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The research, published on Tuesday, comes at a time when the government is considering imposing restrictions on international students coming to the UK as part of its efforts to reduce the net migration figure.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is said to be braced for a record increase in net migration this month. Some reports estimate that the figure could reach close to a million, up from 504,000 last year.
Among the measures ministers are thought be considering are visa restrictions for international students’ dependants and reductions in their post-study work visa rights, both of which would act as a deterrent to potential overseas students.
The report, The Costs and Benefits of International Higher Education Students to the UK, is published by Universities UK International (UUKi), the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Kaplan International Pathways, in collaboration with London Economics.
PA Media
WIONRelated: UK curbs on international student visas would be ‘act of economic self-harm’
Jamie Arrowsmith, UUKi director, said: “We should be proud that our universities continue to attract students from all over the world. It is vital that the UK remains an open and welcoming destination for international students, and that their contribution is recognised and valued.”
There has been a 68% increase in the number of new international students from non-EU countries since 2018/9 – the number of EU students has however plummeted post-Brexit – and universities have become increasingly dependent on them and their higher fees as the value of domestic tuition fees falls.
The study, which focuses on the cohort of international students who started higher education in the UK in 2021/22, estimates that each of the UK’s 650 parliamentary constituencies is £58m better off as a result of them, equivalent to approximately £560 per citizen.
International students studying in Glasgow, London, Sheffield, Nottingham and Newcastle are among those to deliver the greatest financial boost, according to the report. Even when taking into account dependants and the cost to public services, which it estimates at £4.4bn, the study says international students are a huge net contributor to the UK economy, providing a total net benefit of £37.4bn.
Marcelo Bielsa has been appointed as Uruguay head coach.
The 67-year-old had been out of football management since leaving Leeds almost 15 months ago.
The Uruguayan Football Association confirmed Bielsa’s appointment on a deal running until the 2026 World Cup.
He succeeds Diego Alonso as national team boss.
Alonso’s contract expired after the World Cup in Qatar earlier this season, where Uruguay suffered a shock group-stage exit.
Dailymotion
SNTVBielsa served as manager of Argentina from 1998 to 2004 and he also had a four-year stint in charge of Chile.
Bielsa guided Leeds back to the Premier League from the Championship in 2020 and was one of the most popular managers in the club’s history.
But he left in February last year following a run of four successive league defeats.
His lengthy managerial career has also included spells with Athletic Bilbao, Marseille and Lille.
Uruguay are currently 16th in FIFA’s world rankings, with Bielsa’s first major campaign at the helm set to be next year’s Copa America in the United States.
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Bang Showbiz
Toto Wolff has revealed it is "embarrassing" to discuss contract details with Lewis Hamilton with a deal yet to be signed. Hamilton has not put pen to paper on a new contract at Mercedes despite his current agreement expiring at the end of the season.
The pair were expected to sit down and agree a new deal over the winter but this failed to materialise. Providing a rare update on the talks, Wolff hinted that much of the delay was due to the embarrassment of discussing financial terms.
According to Motorsport-Total.com, Wolff said: "It's super embarrassing. Every three years, we know that we have this moment. And it's like negotiating the financial terms with your best friend with a close friend. How do you go about it?
"Normally, you don't have a situation like that. I want the best for him, but in this role, I need the best for the team. It may be the only time in our ten or eleven years that we're together and our goals diverge."
Hamilton is understood to be after a "multi-year" deal which could see him commit to the sport until the end of 2025. The silence around Hamilton's future has led some pundits to predict Hamilton could walk away from the German marque.
The seven-time champion has been linked with a move to Ferrari as Mercedes continue to struggle for pace. Sky Sports host Martin Brundle felt Hamilton could allow himself "one more roll of the dice" at another squad.
Meanwhile, Eddie Jordan suggested Hamilton needed a challenge and felt a move to Ferrari would be what F1 "needed". But, Hamilton has refused to be drawn into the rumours and has repeatedly pledged his allegiance to the Silver Arrows.
He wasn't even phased by suggestions that Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was supposedly in talks with Mercedes. The Monegasque failed to rule out a move but did confirm he had not held talks with Wolff at this stage.
When asked if the links affected his own agreement, Hamilton said: "No, not really, I think maybe some of the drivers all have different relationships with different bosses and stuff.
"I like where I am, I love my team, and I'm grateful for the journey we've been on and what we're working on moving forwards. So, it doesn't have any impact, no."
Global News
TODAYWASHINGTON – Pandemic-era immigration restrictions are finally gone, but what that means for the U.S.-Mexico border is unclear.
The Biden administration said Monday it is still assessing the impact of the end of controversial immigration rules known as Title 42, which made it easier to expel migrants at the southern border. The rules, which ended Friday, had been in place for three years as part of the federal public health emergency for COVID-19.
Thousands of migrants have been waiting in Mexico for the restrictions to end, and analysts predicted chaos and a surge of migrants looking to cross the border once the policy was finally lifted. So far, that hasn't happened.
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"The situation on the border is very fluid," said Blas Nunez-Neto, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy. "This is a continuously evolving situation that we are monitoring in real time."
Here are three takeaways from administration’s termination of the policy.
Dire prediction: Biden says border will be `chaotic for a while' when Title 42 ends
No migrant surge after Title 42. But could it still happen?
In the days leading up to the end of Title 42, the U.S. averaged roughly 10,000 migrant encounters per day along the U.S.-Mexico border as immigrants sought to enter the U.S. before the policy was terminated. Those numbers were expected to surge following the termination of Title 42.
Evening Standard
Paris Saint-Germain have identified Manchester City star Bernardo Silva as the replacement for the outgoing Lionel Messi.
The Argentine superstar is expected to leave PSG when his contract expires at the end of the current season, as reported by Mirror Football . The club are no longer prioritising his contract renewal and are now planning on building their squad without Messi.
