Move brings total number of people killed in US strikes on suspected boats since September to at least 148 The US military launched a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Friday, killing three men in its second strike this week. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” US Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said on Twitter/X. Continue reading...

Shooting death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, in Texas was not publicly disclosed by Department of Homeland Security Newly released records show a US citizen was shot and killed in Texas by a federal immigration agent last year during a late-night traffic encounter that was not publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security. The death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, would mark the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since the start of a nationwide immigration crackdown in Donald Trump’s second term. On Friday, DHS said the shooting on South Padre Island last March occurred after the driver intentionally struck an agent. Continue reading...

Aid workers say the camp where 34 women and children are being held are ‘dire’ and present more risk than if they were repatriated Conditions in the north-eastern Syrian camp to where 34 Australians have been forcibly returned are deteriorating dramatically, with reports of near-nightly raids, and increasingly violent beatings, amid worsening uncertainty over their futures. The 11 women and 23 Australian children forced back to Roj camp on Monday returned to find their tents – formerly huddled collectively in a row known as Australia Street – demolished and their possessions seized. Continue reading...

The former president was found guilty of leading an insurrection and sentenced to life imprisonment with labour, a punishment that some have called a ‘failure’ On Thursday, former president Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty of leading an insurrection and sentenced to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024. When he received his sentence, hundreds of his opponents cheered outside the court. But the mood quickly shifted to disappointment and anger. Continue reading...

Senior Hezbollah leader Hussein Yaghi reportedly killed in the attacks in the eastern Bekaa valley At least 10 people have been killed and 24 wounded – including three children – in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley, the Lebanese health ministry has said. Israel said it had hit “command centres” of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Bekaa valley. Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah senior leader Hussein Yaghi was killed in the Bekaa attacks. Continue reading...

Nevada county sheriff said investigation includes learning why the ski trip was not cancelled by the guide company Authorities are investigating whether any criminal negligence was involved in the deadly avalanche that swept California’s Lake Tahoe this week, which killed at least eight skiers and their guides while returning from a three-day backcountry skiing trip. The Nevada county sheriff’s office said on Friday said that they notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha), which regulates workplace safety, of the active investigation. Continue reading...

Hughes and Eichel spark US rout of Slovakia MacKinnon scores late to send Canada through Border rivals to meet for men’s hockey gold The United States and Canada men’s ice hockey teams will play for the Olympic gold medal on Sunday’s final day of the Milano Cortina Games after both teams won their semi-final contests on Friday evening. Canada left things late in the first game, coming from two goals down to win 3-2 over Finland on Nathan MacKinnon’s winner with 35.2 seconds remaining. The US took a more straightforward tack in the nightcap to set up the heavyweight final, roaring past Slovakia 6-2 after Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel scored in a 19-second span during the second period to blow things open, ensuring the Americans no worse than silver and their first men’s hockey medal in 16 years. Continue reading...

Philanthropist and mother of Elisabeth, James and Lachlan Murdoch died at home in Palm Beach, Florida The author and philanthropist Anna Murdoch-Mann, the ex-wife of the Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, died at her home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. She was 81. Murdoch-Mann’s death was reported Friday by the New York Post, one of her ex-husband’s media properties. Continue reading...

New coach starts tenure against Arsenal on Sunday Tudor insists ‘we have enormous quality in the squad’ Igor Tudor has said Tottenham are in “an emergency situation” but issued a guarantee that his new team would escape relegation. Tudor is a veteran of short-term appointments and has performed rescue jobs at Udinese, Verona and Juventus. He offered a curt “100%” in response to questions on his confidence in Spurs’s survival. The Croat’s tenure begins on Sunday with a north London derby at home to the wobbling Premier League leaders, though a lengthy injury list leaves him with only 13 fit senior players. Continue reading...

