Staff

• President Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles regained her position following a short ouster amid internal White House tensions. • Her reinstatement stabilizes the administration's leadership as midterm strategies intensify. • Republicans view Wiles' return as crucial for maintaining party unity and House control.

• The Pentagon launched GenAI.mil in December 2025 as part of Project Maven, providing secure generative AI access to approximately 3 million Department of Defense staff members. • The platform embeds multiple leading AI models including Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, xAI's Grok, and OpenAI's ChatGPT, enabling widespread AI adoption across military operations. • The initiative reflects the U.S. military's strategic priority to integrate advanced AI capabilities into defense operations and demonstrates significant government investment in dual-use AI technology.

Strict protocols violated by corrections staff who wrongly believed sexual assault cases were ‘closed’, ombudsman findsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMen charged with alleged prison rapes were allowed to stay in shared cells – against strict protocols – by Queensland corrections staff who mistakenly believed their cases were “closed” and that they posed no risk, a report by the state’s ombudsman has found.The ombudsman’s inspection report of the Brisbane correctional centre raises a number of concerns about the facility, including extensive overcrowding, health facilities that are not fit for purpose and complaints that chicken served to detainees and staff is often undercooked. Continue reading...

Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid allegations of an affair and steering grants to politically connected figuresThe secretary of the Department of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, resigned this week after several controversies surrounding her brief tenure at the helm of the agency. But labor officials say even though her troubled reign is over, the US labor authority remains in a state of “constant turbulence”.Chavez-DeRemer was under investigation over claims she had an affair with a subordinate and allegedly misused travel funds, and that her aides allegedly steered grants to politically connected figures. Her husband was banned from the agency’s headquarters over allegations of sexual assault by at least two staffers. Continue reading...

Meta to lay off 10% of its staff and Microsoft to offer retirement to 7% of US workforce. Plus, Iron Maiden at 50Good morning.Meta and Microsoft are cutting thousands of employees as they bet big on AI and executives claim that the technology is meeting productivity needs.What have they said about AI? Mark Zuckerberg said in January that AI was making some hiring unnecessary. Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI chief, said in February that he believed AI would be able to replace most white-collar work within the next 12 to 18 months.How many tech layoffs have there been in 2026? In four months, more than 92,000 employees in the industry have lost their jobs, according to the tracker Layoffs.fyi. But some experts believe companies may be “AI washing” – using it as cover for a slowing labor market and demand or rising costs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Owner says private members venue is changing policy after revolt over division of pre-Christmas moneyThe restaurant tycoon Richard Caring has admitted his private members club Annabel’s made a “dumb mistake” after staff revolted over the use of more than £70,000 of their pre-Christmas service charge takings to pay managers’ bonuses.Just one table of diners at the exclusive Mayfair venue, which has hosted celebrities, financiers and aristocrats ranging from Kate Moss and Harry Styles to the late queen, can spend more than £10,000 in an evening, according to workers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: McSweeney summoned by foreign affairs select committee in rare step, as Mandelson vetting row continuesUK politics live – latest updatesMorgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s former chief of staff, has been summoned before the foreign affairs select committee as the Peter Mandelson vetting row continued to undermine Keir Starmer’s premiership.As MPs attempt to unravel the facts, McSweeney is to appear next Tuesday to respond to allegations that Downing Street put huge pressure on the civil service to approve his appointment as the UK’s ambassador to Washington. Continue reading...

• Susie Wiles has been reinstated as President Trump’s Chief of Staff after a brief ouster amid internal White House tensions. • Her return stabilizes key operations as the administration navigates midterm preparations and policy pushes. • Wiles' pro-Trump influence is expected to shape staffing and strategy through 2026 elections.

Shopkeepers charged millions of pounds, including alleged £10,000 penalty for mistake that cost firm £7.08Vodafone incentivised its security staff to increase “clawbacks” levied on its own franchisees, as part of a programme that led to the telecoms group fining its own shopkeepers millions of pounds for seemingly small administrative errors.The policy – which included one alleged case of a £10,000 penalty for a franchisee whose mistake cost Vodafone £7.08 – involved setting “key performance indicators” (KPIs) for the telecoms group’s internal employees to collect total annual fines of £1.5m from the small business people running the FTSE 100 company’s high street stores. Continue reading...