City ace Silva has emerged as a serious contender to lead the incomings at the Parc des Princes this summer. The Portugal international has been on Barcelona ’s wanted list for the past year with boss Xavi Hernandez confirming they wanted a deal last summer, which did not come to fruition.
Silva may not be going to Barca but Messi might well be. The club are aiming to secure his signature this summer as a free agent and Messi wants to return to the Blaugrana, but the club’s financial position means any move is wrought with complications.
Big-name arrivals at the Camp Nou are unlikely without exits first. As reported in December by Sport, the Catalan club need to reduce their salary outgoings of €600million to €400m for next season in order to register new players and any new contracts.
Messi’s exit from PSG will ensure that wage regulations are no issue for the French club, as Le Parisien report City star Silva is at the top of their wanted list this summer. It is also claimed that they are monitoring the situation of Tottenham striker Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen of Napoli.
Have Your Say! Would signing Silva to replace Messi be a good move by PSG? Tell us what you think here.
Not only are the pair much happier than they were before, but they are also earning more, making more in half an hour on the site than they would in a day working for the NHS.
Speaking to YorkshireLive, Kayley said: "Working in the ambulance service was terrible for our mental health. It's a minimum 12-hour shift most of the time and it was so busy.
"Sometimes I'd be assigned a call at the start of my shift at 6am, but then by the end of my shift at 6pm I still hadn't gotten round to going. I ended up feeling so bad thinking about leaving someone there so I'd just go anyway."
After leaving the ambulance service in January 2021, Kayley joined OnlyFans two months later. Her partner of seven years, Emily, joined the team full-time in January 2023 and said their new job means they get to spend more time together.
READ MORE: Below Deck star shares 'real reason' she joined OnlyFans
Emily said their jobs in the NHS were so intense that the couple would sometimes go "six days without spending any time together". She added: "We tried to pick up shifts together, but that was very rare".
Kayley said one of the reasons for making the switch occurred during lockdown when she discovered people in coffee shops were making more serving cappuccinos than she was saving lives.
She said: "One of the final straws for me is when I was working throughout lockdown, and I spoke to people that would earn more than me working at a coffee shop.
"I was on £11-an-hour driving around during the height of the pandemic, going through really traumatic experiences and getting nothing back."
While Kayley built her following on OnlyFans, Emily continued to work in the ambulance service but left her role after a decline in her mental health.
- Writer and documentarian Douglas Rushkoff has changed his thinking on the digital boom, he told Wired.
- Rushkoff, who now teaches, said the digital economy made billionaires, but also "poor, unhappy people."
- He told his students he was "excited" in the 1990s about the possibilities of the digital economy.
Douglas Rushkoff, a prolific author and documentarian, has changed his mind on the digital economy that he was "excited" for in the 1990s, according to a new profile in Wired.
Rushkoff, who is now a professor of media theory and digital economics at Queens College, told his students in a Zoom lecture observed by Wired that he "was pretty freaking excited in the '90s about the possibilities for a new kind of peer-to-peer economy," but now sees that economy has "made a bunch of billionaires and a whole lot of really poor, unhappy people."
Over his career, Rushkoff has written dozens of books, articles, and documentaries about the digital boom's influence on people and other structures. His latest book, "Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires," is about how the people who've profited the most from the digital economy want to "escape a disaster of their own making." He calls himself a "Marxist media theorist," in the book, as Wired notes.
For decades, wealth disparity among Americans has increased due to policy changes and rising costs in areas like education and childcare. Insider has previously reported on the "two-track" economy, where those already earning middle to high incomes or who owned stocks are the main beneficiaries of a previously booming economy. Inequality worsened when the coronavirus pandemic struck in March 2020, as those at the bottom income brackets became even more financially and physically vulnerable, and those at the top continued to benefit.
As for "unhappy people," according to a study from the World Happiness Report in 2019, feelings of happiness and well-being among US adults has been in decline since 2000, despite being high throughout the 1990s. Adolescents too saw a decline in happiness after 2012.
Despite the optimism for the potentials of the digital economy he had decades ago, Rushkoff has changed his thinking, Wired reports.
"I find, a lot of times, digital technologies are really good at exacerbating the problem while also camouflaging the problem," Rushkoff told his students over Zoom according to Wired. "They make things worse while making it look like something's actually changed."
He also told Wired that he's "come to see these technologies as intrinsically antihuman."
Wired notes that Rushkoff might still be open to technological developments, like ChatGPT, which he tells his students not to use to write papers, but then counters saying "we'll figure it out."
A representative for Rushkoff did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
You can read more about Rushkoff's thoughts on the digital boom on Wired.
‘It is heart-wrenching to think someone would do such a horrible thing, for no good reason.
‘My car is completely destroyed. The engine is on the floor, I have no front half of my car – there’s just charcoal inside.’
Another witness, Poppy Baker, 57, said the heat from the fires caused the paint on her front door to melt.
Kayleigh Humphries, 33, added: ‘I thought there had been a car accident because I heard a massive bang.
‘When I came outside I saw two cars engulfed in flames and then looked further up the road and saw another two on fire.
‘The night sky was just glowing orange all around. It’s a war zone out there today, there are so many burnt out cars.’
Dorset Police, supported by the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, have now launched an investigation to identify who is responsible.
Anyone who has information or saw any suspicious activity is urged to come forward.
Officers are also asking people with home CCTV or a dashcam to check their footage.
The locations with reported incidents are Wentworth Drive, Oakley Hill, Oakley Road, Merley Ways, Stour Walk, New Borough Road, Grove Road and Leigh Road.
Detective Sergeant Simon Austin, of County CID, said: ‘These incidents have affected a large number of victims in the wider Wimborne area and we are aware that this will cause concern.
‘I would like to reassure our local communities that officers are currently investigating all reported incidents and are making every effort to identify those responsible.
‘People will see visible police activity as officers are making house-to-house and CCTV enquiries.’
Additional neighbourhood officers will be patrolling the area and can be approached for advice and support.