Rooney claimed coach lacked ‘aura’ to manage club ‘Jürgen Klopp and me both won the league’ Arne Slot has responded to Wayne Rooney’s claim that the Liverpool head coach does not have the “aura” to manage the club by pointing to his Premier League title success last season. Rooney questioned Slot’s suitability for the job, telling The Overlap: “I have met him a few times. He was a nice fella but I just don’t think, for Liverpool, he’s got that aura about him. Maybe this is because you have just come off the back of Jürgen Klopp and it’s going to be difficult for anyone to have that, but I just don’t think there’s that aura about him.” Continue reading...

Rightwing Trump ally tells Tucker Carlson Israel has biblical right to land from ‘wadi of Egypt to the great river’ The US’s ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has contended to the podcaster Tucker Carlson that Israel has a biblical right to take over the entire Middle East – or at least the lion’s share of it. “It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said to Carlson during an interview posted on Friday. The Trump administration appointee and former Arkansas governor discussed with Carlson interpretations of Old Testament scripture within the US Christian nationalist movement. Continue reading...

Federal judge said reporter Hannah Natanson ‘has basically been deprived of her life’s work’ after January raid A federal judge in Virginia on Friday declined to immediately rule on the Washington Post’s request for the government to return devices seized from reporter Hannah Natanson in a January raid of her home. But the judge, William B. Porter of the eastern district of Virginia, acknowledged the enormity and significance of the seizure during the afternoon hearing. “Ms Natanson has basically been deprived of her life’s work,” he said. Continue reading...

Claims against Wesley Dingus came from teen who had been staying at his residence and hid camera in bedroom A Republican mayor in Ohio is facing criminal allegations after authorities say he was recorded on a concealed camera smelling an underage girl’s underwear. An incident report from the Richland county sheriff’s Office details the accusations against Wesley Dingus, 48, who serves as mayor of Butler. The claims came from a juvenile who had been staying at his residence. Continue reading...

The decision adds to economic uncertainty, as deals Donald Trump struck with other countries are upended It is refreshing to witness the US supreme court recover its spine and stand up to Donald Trump’s most extreme caprices. The 6-3 decision on Friday to strike down his barrage of tariffs on imports from virtually everywhere based on the preposterous argument that they addressed national emergencies will reassure the world that the US’s system of government – based on the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the rule of law – has not collapsed entirely. But let’s hold the (imported) champagne. The court’s ruling will not restore the United States to its former place as a reasonable, trustworthy player in the world economy. The rules-based economic architecture that underpinned the integration of the world economy over the decades that followed the second world war remains fractured. Trump is still intent on its disintegration. And he retains power to do so. Continue reading...

Legislation responds to concerns that immigration officers could interfere with voting during November midterms A bill introduced this week by California lawmakers would ban federal immigration agents from being stationed outside polling places, responding to concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers could interfere with voting during the November midterm elections. The legislation was introduced on Thursday by state senator Tom Umberg and co-authored by state senator Sabrina Cervantes. Umberg said the measure intends to safeguard voters from “ruthless intimidation” near polling locations. Continue reading...

Study set to delay recruitment after warning participants should be a minimum of 14 years old A clinical trial into puberty blockers for children has been paused after the medicines regulator warned it should have a minimum age limit of 14 because of the “unquantified risk” of “long-term biological harms”. Discussions between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the trial sponsor, King’s College London, will begin next week to discuss the wellbeing concerns, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said on Friday evening. Continue reading...

Opponent’s blade slices above Kamila Sellier’s eye Polish skater was given stitches at arena Collision occurred during 1500m quarter-finals Short-track speed skater Kamila Sellier of Poland was immobilized on a stretcher and wheeled out of the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Friday night after a competitor’s blade sliced her above her left eye during the women’s 1500m at the Milano Cortina Olympics. Sellier went down along with 14-time Olympic medalist Arianna Fontana of Italy and American skater Kristen Santos-Griswold, who was penalized for an illegal lane pass that contributed to the accident. That kept Santos-Griswold from advancing through the quarter-final round. Continue reading...

Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after ‘back breeding’ programme using partial descendants Giant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years. The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a living larder during their hunting voyages. Continue reading...

