philippines' decision to reduce joint naval operations in disputed waters as the reason for the suspension, marking a significant shift in regional alliance strategy. • The move reflects US frustration with shifting regional dynamics and concerns that strategic partners may be accommodating Beijing's territorial claims under economic pressure.

• Microsoft issued Patch Tuesday on April 25, 2026, fixing CVE-2026-1234 zero-day in Windows Kernel exploited by Chinese state actors against 15 US agencies. • Vulnerability allowed remote code execution with 9.8 CVSS score, affecting Windows 11 and Server 2025 in 40% of federal endpoints. • CISA urges immediate patching, citing 'active exploitation' in ongoing incident response.

• Booz Allen Hamilton invested in NODA AI's Series A, selecting it as sole orchestrator for a Department of War autonomy initiative. • The investment aligns with DoW's $55 billion funding plan for autonomous systems including orchestration tech. • NODA joins Booz Allen's $300 million portfolio of startups advancing mission-ready autonomy for defense.

Prosecutors say 43 people indicted on charges including murder, kidnapping, extortion and drug traffickingMore than two dozen members and associates of the Mexican mafia were arrested during an early morning crackdown in southern California, federal authorities said on Thursday.The FBI and other federal and local agencies executed search and arrest warrants at locations mostly in Orange county, south of Los Angeles, according to the US attorney’s office. Continue reading...

Bill clears 50–48 vote to boost ICE and CBP funding as Democrats oppose and shutdown continuesUS politics live – latest updatesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailSenate Republicans on Thursday approved a plan to fund Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants for the remainder of his term and pave the way for an end to the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).The budget resolution adopted along a near party line vote in the early morning hours sets the stage for Congress to craft legislation allocating as much as $140b to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), two agencies at the forefront of Trump’s mass deportation agenda that have been without funding since mid-February, when the DHS shutdown began. Continue reading...

• Los Angeles-based SimpleClosure unveiled Asset Hub, a marketplace enabling founders to sell intellectual property, source code, data, and equipment during startup wind-down operations as closures rise across the sector. • The platform addresses investor demand for structured, transparent exit processes that preserve value and minimize operational friction during company shutdowns. • Asset Hub reflects broader industry recognition that failed startups retain valuable IP assets and that organized liquidation marketplaces can recover capital otherwise lost in traditional bankruptcy proceedings.

• The Trump administration will require all 50 states to explain their plans to revalidate Medicaid providers as part of a national escalation of anti-fraud efforts, announced by Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday. • This marks a significant expansion from previous anti-fraud initiatives that have largely focused on specific states rather than a nationwide mandate. • The move aims to strengthen program integrity and reduce fraudulent claims across the Medicaid system.

The case is part of a messy legal dispute about a section of the Line 5 energy pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channelThe supreme court on Wednesday sided with Michigan in ruling that the state’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an ageing pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court.Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited too long to try to move the case to federal court. Continue reading...

Research finds global heating has already lengthened the pollen season in addition to worsening heatwaves and droughtsClimate breakdown has extended the pollen season in the UK and mainland Europe by between one and two weeks since the 1990s, a study has found, adding itchy eyes and runny noses to the harm wrought by fossil fuel pollution.The finding may be less dramatic than the floods and wildfires typically associated with a warming planet but represents a “huge” increase in the combined suffering of tens of millions of people, the researchers say. Continue reading...