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The South African army said the trip was planned well in advance of the U.S. ambassador to South Africa alleging last week that the country had provided weapons to Russia when a ship under U.S. sanctions made a secret stop at a South African naval base in December.
The South African government has denied the Russian cargo ship's stop involved an official sale of weapons, although it has not categorically ruled out an arms transaction took place.
Ramaphosa has said an investigation was underway to determine if anyone loaded weapons onto the Russian-flagged Lady R cargo ship at the Simon's Town naval base near Cape Town.
Ramaphosa used his weekly message to the nation Monday to reaffirm South Africa's non-aligned stance with regard to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The president's statement was seen as a response to U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety, who questioned South Africa's neutrality in the Ukraine war while making the allegations about a weapons shipment.
Brigety was subsequently summoned to a meeting with South Africa's foreign minister.
France 24
Straight Arrow News
“We do not accept that our non-aligned position favors Russia above other countries,” Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly message. “Nor do we accept that it should imperil our relations with other countries.”
Ramaphosa added: “We have been firm on this point: South Africa has not been, and will not be, drawn into a contest between global powers.”
He also hinted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit South Africa for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS economic bloc in August. The Kremlin has not confirmed that Putin plans to attend the BRICS summit.
Such a trip would entangle South Africa in another diplomatic mess because the country is a signatory to the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March for alleged war crimes involving the abductions of children from Ukraine.
Since the indictment, Putin has traveled rarely, and only to countries that are close allies of Russia. Countries that are parties to the treaty would be obliged to arrest the Russian leader.
While Russia and South Africa both described Monday's meeting of the countries' top army generals as part of a normal bilateral trip, it's bound to increase scrutiny of Africa's most developed economy, which is seen as an influential nation in the developing world.
South Africa is the only African nation in the BRICS bloc, which also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Aside from the weapons allegations, South Africa also hosted Russian and Chinese warships and took part in naval exercises off its east coast in February that coincided with the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Brigety, the American ambassador, said last week that U.S. officials have “respect for South Africa’s policy of neutrality and non-alignment in international affairs” but had “noted a series of issues which suggest that in practice the government of South Africa is in fact not non-aligned.”
The Associated Press independently verified that the Lady R cargo ship stopped at the South African naval base for at least three days in December, as Brigety claimed. A review of records by the AP also shows that the Lady R is tied to a company that was sanctioned by the U.S. for transporting weapons for the Russian government and aiding its war effort in Ukraine.
Some people may find that some of their National Insurance contributions have not counted towards their state pension entitlement.
Britons who work for decades to build up their state pension entitlement may be shocked to discover that some of their contributions did not count.
State pension age is currently 66 in the UK for both men and women.
For this tax year 2023/2004 the full amount of state pension is worth £203.85 a week or £10,600.20 a year.
To ensure people can receive the full amount, they are urged to check their National Insurance record to check their qualifying years.
To secure the full new state pension, Britons typically need 35 qualifying years on their National Insurance record.
They need a minimum of 10 qualifying years to get any state pension at all.
Some people could therefore be shocked to find although they paid National Insurance in a given year, they did not earn a qualifying year.
Just because someone has paid their National Insurance, it does not automatically mean they have earned a qualifying year, there are set criteria to take into account.
For Class 1 NICs (those payable by employees) Britons need to earn £123 per week, or £6,396 per year to secure a qualifying year.
MSNBC
CinemaBlendThis is an edited version of a speech former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered Tuesday at the Austrian World Summit.
People ask me why I’m always smiling at environmental events. When I look back at the past 20 years and see how far we’ve come in California, how could I not smile?
A few weeks ago, I plugged in a huge solar roof on a 180,000 square foot warehouse at the port in Los Angeles. It was made possible by California's million solar roofs initiative. While I was there, I visited the startups inside that warehouse and saw the future: robots, clean cement, sustainable seafood, and companies making power from algae and waves.
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I can't stop myself from smiling when I see all of the progress toward a green future. And I have to laugh, because 20 years ago, when I ran for governor, environmentalists didn’t really buy in when I said I’d be a green governor. “The conservative who drives Hummers and blows up everything in his movies? Give us a break. Just another empty campaign promise.”
I wasn’t offended by it. I understood it. I was a newcomer. I was an outsider. I knew that my administration would have to do the work to prove the naysayers wrong, and over the next seven years, that’s exactly what we did. A million solar roofs. Our historic plan to reduce pollution by 25%. Stronger tailpipe emissions standards. A renewable portfolio standard to replace coal and gas with wind and solar.
As we accomplished all of that and more, environmentalists stopped looking at me with suspicion and started hugging me, using my movie lines and inviting me to speak at clean energy summits all over the world about the California model. There is an important lesson here. I want you to remember to keep the doors of our environmental movement open to the newcomers, the outsiders and the newly converted.
Focus on health dangers of air pollution
Outsiders always bring a fresh set of eyes to our mission. When I got involved, one of the first things I saw was that our marketing wasn’t working. We were talking about climate change when we should have been talking about pollution and the 7 million people who die every year choking on air poisoned by fossil fuels.
Are you allergies worse this spring? You can blame climate change.
Clean energy renaissance: Biden's State of the Union address confirms America's in a clean energy boom
I still feel like a newcomer today. I still see everything with fresh eyes.
Today, when I look at our environmental movement with those fresh eyes, I see a dire need. We need a new environmentalism based on building and growing and common sense. Old environmentalism was afraid of growth. It hated building. Many of you know this style − protesting every new development, chaining yourself to construction equipment, and using lawsuits and permitting to slow everything down.
I have to be honest: I don’t blame the old environmentalists. Back then, growth meant more fossil fuels, more pollution, more death. But times have changed, and we have to change with them.
Trust me, you don’t want to be the old, out-of-touch boomer asking for someone’s beeper number or looking for a VCR to watch movies.
