Prisoners, including Rafael Caro Quintero, extradited as Mexico faces pressure to show it’s tackling fentanyl trafficking
Mexico has extradited 29 high-level organised crime operatives to the US, as it faces intense pressure from the Trump administration to show that it is tackling fentanyl trafficking.
Among the prisoners sent to the US was Rafael Caro Quintero, the drug lord who was convicted of the murder of an undercover US Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985.
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© Photograph: AP
© Photograph: AP
Employees informed by email that their jobs would be cut off at end of day in move a worker called ‘wrong all around’
The Trump administration has fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency housed within the Department of Commerce, the Guardian has learned.
On Thursday afternoon, the commerce department sent emails to employees saying their jobs would be cut off at the end of the day, in a move that one worker called “wrong all around”. Other government agencies have also seen massive staffing cuts in recent days.
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© Photograph: Mike Theiler/Reuters
© Photograph: Mike Theiler/Reuters
President claims presence of US workers in Ukraine would deter Russian aggression after talks with Keir Starmer
Donald Trump has insisted that Vladimir Putin would “keep his word” on a peace deal for Ukraine, arguing that US workers extracting critical minerals in the country would act as a security backstop to deter Russia from invading again.
During highly anticipated talks at the White House with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, the US president said that Putin could be trusted not to breach any agreement, which could aim to return as much of the land as possible to Ukraine that was seized by Russia during the brutal three-year conflict.
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© Photograph: Carl Court/AP
© Photograph: Carl Court/AP
World champion will be remembered for the ‘match of the century’ against American Bobby Fischer in 1972
Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, who was famously defeated at the height of the cold war, has died at 88, the Russian Chess Federation has announced.
“The tenth world champion Boris Spassky has died at 88,” the federation said in a statement on its website on Thursday, calling it a “great loss for the country”. The statement did not say when he died or from what cause.
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© Photograph: J Walter Green/AP
© Photograph: J Walter Green/AP
We want to hear about chance encounters and acts of kindness that have restored your faith in community – or humanity
From wise words to good deeds, sometimes an interaction with a total stranger can be exactly what you need.
Guardian Australia is looking for readers willing to share their memorable moments with unfamiliar folk for our series Kindness of strangers.
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© Photograph: SolStock/Getty Images
© Photograph: SolStock/Getty Images
The Women’s Super League is considering abolishing relegation as part of a radical proposal to grow the sport that will be discussed by the clubs at a meeting on Friday.
The Guardian has learned that the 23 WSL and Championship clubs have been called to a strategy summit by the newly formed company that runs both competitions, Women’s Professional Leagues Ltd, who will ask them to explore a range of options to increase the profile, sustainability and profitability of women’s football.
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© Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/Reuters
© Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/Reuters
The PCC – First Capital Command – formed in a Sāo Paulo prison but is now spreading its tentacles around the world
In September 2020, the Australian Border Force intercepted 552kg of cocaine concealed in 2,000 boxes of frozen banana pulp that had arrived at the port of Sydney on a ship from Brazil.
Two years later, a diver was found floating dead next to 52kg of cocaine near the port of Newcastle, in New South Wales, Australia. Police later discovered that he was a Brazilian national who had been attempting to retrieve drugs from a cargo ship’s hull.
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© Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
© Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP
The 1890 National Scholars program gives full rides to HBCU students in fields like botany, forestry and food safety
Dr Marcus Bernard was shocked to learn last week that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had suspended the 1890 National Scholars program that funds undergraduate students’ education in agriculture or related fields at about 20 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Bernard is dean of the college of agriculture, health and natural resources at one of those institutions, Kentucky State University. At Kentucky State, close to 40 of the scholars have enrolled since the project’s inception in 1992. Nationwide, the program has supported more than 800 students, according to the USDA.
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© Photograph: Tom Witham/USDA
© Photograph: Tom Witham/USDA
It has been a midweek of Premier League certainties being secured at both top and bottom. Place Leicester in the certainty category. Defeat at West Ham extended Leicester’s doomed, zombified lurch towards relegation to 11 defeats in 12, 11 from 16 since Ruud van Nistelrooy replaced Steve Cooper in November.
