Trump praises Elon Musk for ‘colossal change’ as Doge adviser says farewell

US president presents top ally with golden key as Musk says Doge unit ‘will only grow stronger over time’

Donald Trump saw Elon Musk off from the White House on Friday, as the Tesla chief concluded his more than four months leading the so-called department of government efficiency’s disruptive foray into federal departments that achieved far fewer cost savings than expected.

Standing alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Musk, who faced a 130-day limit in his tenure as a special government employee that had ended two days prior, vowed that his departure “is not the end” of Doge.

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Supreme court allows White House to revoke temporary protected status of many migrants

Ruling reverses hold on Trump administration’s ending humanitarian parole of Venezuelan migrants and others

The US supreme court on Friday announced it would allow the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president’s drive to step up deportations.

The court put on hold Boston-based US district judge Indira Talwani’s order halting the administration’s move to end the immigration humanitarian “parole” protections granted to 532,000 people by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, potentially exposing many of them to rapid removal from the country, while the detailed case plays out in lower courts.

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Google and Home Depot drop Pride Toronto sponsorship amid Trump’s DEI war

Organizer points to president’s anti-diversity push as companies join Adidas and Clorox in withdrawing support

In another blow to one of the largest celebrations of LGTBQ+ people in North America, Pride Toronto has unexpectedly lost two more major corporate sponsors, just weeks before the festival in a setback the festival’s organizer says is direct result of Donald Trump’s campaign to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the US.

Google and Home Depot both announced their plans to abandon the festival in the form of one-line emails, said Kojo Modeste, the executive director of the Canadian event.

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Gaza is ‘hungriest place on Earth’ with all its people at risk of famine, says UN

Mission to deliver help is ‘one of most obstructed aid operations in recent history’, humanitarian agency says

Gaza is “the hungriest place on Earth”, according to the UN, which has warned that the Palestinian territory’s entire population is at risk of famine.

Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the territory was “the only defined area – a country or defined territory within a country – where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred per cent of the population at risk of famine,” he said on Friday.

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Gerry Adams’ BBC libel win risks more benign view of Troubles taking hold

Concerns raised that hefty award to politician over Spotlight episode could lead to less hard-hitting journalism

For more than half a century, Spotlight has roved a beam over Northern Ireland, illuminating dark and overlooked topics. But now the flagship BBC documentary series is itself in the glare of scrutiny.

Gerry Adams’ victory in a libel case on Friday dealt a heavy blow to Spotlight and the BBC and raises questions over the programme and the impact of the case on journalism in the UK and Ireland.

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China has ‘totally violated’ its trade agreement with the US, says Trump

President took to social media to denounce Beijing in the latest development in his ongoing tariff war

Donald Trump declared that China has “totally violated its agreement” against the US on trade just two weeks after the countries reached a deal, raising fears that the trade war will continue to rattle the global economy.

“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.”

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Thom Yorke calls Netanyahu an ‘extremist’ in statement on Gaza

Radiohead frontman makes lengthy statement after he had been criticised over perceived silence on the war, and for previously performing in Israel

After he was criticised for his silence on the subject, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has made a statement regarding the war in Gaza, saying Benjamin Netanyahu and his Israeli administration are “extremists” who “need to be stopped”.

He also criticised Hamas, saying the organisation “chooses too to hide behind the suffering of its people”.

I think Netanyahu and his crew of extremists are totally out of control and need to be stopped, and that the international community should put all the pressure it can on them to cease. Their excuse of self-defence has long since worn thin and has been replaced by a transparent desire to take control of Gaza and the West Bank permanently.

I believe this ultra-nationalist administration has hidden itself behind a terrified & grieving people and used them to deflect any criticism, using that fear and grief to further their ultra-nationalist agenda with terrible consequences, as we see now with the horrific blockade of aid to Gaza …

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Mother of jailed British-Egyptian activist hospitalised after 242 days on hunger strike

Laila Soueif continues protest against detention of Alaa Abd el-Fattah in Cairo

The mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been admitted to hospital after spending more than 240 days on hunger strike.

Laila Soueif’s family said she had been admitted to St Thomas’ hospital in London on Thursday night with dangerously low blood sugar levels, but continues to refuse medical intervention that would provide her with calories.

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Banksy posts image of new lighthouse artwork believed to be in Marseille

Image on street incorporates shadow of a bollard alongside words ‘I want to be what you saw in me’

Banksy has posted an image of a new artwork that appears to be in Marseille, in southern France, though its exact location has not been confirmed.

The characteristic image, posted on the artist’s Instagram account, transforms the shadow of a street bollard into the form of a lighthouse. Stencilled across it are the words “I want to be what you saw in me”.

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Gerry Adams awarded €100,000 damages in libel victory over BBC

Former Sinn Féin leader sued broadcaster over allegation in documentary that he sanctioned murder of MI5 informant

Gerry Adams has won a defamation action against the BBC over a documentary that carried a claim he sanctioned the murder of an MI5 informant in 2006.

A jury at Dublin’s high court on Friday found that the BBC had not acted in good faith or in a fair and reasonable way and awarded the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000 (£84,000) in damages

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Over a barrel: lack of sugar throws Cuba’s rum industry into crisis

This year’s tiny harvest casts doubt on the spirit’s recent resurgence, once a bright spot in the island’s economy

It’s a crisis that would have sent a shiver down Ernest Hemingway’s drinking arm. Cuba’s communist government is struggling to process enough sugar to make the rum for his beloved mojitos and daiquiris.