Failure is possible if environmental movement doesn't change
It’s time for our environmental movement to wake up to the new reality and to change and adapt. Growth doesn’t have to be powered by fossil fuels any longer. Solar and wind now cost less than coal power. New electric car models are coming out regularly. Our progress is moving so quickly that it is hard to imagine how we could ever fail. But I want to be clear: we can fail, and if we do, it won’t be a failure of innovation.
It will be a failure of not growing and adapting with the times, not listening to the people, and not using the tools at our disposal.
It will be a failure to build. We can no longer allow red tape to hold our green revolution back.
We can no longer accept years of environmental review, thousand-page reports, and lawsuit after lawsuit keeping us from building. I want to be clear: I’m not just talking about building new highways or infrastructure. I’m talking about environmental projects!
Throughout the United States and Europe, thousands of clean energy projects sit waiting to be built. Delayed by bureaucracy. Delayed by permits. Delayed by old transmission lines. Delayed, delayed, delayed. In Europe, solar projects face wait times of up to four years. Wind projects can take up to 10 years.
Germany just hosted an environmental summit where they called for a deadline to end the fossil fuel age. At the same time, they closed their nuclear plants to replace them with gas, and dismantled a wind farm to make room for more coal.
Is this a joke? In the United States, we have more than 2,000 gigawatts of almost completely clean energy projects waiting in line. Just to give you an idea of how much power that is, the entire current United States electric grid capacity is 1,250 gigawatts.
We all agree that we are facing an emergency. Let me ask you a question: if you went to the hospital for a heart attack, and they told you they might save you after waiting a few days, what would you say? I know none of you would put up with it.
So why are we putting up with these delays in our pollution emergency?
That’s why today I call for a new environmentalism, based on building the clean energy projects we need as fast as we can. We have to build, build, build.
Recent reforms from the European Union to fast track many of these projects give me great hope. I am proud of all of you, and I hope that my American friends are paying attention.
President Biden: I’m doing everything I can to reduce gun violence, but Congress must do more
Michael J Fox: Do you have Parkinson's? New test is 'breakthrough' in diagnosing disease.
The White House and Congress are now talking about reform. Good. Keep talking. Get it done. Don't let perfect be the enemy of progress. All over the world, we have to keep reforming the system to work faster. We have to stay on top of this. People are dying.
That’s why, today, I call on every government around the world to clear the path for green projects, start the building and terminate pollution.
I call on my environmentalist friends to move past the old ways and to embrace a new environmentalism based on clean energy growth.
I call for change. Change is never easy, but this is an emergency, and this emergency demands action.
Lives depend on it.
One of California’s most famous companies, Facebook, had an equally famous motto: Move fast and break things. Let the slogan for our new environmentalism be: Move fast and build things. Build a clean and abundant energy future.
Build better. Build cleaner. Build now. Build, build, build. We can do it. We have the power.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California from 2003 to 2011.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arnold Schwarzenegger: Environmentalists are behind the times. And need to catch up fast.
ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor who's investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws as they tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state fought back Monday against the former president's attempt to remove her from the case and exclude certain evidence.
Trump's Georgia legal team in March asked the court to toss out the report of a special grand jury that had been seated in the case and to prevent prosecutors from using any evidence or testimony stemming from the panel’s investigation. They also asked that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office be barred from continuing to investigate or prosecute the case.
Willis responded in a filing Monday that the Trump's motion is “procedurally flawed” and advances “arguments that lack merit.”
For more than two years now, Willis has been investigating the actions Trump and others took in the wake of the 2020 election. She took the unusual step last year of asking for a special grand jury to aid the investigation, saying the panel's subpoena power would allow her team to compel the testimony of people who might not otherwise cooperate.
The special grand jury, which did not have the power to issue indictments, was seated last May and dissolved in January after hearing from 75 witnesses and submitting a report with recommendations for Willis. Though most of that report remains under wraps for now according to a judge's order, the panel's foreperson has said without naming names that the special grand jury recommended charging multiple people.
Trump lawyers Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg argued that the special grand jury “involved a constant lack of clarity as to the law, inconsistent applications of basic constitutional protections for individuals being brought before it, and a prosecutor’s office that was found to have an actual conflict, yet continued to pursue the investigation.”
WCVB Boston
The Canadian PressThey also asked that their claims be heard by a judge other than Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury.
Newsweek
Prince Harry has been voted the most popular member of the Royal Family in America, according to a new study.
The Duke of Sussex came at the top of the list in the popularity survey, which was conducted following the King's Coronation on Saturday, May 6.
The survey, by BonusFinder.com, asked 7,276 American citizens across 36 states who their favourite member of the Royal Family is.
Harry received 33.8 percent of the votes, putting him in the top spot.
READ MORE: The real reason Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are still popular in America
The Duke's sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, followed a few points behind with 29.6 percent of the votes, while Prince William received 22 percent.
Harry emerged as the most popular royal among all age groups and genders across the states.
It would appear that the Duke's move to the US may have helped boost his popularity in the country.
His advocacy work for mental health issues, climate change and HIV/AIDS among other causes, may also have helped solidify his place at the top of the popularity poll.
However, despite being recently crowned as the new monarch, King Charles' popularity was quite low in comparison to his son, according to the survey.
He didn't receive the top spot for any of the states surveyed and was placed at the fifth spot overall, with 10.8 percent of the total votes.
Specifically, in New York, Prince Harry received over 39 percent of the votes from those surveyed in the city.
Meanwhile, Kate received 28.9 percent of the votes and Prince William was placed third with 24.6 percent of the votes.
Kate Middleton ranked most favorite in other states such as Alaska and Hawaii, where Prince Harry garnered far fewer votes.
KXXV Waco, TX
WASHINGTON – Two iconic military posts are being rebranded as part of the military's effort to scrub the Confederacy's legacy from its bases, streets, gyms and ships.
Fort Benning, the Army's giant training base in Georgia, will now be known as Fort Moore, named after Vietnam War General Hal Moore and his wife, Julia. It previously honored a secessionist, slavery advocate and Confederate general.
