State department informs Congress of planned closures in Canada, Grenada, Japan, Indonesia and Cameroon
The US state department is to shut five foreign consulates and missions across Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean, drawing criticism that it is leaving a diplomatic vacuum at risk of being filled by China.
The US Congress has been served notice of the impending closures, which are being justified on cost grounds and follow a reassessment of the US’s bilateral relationships with a range of countries since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Continue reading...Veteran reportedly agrees to deal worth up to $12m
Wideout joins Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin
Diggs cleared by court and NFL after allegations
The Washington Commanders are set to sign four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday.
Diggs, 32, played last season with the New England Patriots and posted his seventh 1,000-yard campaign in the past eight years.
Continue reading...MTA to sell remaining machines – which weigh up to 1,050lbs – as it transitions to contactless fare system
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York City has begun auctioning off its final MetroCard vending machines, offering New Yorkers the chance to own one of the transit system’s most recognizable fixtures as the agency continues its transition to Omny.
The auction opened on Wednesday morning and will run through 19 August, according to the MTA. The agency is offering a limited number of retired MetroCard Vending Machines (MVM) and MetroCard Express Machines (MEM), which have served subway riders for decades.
Continue reading...Kansas Democrats nominated State Senator Cindy Holscher for governor after she defeated party-backed rival Ethan Corson. "The race became a test of what sort of candidate Democratic voters prefer in what is expected to be a challenging general election race: a more moderate candidate like Mr. Corson with endorsements from party leaders or an outspoken populist like Ms. Holscher, who spoke out against data centers and the political establishment," reports The New York Times. From the repot: Even in a national political environment that could favor Democrats, Republicans see the Kansas governorship as among their best opportunities for flipping a seat. President Trump carried Kansas by 16 percentage points in 2024, and Republicans hold supermajorities in the State Legislature. Voters in the Republican primary for governor nominated Ty Masterson, the president of the Kansas Senate and the recipient of Mr. Trump's endorsement, according to The A.P. Ms. Holscher, who is from suburban Kansas City, sought out a lane to Mr. Corson's political left and made inroads with some of the state's progressive voters. She emphasized her role in unwinding former Gov. Sam Brownback's tax policies and called for a moratorium on data centers. She also spoke against a final deal to lure the Kansas City Chiefs across the state line from Missouri. Ms. Holscher presented an implicit critique of Ms. Kelly's stewardship of Kansas, referring to Mr. Corson as part of a political establishment that was too cozy with corporations and out of touch with the party's voters. "I'm the only Democrat in this race to call for a moratorium on data centers because we have to get these guardrails in place," said Holscher in an interview. "We are having our people and our resources exploited."
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The former public health official beat congresswoman Haley Stevens in race to face Republican Mike Rogers to represent state
A quick update on the marquee Democratic primary race for US Senate in Michigan.
Haley Stevens is trailing Abdul El-Sayed by fewer than 15,000 votes, according the Associated Press, whose count the Guardian uses on election night.
Continue reading...Democrats ‘united by a common purpose: putting a check on Trump’, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand say
Leading Democrats quickly papered over whatever qualms they had about progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed after his win in the Michigan Senate primary was confirmed on Wednesday, instead welcoming the former public health official as their champion against the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers.
The state is now key to Democrats’s hopes of retaking control of the chamber in November’s midterm elections. Winning in Michigan would put them on the path to snarling Donald Trump’s legislative agenda and blocking his judicial nominees for the final two years of his presidency, while defeat could undermine their prospects of gaining a majority in the chamber for years to come. Rogers lost a Senate race in Michigan two years ago by a slim margin to Democrat Elissa Slotkin.
Continue reading...Google is reshuffling its AI leadership as Demis Hassabis steps away from day-to-day management of DeepMind to become chairman and Alphabet's chief scientist, while CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu takes operational control. Meanwhile, longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and several prominent researchers are leaving to launch their own company. Axios reports: Hassabis will add the title of chief scientist for Google parent company Alphabet and also continue to lead Isomorphic Labs, the company's AI drug discovery spinoff. Koray Kavukcuoglu, the current chief technology officer of Google DeepMind will serve as senior VP of the unit, reporting to CEO Sundar Pichai. Dean, a 27-year Google veteran is starting Discovery Loop, an independent publicity benefit corporation in which Google will be an investor and cloud provider. Joining him in that effort are Google senior fellow Sanjay Ghemawat as well as Oriol Vinyals, a DeepMind VP and Quoc Le, a Google Brain co-founder. [...] In an interview with The New York Times, Dean indicated that leaving Google, a public company, gives him more leeway to focus on scientific discoveries associated with AI as well. "We might make decisions that are not necessarily in the company's purist financial interests," he told NYT. "I've been working towards AGI my whole life and now, like many of you, I feel it is close at hand," Hassabis wrote. "It's critical that we collectively get the next steps right to ensure this all goes well for humanity and we usher in an incredible new age of discovery and wonder." "With this backdrop, I've decided that now is the right time for me to hand over my day-to-day operational responsibilities at GDM, so that I have the time and space to focus on the big picture and help influence what is to come to the best of my ability"
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Elections underscored that momentum of progressive candidates remains strong but not unstoppable
Tuesday’s primary elections in five states will be looked back on as a marquee moment ahead of November’s midterm elections, as voters in Michigan, Washington, Virginia, Kansas and Missouri selected candidates for races that could decide which party wins control of Congress.
Here’s a rundown of what we learned from the results:
Continue reading...Joanna Whaley, ex-megachurch pastor who endured years of conversion practices, comfortably bested her opponents
A former megachurch pastor who endured 15 years of conversion practices is set to become the first transgender member of Michigan’s state legislature after winning a Democratic primary election on Tuesday.
Joanna Whaley comfortably defeated Frank Liberati, a former state representative, and Gary Schlack in the primary for the second district of the Michigan statehouse, a Democratic stronghold.
Continue reading...Homeland Security told immigrants that leaving the US would wipe out fines it claims they owe. Now it wants private investigators to find them in their home countries and collect.