Pete

• Les démocrates de la Chambre ont interrogé avec scepticisme le secrétaire à la Défense Pete Hegseth pour la première fois depuis le début de la guerre en Iran, faisant pression sur la stratégie et les coûts lors d'une audition le 29 avril. • Un démocrate a accusé Hegseth de partisanerie, lui opposant ses propres déclarations passées lors d'un échange tendu. • La confrontation souligne les clivages partisans concernant le coût économique de la guerre et la politique étrangère de Trump, dans un contexte de chute des indices de popularité.

• Alors que son secrétaire à la Défense témoignait devant une commission de la Chambre, Trump a publié une image de lui générée par IA avec une arme et une légende disant « NO MORE MR. NICE GUY » • Pete Hegseth a nié que la guerre États-Unis-Israël contre l'Iran soit un « bourbier » et a affirmé que les critiques de l'opération représentaient une menace plus grande pour les États-Unis que l'Iran lui-même, alors qu'il subissait des pressions pour exposer la stratégie de Washington pour le conflit. • Comparaissant devant la commission des services armés de la Chambre aux côtés du général Dan Caine, chef d'état-major interarmées, le secrétaire américain à la Défense a demandé aux législateurs d'approuver un budget de 1,5 billion de dollars de dépenses militaires – avant de qualifier certains d'entre eux de « plus grand défi » pour l'effort de guerre. Continuer la lecture...

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...