And Fort Hood, the nation's third-largest military base, located in central Texas, is now Fort Cavazos, honoring Richard Cavazos, the first Hispanic American to become a four-star general.
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"For me, commemoration represents our values," said Ty Seidule, a retired Army general and vice chairman of the commission that recommended the name changes. "These names will inspire soldiers and all Americans for generations. They represent the best of who we are as Americans."
A $60 million effort
Renaming some of the Army’s legendary bases is the highest-profile effort underway to eliminate the decades-old veneration of Confederate officers who waged war against their country to uphold slavery. The Pentagon is spending about $60 million to strip the Confederate legacy from bases, streets, barracks, gyms and ships.
In response to his visit, the Russian embassy's Twitter account posted a photograph of Mr Zelensky when he was playing the president in a TV show along with the message: "Zelensky's in town. Time for British taxpayers to make another generous contribution."
The embassy's post was mocked by fellow users of the social media platform, with Twitter user @MrStenmeister hitting back by replying: "Best use of my taxes ever. I'll even send some of my disposable income."
@JonBurkeUK replied: "I like to to think of it as an excellent investment in the defeat of a plutocracy whose illegitimate leadership murders and imprisons its domestic critics, carpet bombs Ukrainian children, and smashes their own 'comrades' brains in with sledge-hammers."
Fellow Twitter user @Adam0902731 quipped: "Awesome. I'm donating to Ukraine today. Slava Ukraine."
The Ukrainian president's visit comes three months after his first trip to London since the start of Russia's invasion.
After the meeting, the president said Britain and Ukraine were "real partners", with Mr Sunak knowing details of developments on the battlefield.
Mr Zelensky said: "We want to create this jets coalition and I'm very positive with it. We spoke about it and I see that in the closest time you will hear some, I think very important decisions but we have to work a little bit more on it."
The Government has announced it will revoke just 600 EU laws rather than the 4,000 pledged, with some Tory MPs considering submitting letters calling for a no-confidence vote. Is this a Brexit betrayal from Rishi Sunak?
Mr Sunak stressed the provision of warplanes was not a "straightforward thing", but said Britain is committed to training Ukrainian pilots to use NATO-standard aircraft.
Downing Street said an elementary flying phase for cohorts of Ukrainian pilots will begin this summer, along with British efforts to work with other countries on providing F16 jets.
Mr Sunak said: "This is a crucial moment in Ukraine's resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke.
"They need the sustained support of the international community to defend against the barrage of unrelenting and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for over a year.
"We must not let them down."
READ MORE: Americans react with fury at Jill Biden's 'disrespectful' Coronation visitLink
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr Zelensky thanked the British Government, King Charles III and the British people for their support.
He said: "We are thankful from all our hearts, from Ukrainians, from our soldiers, we are thankful."
The president said his talks with Mr Sunak would cover "very important issues, urgent support for Ukraine".
He added the crisis is a matter of security not only for Ukraine, but of importance to all of Europe.
The latest package of military assistance will see hundreds of air defence missiles and more unmanned aerial systems, including long-range attack drones with a range of more than 124 miles (200km).
The new equipment will be delivered over the coming months.
Britain recently promised long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Kyiv after continued Russian attacks.
Russia has said it takes an "extremely negative view" of the UK's decision to supply the Storm Shadow cruise missiles and other military hardware.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that The Kremlin believed the British supplies wouldn't drastically change the course of the war.
Mr Peskov said: "Britain aspires to be at the forefront among countries that continue to pump weapons into Ukraine.
USA TODAY
AMichigan college graduate wasn’t letting anything stop her from walking across the stage to receive her degree: Not even being in labor.
Kelsey Hudie, who was 38 weeks pregnant on the day of her school’s graduation ceremony, received her degree from Henry Ford College while dilated and in labor. But thanks to the school staff, she didn’t have to wait too long for her name to be called.
“When we bring people through Henry Ford College, they've got grit, they've got perseverance,” school president Russell Kavalhuna said at the May 6 ceremony. “And this student has told me, and us, ‘I’m going to walk across that stage despite the fact that I’m 38 weeks pregnant, I am dilated and I can’t wait for you, Russ, and your friends to talk for an hour and a half so I need to graduate quickly.’”
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Hudie walked across the stage as the audience and professors cheered her on while she took a photo with Kavalhuna and her degree.
"Nothing was going to stop me from walking that stage," she told WXYZ Detroit. “Even if I had her first.”
Her expected due date was May 26, Hudie told Fox 2.
"I figured that’s perfect," Hudie told the outlet. "Graduate, have the baby."
Hudie gave birth to her daughter, Nyla, three days after graduation, the local outlets reported.
In-depth: Students are increasingly refusing to go to school. It’s becoming a mental health crisis.
'Strange World': Florida teacher investigated by state for showing Disney cartoon movie in class
Walking across the stage is a ‘feeling of achievement,’ Hudie says
Hudie said graduating high school and walking across the stage to get her diploma was one of the best days of her life. She said there was no way she was missing her chance of walking for a second time, even if she had her daughter first.
"I had the best feeling walking across that stage to get my diploma because it was this feeling of achievement that I had finally done it," she told WXYZ Detroit.
Hudie worked for five years to earn an associate degree in education, the outlet reported. She plans to continue her studies at Eastern Michigan University and one day become a high school history teacher.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan woman walks across graduation stage while in labor: 'Nothing was going to stop me'
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Bloomberg
A young woman suffered with stomach aches for a year before discovering she had incurable cancer.
Madison Baloy, 25, was diagnosed with stage four adenocarcinoma cancer, a type of cancer which forms in the glandular system, in March this year.
The former kindergarten teacher, from Florida in the US, was at a music concert with her friends in June last year when she started experiencing stomach aches.
Over the course of the year, she lost 60 pounds in weight and her tummy pain became more consistent, but she didn't think anything of it.
Madison was teaching in her classroom when she started feeling nauseous and called in the school nurse who told her to go to the emergency room.