If Cooper was the wrong man at the wrong club then so is the Dutchman. Perhaps no manager had a chance with the squad Leicester assembled to attempt survival. Graham Potter, previously linked with Leicester, has meanwhile restored order to West Ham. Jarrod Bowen made things happen for both first-half goals, involved in the move for the first from Tomas Soucek, the second an own goal from Jannik Vestergaard the Hammers captain’s zest had enforced.
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© Photograph: Dalton Bowden/REX/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Dalton Bowden/REX/Shutterstock
Hendricks plays a Hollywood producer who returns to her home town to shoot a show in this whimsical comedy drama – and she is not someone you want to cross
How much you enjoy Small Town, Big Story will depend on how you feel first about whimsy and second about genre mashups. If your appetite for both is large, then Chris O’Dowd’s creation (he wrote and directed) has plenty to make you happy. If not, you might find the whole thing a little too underpowered to keep you going.
Christina Hendricks, of Mad Men fame, plays hard-bitten TV producer Wendy Patterson. She is in charge of her first big Hollywood production and returns to her tiny home town of Drumbán in Northern Ireland (after 25 years in Los Angeles surrounded by fat-cat bosses and patronising colleagues) to shoot it there. This follows shenanigans by Drumbán’s more colourful and eccentric characters to keep the location scouts from choosing a more tax-advantageous site across the border; these shenanigans include a pig’s head on a stick and a sign saying “Death to the infidels”, which, you know … well, OK, all right. Not even so much from an offence-giving point of view but from an “Is this remotely credible in this particular world?” position.
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© Photograph: Bernard Walsh/©Sky UK Ltd
© Photograph: Bernard Walsh/©Sky UK Ltd
Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor, 39, died this week after being found unresponsive at her apartment
The cause of Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Michelle Trachtenberg’s death will remain undetermined as her family has reportedly declined an autopsy.
According to Deadline, the actor’s family have chosen not to go forward with an autopsy because of religious reasons. As no foul play is suspected, the decision was not overruled by the medical examiner.
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© Photograph: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce is returning to the field next season.
Kelce made his intentions known with a text to ESPN’s Pat McAfee, who promptly shared it on his show Thursday.
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© Photograph: Mark J Rebilas/USA Today Sports
© Photograph: Mark J Rebilas/USA Today Sports
Todd Boehly has said the Premier League should consider selling its global TV rights to Netflix, as he shrugged off tensions with supporters and questions over his model of ownership in rare public remarks.
The Chelsea co-owner also called on Premier League executives to agree on priorities for the future of the competition, saying they should “pull together” in order to maintain its success. “Premier League content is so valuable because it’s so widely demanded,” Boehly said. “How many global platforms are there? Probably just Netflix. If you’re thinking about how do I launch a global product, you do it in partnership with content like this.
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© Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
© Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
‘I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country,’ president says of plan to hand sovereignty to Mauritius
Donald Trump has strongly hinted that he will back a deal in which the UK hands sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, including the Diego Garcia military base, which is jointly used by the US.
“I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country,” the US president told reporters during an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office with Keir Starmer, who is visiting Washington. He added: “I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well.”
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© Photograph: Carl Court/AP
© Photograph: Carl Court/AP
Rhianan Rudd, 16, was referred to Prevent by her mother after becoming ‘fixated on Hitler’, inquest told
A teenager who killed herself after becoming the youngest person in the UK to be charged with terror offences had been groomed online by an American “neo-Nazi”, an inquest has been told.
Sixteen-year-old Rhianan Rudd, who was autistic, had been referred to the government’s Prevent counter-radicalisation programme by her mother, Emily Carter, the counsel to the inquest, Edward Pleeth, told the hearing.
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© Photograph: Family handout/PA
© Photograph: Family handout/PA
Appeal court says there is ‘no basis’ to delay start of hearings next week
The court of appeal has refused Noel Clarke permission to challenge a trial judge’s decision not to throw out the Guardian’s defence in a libel claim.
The 49-year-old actor is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over a series of articles in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.
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© Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA
© Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA
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