As summer rains bring the Caribbean island’s 2025 harvest to an end, a recent analysis by Reuters suggests that Cuba’s state-run monopoly, Azcuba, is likely to produce just 165,000 metric tonnes of sugar this year. That compares with harvests of 8m in the late 1980s.

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Presidential vote likely to determine Poland’s place on the EU stage

Close-run race between pro-EU and nationalist candidates pits liberal vision against a radical-right, EU-critical stance

Poland’s presidential election runoff could have far-reaching implications for its place in Europe – either cementing the country’s hard-won seat at the EU’s top table, or heralding a return to altogether trickier times.

The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, faces off against the historian Karol Nawrocki on Sunday in a neck-and-neck race, pitting a liberal vision of Poland at the heart of European policymaking against a nationalist, radical-right, EU-critical stance.

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Leader in Kinahan drug gang extradited to Ireland from UAE

Sean McGovern, wanted on charges of murder and directing organised crime, flown to Ireland in military aircraft

A leader of the notorious Kinahan organised crime group has been flown from the United Arab Emirates to Ireland in the first extradition of its kind.

An Irish military aircraft carrying Sean McGovern – who is wanted on charges of murder and directing organised crime – was due to land in Dublin amid heavy security on Thursday afternoon.

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Sidi Ould Tah named African Development Bank president

Mauritanian economist who led Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa will succeed Akinwunmi Adesina

The African Development Bank has chosen the Mauritanian economist Sidi Ould Tah as its president-elect after three rounds of voting on Thursday afternoon.

The election took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at the end of the annual meeting of the continent’s biggest multilateral lender.

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British woman in France wins back pre-Brexit right to vote in EU elections

Court decision in favour of Alice Bouilliez reignites push for bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement

A French court has ordered electoral officials to restore a British woman’s pre-Brexit right to vote in European elections, triggering calls for a renewed push for a bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement in each other’s countries.

Alice Bouilliez, a former British civil servant who has lived in France for 38 years, said she was “extremely surprised” but delighted that the court in Auch in south-west France had ordered that the authorities put her name back on the electoral register for the EU elections.

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Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank

Defence minister says move ‘prevents establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel’

Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week.

Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership.

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Thursday briefing: What chaos at new Gaza food distribution point means for Palestinians facing famine

In today’s newsletter: The GHF supply system faltered as civilians were forced to flee gunfire at its first distribution site, deepening the hunger crisis

Good morning. If the new system for distributing supplies in Gaza is supposed to be an adequate replacement for the major aid organisations that were previously in place, it has got off to an inauspicious start.

On Tuesday, after the first food point run by the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – a non-government organisation (NGO) with Israeli support that uses US-based contractors – opened in Rafah, Israeli forces stationed at the perimeter opened fire. Panicked civilians fled the scene, most without the food they came for; dozens of people were injured, and at least one died.

UK news | The housing ombudsman has warned that “simmering anger at poor housing conditions risks becoming social disquiet”, as his office records a 474% increase in complaints. Richard Blakeway said it was “neither fanciful nor alarmist” to suggest anger at housing conditions would cause an “irreparable” fracturing of trust, saying the “shock of Grenfell Tower and Awaab Ishak’s death resonate still”.

Trump tariffs | A US federal trade court has blocked Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law. The ruling, which the White House is said to be appealing, would blow a hole in Trump’s strategy to use steep tariffs to wring concessions from trading partners.

Ukraine | Ukraine and Germany have agreed to future military cooperation in which Berlin will help finance long-range weapons production on Ukrainian soil. The deal came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia had amassed 50,000 troops in the Sumy region bordering Russia.

UK news | Prosecutors have confirmed they have authorised 21 charges against influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking. The Crown Prosecution Service said that the two men would not be tried in the UK until an investigation into charges they face in Romania is concluded.

School meals | Guidance urging schools in England to serve children meat at least three times a week should be overhauled to increase the eating of vegetables, a leading charity has said. The Food Foundation found that 80% of the most commonly eaten meat dishes in schools are either processed or red meat.

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Doubts raised over Chinese paraglider’s claim of accidental 8,000-metre flight

Peng Yujiang says updraft took him nearly as high as Mount Everest but parts of flight video appear to be AI-generated

A Chinese paraglider’s story of being accidentally propelled more than 8,000 metres high by an updraft has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that parts of a video of the flight appear to have been AI-generated.

Peng Yujiang, who has been banned from the activity for six months, said he began from an elevation of about 3,000 metres in the Qilian mountain range in northern China, where he intended to test some secondhand equipment he bought without making a proper flight, according to an investigative report by the Gansu Provincial Aviation Sports Association.

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Canada wildfires: thousands in Manitoba ordered to evacuate as state of emergency declared

There are more than 130 active wildfires across the country, half of which are considered out of control

More than 17,000 people in Canada’s western Manitoba province were being evacuated on Wednesday as the region experienced its worst start to the wildfire season in years.

“The Manitoba government has declared a province-wide state of emergency due to the wildfire situation,” Manitoba’s premier, Wab Kinew, told a news conference. “This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory.”

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US distances itself from Gaza food delivery group amid questions over its leadership, funding

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had faced criticism from aid groups even before this week’s chaotic rollout

After a rollout trumpeted by US officials, the US- and Israeli-backed effort that claimed it would return large-scale food deliveries to Gaza was born an orphan, with questions growing over its leadership, sources of funding and ties to Israeli officials and private US security contractors.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had said it would securely provide food supplies to the Gaza Strip, ending an Israeli blockade that UN officials say have led to the brink of a famine.

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