READ MORE: Sputum in your cough is considered a 'top' Covid symptom as cases continue to rise
A CT revealed a cluster of tumours pushing down on her large intestine - causing the stomach aches.
After an emergency surgery and a biopsy in February 2023, Madison was diagnosed with stage four adenocarcinoma cancer in March.
Doctors told her the cancer can be managed but not cured, so she will be living with the disease for the rest of her life.
It is also unknown where in her body the cancer actually started.
Madison, who has had to give up work due to her illness, explained how she didn't take her symptoms seriously to begin with.
"Some of my attitude towards cancer is probably naivety - being 25 and not being able to come to terms with being terminal," she said.
"In America, we idolise hustle culture and I was heavily into that culture and prioritised being the best teacher I could. My diagnosis had made me idolise things differently.
"When I first started losing weight, I thought it was God answering my prayers.
"I thought the universe was giving me the perfect body - but I was dying and none of us knew.
"When I got diagnosed my family were in the hospital room with me, I had a jokey reaction and said my doctor should be paid for giving people bad news."
unbranded - SportErling Haaland is set to pocket around £2million after agreeing an endorsement deal with fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana - and he could land another major windfall after private talks with PrettyLittleThing.
Haaland, 22, has been a phenomenon since moving to the Premier League last summer; the Manchester City striker has already shattered countless domestic records after plundering a remarkable 52 goals in just 48 games.
The Norwegian megastar was on target again at the weekend in City's comprehensive 3-0 win over Everton to take his domestic tally to 36 goals in 33 games. Unsurprisingly, those returns have led to the striker being sought by Real Madrid - and Haaland is in demand off the pitch, too.
The Mail have shared some of the details of Haaland's agreement with Dolce & Gabanna, who are the first fashion brand to strike a deal with the goalscoring machine. The report goes on to outline that Haaland held talks with PLT founder Umar Kamani in Dubai at the turn of the year, although an agreement has yet to be reached.
Manchester City only captured Haaland from Borussia Dortmund last summer, but already Etihad chiefs are having to fend off interest from Real Madrid in the striker's services.
It had previously been claimed that the Spanish giants were poised to trigger a release clause in Haaland's contract once it became active in the summer of 2024, however, it has since been confirmed that the clause is not viable after Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola committed his own long-term future to the club.
Talk of a move to Real Madrid has still lingered, though. Speculation has not been helped by Haaland’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, who hinted that Los Blancos would be the "dream" destination for her star client. Speaking at the FT Business of Football summit in March, she said : “There is the Premier League, and there is Real Madrid.
Join the debate! Do you think Haaland will sign a new deal at Man City? Let us know here.
“And Real Madrid has something of its own that makes it the Dreamland for the players. Madrid keeps this magic going. It doesn’t have the league competition but it does have the Champions League.”
It is believed Manchester City are preparing to offer Haaland a new contract in a bid to shut down interest from Real Madrid once and for all.
However, if Haaland did harbour any ambitions of moving to the Bernabeu one day, events that transpired in last week's Champions League semi-final clash against Los Blancos could force him into a rethink.
Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, was escorted from a private box at Real Madrid after taunting fans during the 1-1 draw. Fans did not take too kindly to his celebrations after Kevin de Bruyne 's equaliser, with Haaland Sr tweeting: “Ok. RM was not happy we were celebrating KDB goal. Other than than that we had to move because RM fans not happy with 1-1.”
Why would 76-year-old Larry Cook transfer over $3.6 million out of the country just before his death?
That was tickling the mind of Janine Satterfield as she was mourning her beloved uncle. A decorated veteran who served with the U.S. Navy as commander for 24 years until 1992, he lived alone and had no children or spouse.
Satterfield discovered this mystery when she needed to find his Social Security number to bury her uncle. A neighbor she asked to go into his home in Virginia for his documents instead sent photos of international wire transfers he made in amounts as large as $49,500, most of them to Thailand.
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Through her uncle’s meticulous records, Satterfield discovered he had become a victim of a scam that started in October 2020 and continued until March 2021.
He died a month later.
After his death, his niece's looming thought: Why did the banks allow all of these large transfers to go through?
Time to have 'the talk': How seniors can avoid financial ruin by planning long-term health care now
The lawsuit against Wells Fargo and Navy Federal Credit Union
Satterfield is now suing Wells Fargo and the Navy Federal Credit Union, claiming the institutions failed to protect her uncle from being swindled out of $3.6 million.
Cook made 75 international transfers to possible scammers abroad, and most of the wires amounted to $49,500 each, according to the complaint filed in Virginia. In total, he used Wells Fargo once to send $49,500 and the Navy Federal Credit Union 74 times to send a total of $3,631,200. According to the wire records, Cook wrote that the purpose of the transfer was for a “loan repayment.”
According to the complaint, Cook’s credit union reported him to adult protective services in mid-December but still allowed 42 more international wires to process.
Satterfield alleges in the complaint that both institutions acted in bad faith by failing to investigate the suspicious wires and is suing both banks for the money Cook lost in the scam – Wells Fargo for $49,500 and Navy Federal Credit Union for $3,633,050, which includes $1,850 in wire fees.
‘Beating the bad guys’: How one vigilante aunt in Ohio took down an identity theft scheme
She also alleges Cook’s credit union was negligent for not stopping the numerous wires and “undertook the duty” to protect him after the voluntary report they made to Fairfax County Adult Protective Services and should have taken internal steps to stop the wires. The credit union continued processing the wires even after APS confirmed with them on Jan. 28, 2021, that Cook needed services and was at risk of being abused, neglected and exploited.
Though APS didn’t stop the wires, it asked the credit union to continue to monitor his accounts.
Cook had suffered a stroke in 2019, according to the complaint, and when he was discharged from rehabilitation, the staff there noted Cook had “poor insight into his condition, lacked insight into his deficits,” and was concerned about going back to work as a consultant for the Navy and being cleared to drive. He had no family support.
