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House voting on rule to pave the way to final debate on Trump’s tax-and-spending bill – US politics live

by Robert Mackey (now); Lucy Campbell, Marina Dunbar and Tom Ambrose (earlier) on July 3, 2025 at 2:04 am

Procedural vote would open final debate but measure has already been voted against by enough Republicans to have it fail

Donald Trump on Tuesday toured “Alligator Alcatraz”, a controversial new migrant detention jail in the remote Florida Everglades, and celebrated the harsh conditions that people sent there would experience.

The president was chaperoned by Florida’s hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, who hailed the tented camp on mosquito-infested land 50 miles west of Miami as an example for other states that supported Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Japan’s Tokara islands hit by 900 earthquakes in two weeks

by Justin McCurry in Tokyo on July 3, 2025 at 1:42 am

No major damage has been reported in the Tokara island chain, Japan’s meteorological agency says

More than 900 earthquakes have shaken a remote island chain in southern Japan in the past two weeks, according to the country’s weather agency, leaving residents unable to sleep and fearful of what might come next.

Although no major damage has been reported, the Japan Meteorological Agency has acknowledged that it does not know when the quakes would end.

How do you feed your family in Gaza? | Fiona Katauskas

by Fiona Katauskas on July 3, 2025 at 1:11 am

It should give us all food for thought

See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs found guilty on two of five counts as lawyers call verdict ‘great victory’

by Anna Betts in New York on July 3, 2025 at 1:04 am

Jury finds music mogul not guilty on most serious charges but judge denies request for bail

A New York Jury has found Sean “Diddy” Combs guilty of two counts and not guilty on three counts, following a closely watched seven-week federal trial marked by emotional and graphic testimony.

The mixed verdict saw Combs being found not guilty of the biggest charge, racketeering conspiracy, not guilty of the sex trafficking of Casandra Ventura or the sex trafficking of “Jane”, and guilty of both the transportation to engage in prostitution related to Casandra Ventura and the transportation to engage in prostitution related to “Jane”.

Kilmar Ábrego García was tortured in Salvadorian prison, court filing alleges

by Maanvi Singh on July 3, 2025 at 1:03 am

New court documents allege physical and psychological torture at Cecot in one of first looks at conditions in prison

Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and detained in one of that country’s most notorious prisons, was physically and psychologically tortured during the three months he spent in Salvadorian custody, according to new court documents filed Wednesday.

While being held at the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador, Ábrego García and 20 other men “were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM”, according to the court papers filed by his lawyers in the federal district court in Maryland.

The leaked phone call that could ring the changes for one of Thailand’s most powerful dynasties

by Rebecca Ratcliffe in Bangkok on July 3, 2025 at 1:02 am

A conversation between the prime minister and Cambodia’s former leader has sparked chaos and coup concerns and possibly the end of the Shinawatra family’s political fortunes

It was a call to someone she considered an old family friend. When Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra picked up the phone to Hun Sen, the powerful former leader of neighbouring Cambodia, she was trying, she says, to ease tensions that had erupted over a border dispute.

Instead their conversation, curiously published in full by Hun Sen himself after an initial clip was leaked, has sparked a fresh political crisis in Thailand that could signal the end of her premiership and significantly dent the position of her family, the powerful Shinawatras. It is also likely to usher in a new chapter of political uncertainty in a country prone to military coups and judicial warfare.

Ukraine war briefing: Washington downplays halt of some weapons shipments as Kyiv calls in US ambassador

by Guardian staff and agencies on July 3, 2025 at 12:58 am

Ukraine warns that any cut-off will ‘only encourage the aggressor’ while Pentagon spokesperson says Donald Trump still has ‘robust options’ for military aid to Ukraine. What we know on day 1,226

Read all our Ukraine war coverage

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine. The Pentagon’s decision – tied to concerns that US military stockpiles are too low – began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, four people familiar with the decision told Reuters on Wednesday. It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS (mobile rocket artillery) missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, they said. “The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine’s defence capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said. The defence ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in US shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts. A Ukrainian source familiar with the situation said the decision was a “total shock.”

US officials downplayed the White House announcement, saying President Donald Trump still had “robust” options for military assistance to Kyiv. “The department of defence continues to provide the president with robust options regarding military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told journalists. “The department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach towards achieving this objective while also preserving US military readiness and defence priorities,” he said. State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce meanwhile told reporters that “this is not a cessation of us assisting Ukraine or of providing weapons. This is one event, and one situation, and we’ll discuss what else comes up in the future.”

An arson attack on a restaurant and supermarket in Estonia last year were ordered by Russian intelligence, an Estonian court said Wednesday. The attack was one in a series across Europe tracked by The Associated Press and linked to Russia by western officials. The goal, they asserted, was to sow division in western societies and undermine support for Ukraine. The Harju county court in Estonia said the perpetrators were two Moldovan men who are cousins, both named Ivan Chihaial.

Russia has made incursions near two towns key to army supply routes in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday, as Moscow seeks a breakthrough in its summer offensive. In recent weeks, Russia has amassed forces and despite heavy losses has advanced in rural areas either side of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, which both sit on crossroads running to the frontline from larger cities in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Four companies of the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) will receive 2.4bn złotys ($665m) in financing from the state assets ministry for a project to build three ammunition factories, the ministry said on Wednesday. Poland is leading a European push to boost its defence readiness to deter any possible attack from Russia and to be less dependent for security on the United States.

Russia is using the online media outlet Red to sow discontent in German society as part of a disinformation campaign waged alongside its war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday. “Red presents itself as a revolutionary platform for independent journalists. However, it has close links with the Russian state media outlet RT,” a spokesperson for the foreign ministry told reporters in Berlin. “Today we can confirm that Red is being used by Russia specifically to manipulate information,” the spokesperson added. Red is run by Turkish media company AFA Medya, which together with its founder Huseyin Dogru is already the subject of EU sanctions targeting Russia and is accused of “undermining the democratic political process” in Germany. After they were sanctioned, Red announced on 16 May that it was closing down. Dogro has denied any links with the Kremlin or that the site is funded by Russia, according to media reports.

Pentagon says US strikes set back Iran nuclear program ‘one to two years’

by Hugo Lowell in Washington on July 2, 2025 at 11:32 pm

Sean Parnell repeats Trump claim that key sites were destroyed, based on ‘assessments inside the department’

Pentagon reviews arms exports to allies as munition stockpiles reportedly drop

The Pentagon has collected intelligence material that suggests Iran’s nuclear program was set back roughly one to two years as a result of the US strikes on three key facilities last month, the chief spokesperson at the defense department said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The spokesperson, Sean Parnell, repeated Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s key nuclear sites had been completely destroyed, although he did not offer further details on the origin of the assessments beyond saying it came from inside the defense department.