Allies of Democratic governor contender withdraw support after accusations in San Francisco Chronicle and on CNNCalifornia gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell’s campaign suffered a major blow on Friday as several staffers resigned and prominent political leaders withdrew their support in the wake of multiple allegations of past sexual misconduct.The San Francisco Chronicle published an account of a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Swalwell on two separate occasions. Continue reading...

WilmerHale, the law firm examining Leon Botstein’s communications with Jeffrey Epstein, said review is ‘ongoing’Bard College’s president, Leon Botstein, told his staff at a meeting this week that there was no way he could have known that Jeffrey Epstein – who was a convicted sex offender during their interactions over the years – was actually “reprehensible” and predicted he would soon be cleared of any hint of impropriety about their relationship, according to sources who witnessed the remarks.The liberal arts college’s board of trustees hired in February the white-shoe law firm WilmerHale to independently investigate communications between Epstein and Botstein. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sources believe AI tech company’s engineers have been granted access to directory of up to 1.5m staff UK politics live – latest updatesHealth service staff have expressed alarm that engineers working for controversial tech company Palantir have been given NHS email accounts.Employees using NHS.net email accounts have access to a directory with the contact details of up 1.5 million staff. Sources believe Palantir staff were granted the same access. Continue reading...

Union rejected 4.9% pay rise for resident doctors, who are on six-day strike, but its own staff were offered 2.75%The British Medical Association has been accused of the “height of hypocrisy” for offering its own staff below-inflation pay rises while demanding a 26% increase for resident doctors.Tens of thousands of medics walked out of the NHS in England on Tuesday, the 15th time they have staged industrial action since March 2023 in their campaign for “full pay restoration”. Continue reading...

Republican Tony Gonzales ended re-election bid in March after admitting to having affair with a different aideSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA second former female staffer for Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas, has come forward claiming Gonzales sent her sexually explicit messages.The San Antonio Express-News first reported the text messages on Monday and NBC News later confirmed the report. Continue reading...

US president issues executive order as longest partial government shutdown in US history enters 49th dayDonald Trump issued an executive order Friday that declares all Department of Homeland Security employees will receive pay and benefits during the agency’s partial shutdown.The “Liberating the Department of Homeland Security From the Democrat-Caused Shutdown” memo is similar to Trump’s executive order from last week which called for issuing pay to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents during the shutdown.In the order, Trump directed the homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, to “use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS” to pay “each and every employee of DHS”. Continue reading...

People receive rehab only three to four days a week in hospital – and one to two days once they are discharged, data suggestsThe NHS is failing stroke patients and limiting their chances of recovery because of a shortage of rehabilitation care staff, health leaders have said.More people are surviving strokes than ever before in the UK. But their hopes of getting better are being dashed because of a lack of physiotherapists and other specialist staff, according to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Neurology. Continue reading...

• The CDC temporarily halted testing for rabies and pox viruses—including those for smallpox and mpox—to assist state labs, as part of an agency-wide review started in late 2024. • By July, the rabies team will have only one advisor left for states, while the pox virus team will have none due to dwindling staff from resignations and layoffs. • Experts express concern over reduced clinical expertise, potentially weakening national responses to outbreaks.

Federal agency, which normally supports state and local public health labs, has been hobbled by staff departuresSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US federal agency responsible for monitoring diseases has temporarily halted certain diagnostic testing, including those for rabies, human herpesvirus and several other infectious illnesses.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a list on Monday showing that more than two dozen types of testing are now unavailable. Continue reading...

Group cuts costs as shares plunge while it grapples with impact of Iran war on property market Business live – latest updatesOne of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has said it will stop buying new land and hiring new staff, as it grapples with the impact of the Iran war on the property market.Berkeley, a London-focused housebuilder, said it would cut costs as it warned that “geopolitical volatility” and “reduced potential” for interest rate cuts could weigh on the business. Continue reading...

• Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen stated on March 31, 2026, that companies are 75% overstaffed from COVID-era overhiring, using AI as a 'silver bullet excuse' for layoffs. • In an interview on the 20VC podcast, Andreessen argued AI productivity fears mask long-standing business issues rather than genuine job displacement. • The comments highlight tensions in tech hiring amid AI advancements driving economic growth but fueling employee concerns over job security.