Representatives for Wells Fargo and the Navy Federal Credit Union did not comment because of pending litigation, but both gave USA TODAY prepared statements.
“Our members are always our first priority and we handle all member transactions with great care,” a Navy Federal Credit Union spokesperson said.
“Wells Fargo takes financial exploitation very seriously. We are committed to helping our customers avoid fraud and scams through various resources, including ongoing education efforts,” a Wells Fargo spokesperson said.
According to The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a division of the U.S. Treasury Department, financial exploitation is the most common form of elder abuse but remains widely unreported. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in 2020, financial institutions filed more than 62,000 reports involving elder financial exploitation worth $3.4 billion.
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WhatCultureWASHINGTON – A former Trump hotel located blocks from the White House that inspired a battle with congressional Democrats is at the center of a dispute that the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to resolve.
At issue is a 2017 request from a group of Democrats who demanded the Trump administration provide records about how the former president obtained the rights to develop the government-owned building into a hotel. The property became a regular haunt for foreign dignitaries and GOP officials during Trump's presidency.
When the administration declined to provide all of those records to the House Oversight Committee, the lawmakers sued.
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Hotel: A years-old fight between Trump, Democrats over a hotel lands at SCOTUS
Tracker: A look at the key cases pending at the Supreme Court
The hotel itself is no longer controversial: Trump left office in 2021 and the Trump Organization sold its lease for the hotel, now a Waldorf Astoria, a year later. But there are enormous balance-of-power issues at stake for future presidents.
If the Democratic lawmakers win, it could give members of the minority in Congress more power to probe a presidential administration of the opposite party – even though they wouldn't have the votes needed to issue a subpoena.
Trump and Biden administration officials have both fought the lawmakers' request.
"A congressional minority – 'or even an ideological fringe of the minority' – could bring cases to 'distract and harass executive agencies and their most senior officials,'" the Biden administration told the Supreme Court in November, opposing the appeal.
A federal trial court in Washington, D.C., dismissed the lawsuit in 2018, concluding that the lawmakers didn't have standing to sue. But a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed that decision on a 2-1 vote in 2020.
The case is Carnahan v. Maloney.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Checking in? Supreme Court wades into fight between Democrats, Trump over divisive hotel
A Black Lives Matter activist faces having her company liquidated after being taken to court by the British Film Institute (BFI) over an alleged debt of more than £200,000.
Alisha Hall is disputing a winding-up petition launched by the BFI and joined by The British Blacklist (TBB), a media platform for Black creatives.
The claim relates to agreements between the parties at the time of the glitzy London Film Festival in October 2021.
The entrepreneur, who wants to promote diversity and ‘rebalance’ society, was involved in a series of high-profile events at the festival, which was attended by Beyoncé and Jay Z.
The BFI launched the high court action over a sponsorship fee for the festival that it claims it is owed by the company director, who runs Hall Media Group and The Liberation Initiatives.
According to court documents seen by Metro.co.uk, the amount sought when the case was launched in August 2022 was £216,000 which the BFI alleges was not paid by the media group.
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TBB claims it is owed money by the media firm director over a brunch to celebrate UK-based Black film and TV creatives during the festival.
The creative platform alleges that she did not supply the promised funds, so it had to foot the £35,000 bill upfront and was not reimbursed.
Hall disputes both sets of allegations, with a spokesperson for her company saying it is ‘extremely proud of the work we do for our marginalised communities in the UK’ and the BFI’s case is ‘without merit’.
The BFI is pursuing the winding-up petition in the Companies Court, the documents show. The case is understood to revolve around The Liberation Initiatives having been an official event partner along with major names including Netflix and Warner Bros.
The company’s involvement was to support a ‘number of key programmes’ and ‘make the festival more inclusive to underrepresented communities’, according to the BFI at the time.
The 12-day showcase was given some star power as Beyoncé and Jay Z made a surprise appearance on the red carpet for the premiere of Idris Elba and Regina King’s movie The Harder They Fall.
In a statement, the BFI said: ‘Proceedings against Hall Media Group Limited in respect of sums owed to the BFI are ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment whilst those proceedings remain live.’
Hall, 41, founded the Liberation Initiatives in July 2020 as the Black Lives Matters movement swept the US and the UK after the death of George Floyd at the hands of four police officers.
She told the SheerLuxe lifestyle website at the time that ‘In light of this year’s Black Lives Matter movement, finally the world is listening to us’.
The Liberation Initiatives says on its website that it is ‘making activism approachable and accessible’ and its mission is to ‘re-balance the state of diversity, equality and inclusion in today’s society’.
The business is registered as dormant at Companies House.
A spokesperson for Hall Media Group said: ‘We are extremely proud of the work we do for marginalised communities in the UK, and the support we have provided over the years to a variety of community groups, Black entrepreneurs, and creatives.
‘In light of the legal process underway, it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to say we do not believe the BFI’s complaint has merit and we look forward to making our case in court.’
In winding-up petitions, an official receiver is put in charge of the liquidation if the application is successful.
The company’s assets are then turned into funds to reimburse creditors.
The case is due to resume later this year.
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Real Madrid were left outside Manchester Airport for over half-an-hour as their pre-Champions League semi-final second-leg preparations took an unexpected hit.
Los Blancos flew in from Madrid on Tuesday morning ahead of their clash with Manchester City on Wednesday night, after drawing 1-1 in a tense first-leg affair last week. Vinicius Jr's first-half strike was cancelled out by a moment of brilliance from Kevin De Bruyne to leave the tie on a knife-edge.
However, upon arrival to the north-west, Real's stars were left stunned when their bus failed to arrive on time. Carlo Ancelotti's men were waiting outside Terminal 2 for around 40 minutes, before the bus finally got there to take them to their hotel, the Hyatt Regency, to continue their build-up to the match.
Ancelotti did not look impressed as he stood outside the terminal doors waiting for his bus to get to the airport to pick up his players. Luka Modric seemed to share the same view, while Vinicius saw the funny side as Real get ready to face City in Manchester for the second successive season.