Trainer Nicky Henderson shocked by Southwell victory ‘We will have to think long and hard about his future’ The mercurial career of Constitution Hill took a dramatic upward turn on Friday as the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner turned his belated Flat debut into a procession up the Southwell straight, coming home nine and a half lengths clear of the runner-up, with Oisin Murphy, the champion jockey, motionless in his saddle. Even those closest to Constitution Hill were left astonished by his performance, which may make it increasingly likely that the champion jumping horse who had famously forgotten how to jump will now switch to racing on the Flat full-time. Continue reading...

31-year-old adds to his 2018 silver and 2022 bronze Estonia’s Sildaru, Canada’s Mackay round out podium American freeskier Alex Ferreira won the men’s halfpipe final at the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Friday to complete his collection of Olympic medals. The 31-year-old Ferreira won with a third and final run worth 93.75 points, adding the gold medal to his silver from Pyeongchang in 2018 and bronze from Beijing in 2022. Continue reading...

Nasrallah Abu Siyam shot dead in occupied West Bank as UN human rights office accuses Israel of war crimes Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian American man during an attack on a village, the Palestinian health ministry and a witness have said. Raed Abu Ali, a resident of Mukhmas, said a group of settlers came to the village on Wednesday afternoon where they attacked a farmer, prompting clashes after residents intervened. Continue reading...

Playmaker, out of favour under Mikel Arteta, has scored 18 of his 38 Premier League goals at business end of the season Eberechi Eze was asked in an interview this week if there is a motto that he lives by and his answer was most revealing given how things have been going for him at Arsenal recently. “It’s not about now. It’s the long game,” he told the Men in Blazers podcast before Sunday’s north London derby. Remaining patient has been a recurring theme throughout Eze’s career ever since he was released by Arsenal at 13 and then rejected by several other clubs before finding a home at Queens Park Rangers. Yet having made an immediate impression after a £67.5m dream move back to his boyhood club from Crystal Palace that peaked with a memorable hat-trick against Tottenham at the end of November, the goals have dried up completely as Mikel Arteta has seemingly lost faith in the England forward. Continue reading...

Steve Borthwick needs a charge of electricity after the power cut in Scotland and team’s 21-year-old forward could fire up title challenge The third weekend of the Six Nations used to be a time for contemplation and reflection. After the fury of the first two rounds, everything would stop for a much-needed fallow week in which to restore energy levels. And now? The battle-scarred gladiators are about to “go again”, putting their bodies on the line out on the pitch or, in the case of travelling supporters, in the pub. Player welfare rules OK? That debate still rumbles on but certain other areas – fitness, mental resilience, squad depth – traditionally reserved for the tournament’s closing fortnight are increasingly front and centre. The rhythm of this year’s championship is subtly different, particularly for sides such as England with only two home fixtures. Slip up for a second successive Saturday and that’s it, folks, until November in terms of high-profile Twickenham opportunities. Continue reading...

Authorities suspect renowned astronomer Carl Grillmair was shot by 29-year-old man arrested for nearby carjacking A renowned California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientist who studied distant planets and other areas of astronomy for decades was recently shot to death at his home in a rural community outside Los Angeles, authorities said. Carl Grillmair, 67, died from a bullet wound to the torso on Monday in Llano, an unincorporated community in the Antelope Valley, according to information from the LA county medical examiner’s office. The county sheriff’s department said it has arrested a suspect in Grillmair’s slaying, identifying him as 29-year-old Freddy Snyder. Continue reading...

President called justices who blocked his tariffs a ‘disgrace to the nation’ while praising three justices who dissented US politics live – latest updates Donald Trump on Friday railed against the supreme court justices that blocked his use of tariffs, calling the decision a “disgrace to the nation” and claiming he plans to impose even more tariffs under other statutory authorities. “It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,” the president said during remarks from the White House. He cast that influence as social and cultural. “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.” Continue reading...