Parents could see up to $12,000 child tax refund under new bipartisan House bill
Probationary employees targeted for cuts thought to mainly be auditors and support staff; Vance due to give speech at CPAC
Donald Trump signed another round of executive orders onboard Air Force One last night, among them one aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the country illegally.
The order seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens”, according to the White House, although it was not clear which benefits will be targeted.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images
© Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Downing Street says the two leaders spoke overnight, after Donald Trump accused the Ukrainian president of being a ‘dictator’
As well as appearing on the airwaves this morning to promote Labour’s £270m Arts Everywhere fund, culture secretary Lisa Nandy also supplied some quotes for the press release accompanying the launch.
She said:
Arts and culture help us understand the world we live in, they shape and define society and are enjoyed by people in every part of our country. They are the building blocks of our world-leading creative industries and make a huge contribution towards boosting growth and breaking down barriers to opportunities for young people to learn the creative skills they need to succeed.
The funding we are announcing today will allow the arts to continue to flourish across Britain, creating good jobs and growth by fixing the foundations in our cultural venues, museums, libraries and heritage institutions [and] will ensure that arts and cultural institutions truly are for everyone, everywhere.
Look, we’ve had a decade where funding to the arts, funding for communities has been slashed. We’ve seen culture erased from our classrooms and our communities. It’s economic madness.
This is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK – film, music, literature, TV. We export them all over the world. We’ve got countries clamouring to invest here in the UK. Some of the biggest streamers in the world, who want to invest more in the UK, but it takes support from the government
Continue reading...© Photograph: US Army Photo/Alamy
© Photograph: US Army Photo/Alamy
The Scotland co-captain Finn Russell has been passed fit for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup match with England but his fellow back Darcy Graham misses out.
The key duo were doubts for the Six Nations showdown at Allianz Stadium after colliding with each other and being forced off with head injuries in the first half of the defeat by Ireland.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
© Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
Deal struck with heirs to legendary film producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, long-serving stewards of franchise
James Bond is now in the hands of a billionaire’s business empire, after Amazon announced it has acquired creative control of the spy franchise from the Broccoli dynasty.
Amazon MGM Studios said it had struck a deal with Michael G Wilson, and Barbara Broccoli, the heirs to the legendary film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, and long-time stewards of the Bond films.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Michael Sohn/AP
© Photograph: Michael Sohn/AP
Downhill skier Tereza Nova has been woken from a medical coma nearly four weeks after crashing in training for a World Cup race, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation said on Thursday.
“After a severe brain injury, she was gradually awakened from artificial sleep and will be transported from the trauma clinic in Germany back to the Czech Republic today,” the FIS said in an update from the Czech team.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Alessandro Trovati/AP
© Photograph: Alessandro Trovati/AP
Donald Trump’s involvement in professional golf’s peace talks has ramped up further, with Tiger Woods among those due to be afforded an audience with the US president at the White House on Thursday afternoon.
Woods is expected to join the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, fellow board member Adam Scott and representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a meeting hosted by Trump amid increasing hopes the fractured sport can unite over the coming months. Key sticking points surround the precise role for Yasir al-Rumayyan, the PIF’s governor, in golf’s new world and where the Saudi-established LIV Tour sits on the sport’s schedule.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/TGL/TGL Golf/Getty Images
© Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/TGL/TGL Golf/Getty Images
Wonsan resorts offer troops time-off to recover, but some wonder if move is a pretence for military training
After two years fighting for Russia on the frontlines in Ukraine, Aleksei returned to his home town of Vladivostok last summer to recover from a shrapnel wound to his leg.
Looking to speed up his recovery and take a break from the city, he asked his military unit in Russia’s far east to see if he could secure a state-sponsored stay at a sanatorium – a health resort offering a mix of medical treatment and rest.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP
© Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP
Sale of the miner, which is now valued at $4bn, may be delayed following ‘really, really difficult’ market
The world’s biggest diamond miner De Beers cost its parent company almost $3bn last year as the growth in lab-grown stones continues to take the shine off the industry.
Anglo American was forced to write down the value of the renowned gem producer for a second consecutive year as its chief executive admitted that the diamond markets had proved “really, really difficult for the company”.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA-EFE
© Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA-EFE
As Trump tries to revoke birthright citizenship, a civic group looks to the Black lawmaker who helped establish it
After Donald Trump issued an executive order to limit birthright citizenship last month, Marilyn Hemingway, the CEO and president of the Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce, knew she had to do something. Based in Georgetown, South Carolina, the GGCC helps preserve the history of Gullah Geechee people, the Africans who were enslaved on the Sea Islands along the Atlantic coast, and their descendants. One such person was Joseph Hayne Rainey, a man born in Georgetown and enslaved until his father purchased his freedom when he was 10. Rainey is who Hemingway immediately thought of following Trump’s order.
Rainey was the first Black person elected to the United States congress, where he was known for his support of the 14th amendment, which was ratified in 1868 and stated: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The amendment was necessary to give the roughly 4.5 million Black people in the country citizenship after emancipation, as a previous supreme court case, Dred Scott v Sandford, had denied citizenship to all people of African descent.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images
© Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images
Remains of two young children, their mother and an elderly man arrived in Tel Aviv after a ceremony in Gaza
The remains of two young children, their mother, and an elderly man taken hostage by Hamas have been returned to Israel in what onlookers described as one of the “hardest days” for Israelis since the Palestinian militant group attack that ignited the war in Gaza.
A convoy carrying the bodies of Shiri Bibas, 32, her sons Ariel and Kfir, four years and nine months old respectively, and 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, all from the Nir Oz kibbutz, arrived at a forensics centre in Tel Aviv on Thursday for DNA checks and autopsy procedures.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
The last 16 beckons, and there were plenty of storylines to digest. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action
Feyenoord
Continue reading...© Composite: Getty, Shutterstock
© Composite: Getty, Shutterstock
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading...© Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
The animation studio’s softball series is occasionally tender and wise, with moments that are rich and funny – even if the characters don’t get enough airtime
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. It’s a cliche because it’s true, and it could be the motto for Pixar’s best creations – its animations have revealed the hidden feelings of toys, monsters, even cars. That idea powers Win or Lose, the studio’s latest TV series – and in the moments where it commits to its ethos fully, it delivers a powerful appeal for empathy with a knowing smile.
We watch the Pickles, a middle-school kids’ softball team led by blustering dad-coach Dan (Will Forte), as they play a crucial match. They win! Thus they have the chance to play in the state championship seven days later, which is as scary as it is exciting. That is the foundation every instalment is built on. Like a sporting version of multiple-perspective arthouse classic Rashomon, we keep replaying the same week’s events – but through the eyes of a new person each time.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Pixar/PIXAR
© Photograph: Pixar/PIXAR
It may help to view parenthood as a rapidly changing condition, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith says. It’s also important not to struggle with these feelings alone
I have two children, aged eight and four. I love them both and we live in a mostly happy family with their dad, my partner.
We had our children in our early 30s, without really thinking about it or talking it through. I have struggled to find peace with my role as a parent and, though I love my kids, I am increasingly envious of my single friends.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Artefact/Alamy
© Photograph: Artefact/Alamy