• Two House Democrats introduced a bill mandating nursing home staffing levels exceeding even the failed federal regulations. • The legislation responds to ongoing concerns over care quality and resident safety in U.S. facilities. • It aims to enforce higher minimum staff-to-resident ratios nationwide.

National Education Union poll finds 89% feel class sizes in England are too big to be ‘properly inclusive’Oversized classes and inadequate staffing levels are hindering teachers’ capacity to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), according to a large survey of state school teachers in England.Nine out of 10 (89%) of the 10,000 teachers who took part in the poll by the National Education Union (NEU), before its annual conference in Brighton which starts on Monday, said class sizes were too big to be “properly inclusive”. Continue reading...

Negotiations to end funding standoff sparked by Trump administration’s immigration crackdown fail to find a breakthroughSign up for the Breaking News US emailHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.There was no breakthrough in talk to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday as the shutdown extends to almost six weeks with no end in sight.The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Wednesday that airports across the country are experiencing the “highest wait times in TSA history”, as the partial shutdown of the DHS enters its sixth week. At a House homeland security committee hearing, Ha Nguyen McNeill said her agency has been shut down for 50% of the fiscal year so far – a stretch that includes last year’s record-breaking 43‑day lapse in federal funding. She told lawmakers that by Friday, TSA employees will have missed $1bn in paychecks as a result of the closures. More here.The US has launched another strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, killing four people, the US Southern Command said. The command, which oversees combatant operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced on X that it had conducted a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations”. More here.Progressive lawmakers have unveiled a new policy to place a moratorium on the construction of AI datacenters. The policy, announced by Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democratic representative, aims to ensure the AI boom protects the environment and communities, and benefits workers instead of harming them. More here.The Trump administration’s federal housing director Bill Pulte is asking prosecutors to investigate New York attorney general Letitia James for insurance fraud, according to criminal referrals reported by MS Now and CBS News. The referrals to prosecutors in Florida and Illinois allege that James may have committed mortgage insurance fraud. The allegations center on applications made to Universal Property Insurance company, which is based in Florida, and Allstate in Illinois. More here. Continue reading...

Ha Nguyen McNeill testified before House committee about airport wait times amid DHS funding shutdownThe acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Wednesday that airports across the country are experiencing the “highest wait times in TSA history”, as the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enters its sixth week.At a House homeland security committee hearing, Ha Nguyen McNeill said her agency has been shut down for 50% of the fiscal year so far – a stretch that includes last year’s record-breaking 43‑day lapse in federal funding. She told lawmakers that by Friday, TSA employees will have missed $1bn in paychecks as a result of the closures. Continue reading...

Triple J signed off with the hip-hop anthem Express Yourself while other radio and TV networks filled the air with BBC broadcasts, re-runs and soothing musicSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereBroadcasters had warned their audiences that the ABC would look “a bit different” on Wednesday – and as the clock struck 11am, they weren’t wrong.As more than 2,000 ABC staff walked off the job for the first time in two decades in protest of their working conditions, the public broadcaster’s news channel switched over to the BBC.Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter Continue reading...

Managing director Hugh Marks defiant the ABC will not back down on staff demands despite severe disruption to television, radio and digitalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 2,000 ABC staff around Australia have walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, forcing ABC services across TV, radio and digital to use BBC World Service and repeat programming.The ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, is defiant the ABC will not back down on staff demands despite the severe disruption. Continue reading...

Triple J will air without presenters while ABC News Breakfast is not expected to air as staff walk off the job to protest pay and conditionsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereThe ABC’s flagship news programs including 7.30 and AM will be replaced by the BBC World Service when ABC journalists walk off the job for 24 hours for the first time in 20 years on Wednesday.Staff are protesting what they say is a low pay offer from ABC managing director Hugh Marks, as well as work conditions and the broadcaster’s refusal to rule out replacing journalists with AI bots. Continue reading...

Union says below‑inflation pay rises and insecure work threaten the future of Australia’s public‑interest journalismFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereMore than 75% of ABC staff will walk off the job on Wednesday for the first time in 20 years, triggering a severe disruption to the public broadcaster’s news services for 24 hours.Without producers, camera operators and directors it is almost impossible to put shows including the prime-time current affairs flagship 7.30 to air. Continue reading...