The last time Real were at the Etihad Stadium was when the two teams played each-other in last season's semi-final first-leg. On that day, Pep Guardiola's side ran out 4-3 winners thanks to goals from Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne, with Karim Benzema striking twice and Vinicius scoring for Madrid.
Who will progress through to the final between Real Madrid and Manchester City? Let us know in the comments below!
Fast forward 12 months and the sides are set to face off in the second-leg in Manchester and Ancelotti believes Real are confident of beating City on Wednesday. The former Everton manager spoke to the press following his side's 1-0 win over Getafe on the weekend.
"I have a clear idea of Wednesday's team today, I have no doubts at all. We're feeling confident. I have a strong bench with players that can contribute in this type of game,' the Italian said.
"Last year the players who came off the bench helped us win the Champions League."
He added: "You always play with fire in this job. What can I do? I've named a competitive and fresh squad so that no one complains that we're giving an advantage to an opponent who's fighting relegation. Those who were tired didn't play. It's a good sign that we go into Wednesday with the full squad available."
Meanwhile, Guardiola spoke about his team's chances against Real and admitted it is a "dream" for City to play at this stage of the competition for the third successive season.
He said: "We want it. Losing against Chelsea, Madrid, of course we want it. This is what we want. People say we are close, I think we are far away. But it is a dream come true to play here again. There are no guarantees that we will be here again, so let’s go for it and play with our people."
News 12
Adog who has set a record for being the longest resident at a Kentucky animal shelter is looking for his forever home. Could you be his new human?
The 5½-year-old pit bull mix named Donatello first moved to Woodford Humane Society in Versailles on May 13, 2019.
The stray dog was picked up by animal control running loose in Woodford County and when he wasn't claimed, Woodford Humane Society took him in, said Beth Oleson, marketing director for the humane society.
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Since then, he has watched idly as countless dogs left the shelter to start their new lives, the shelter wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post about the doggo, naming him pet of the week.
"He has been homeless for four years," the shelter wrote on May 8. "FOUR YEARS. Donatello has watched 1,189 other dogs and puppies walk past him through the kennel on their way to forever homes ... he is now officially our longest resident ever."
Previously, a dog named Mercedes was the shelter's longest resident, the post read. She was adopted in 2012 after spending three years, 11 months and six days at Woodford Humane Society.
Why hasn't he been adopted yet?
The shelter said Donatello has qualities that lots of pet-seekers shy away from: he's a large, black dog, he's older and he's a pit bull.
But the shelter said and there are many things that make him amazing, including the fact that he is house-trained, crate-trained and great with kids (although the shelter recommends older children who aren't so easy for him to knock over when he's excited).
Donatello is also "a belly-rub connoisseur" and "zooms for about 5 minutes at a time, then couch potatoes for hours," the shelter wrote in its post. He's also a pretty patient guy and does well getting dolled up for photoshoots.
The shelter just asks that those interested in adopting him keep one more important thing in mind: he's best suited for a home with no other animals.
"He is a king, he knows it, and he will accept no pretenders to the throne," the shelter wrote.
The shelter ended its post with one final plea for the neutered, 62-pound pit bull mix: look past the stereotypes of his breed, color and size and give him a chance.
"Donatello is happy here, and he is endlessly patient," the shelter wrote. "He has a home with us for as long as it takes. But after four years ... of watching other dogs go home...can it finally be Donatello's turn?"
Those interested in adopting him can contact Woodford Humane Society and make an adoption appointment at 859-873-5491.
More animal coverage from USA TODAY:
- Cuteness overload: Watch this playful pup film himself during an adorable garden chase
- Got mail: Fuzzybear is faster than a speeding bullet when he fetches the mail every morning
- Grandma's best friend: After losing beloved dog, grandma gets best surprise from her family – a golden retriever
- Holy moly: See the massive cat adopted in Virginia this week
- More from Patches: Checking in with Patches, the 40-pound cat adopted in Virginia
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Our longest resident ever': Donatello the pit bull looks for forever home after 4 years in shelter
A lamb has become Internet famous after it was spotted with a very strange choice of headwear.
The anxious animal was found in a field on the Isle of Tiree, Scotland.
It was ‘walking in circles’ over the grass with a motorbike helmet fit ‘perfectly on its head.’
Ettie MacDonald stopped his car on May 9 to help what he initially thought was a sheep stuck in a feeding bucket.
However, as the 46-year-old walked onto the field, he realised the four-week-old cattle was in fact wearing a black crash helmet.
Owner Sheila MacKinnon, 54, ‘couldn’t believe how funny it was’ and thanked Ettie who removed the helmet.
She believes the headgear must have been left in the long grass, leading the nosey lamb to investigate.
Ettie said: ‘It was on its head perfectly. It was the right way round and the sheep suited it. It was almost the perfect size. Maybe I should have opened the visor for it.
‘I had to prove it with pictures and a video because I think Sheila thought I was taking the mick.
‘I took it off after I took the video then left the helmet by the field then just went on my way to work.
‘I’m glad I was there because it would have been stressed eventually but it was getting plenty of air in there and just walking around in circles.
KameraOne
KameraOne
KameraOne‘People are having a laugh at it because something that’s ended well for a change.’
Sheila says the lamb is ‘absolutely fine’ and has been jumping around the field as normal.
She’s thankful joiner Ettie was driving past at the time to save the lamb from becoming distressed by the unfortunate situation.
Sheila said: ‘Lambs are nosey and they like to stick their heads in everything but for it to be a helmet and it be on the right way, it feels like it can’t be real.
‘Thank god Ettie happened to be driving past.’
Sheila’s Facebook post about the situation has amassed almost 3,000 comments with users finding the lamb’s predicament hilarious.
She had written: ‘When the house phone rings before eight in the morning you automatically think “is there something wrong?”.
‘A man said, “Hello Sheila, I’ve just driven past your field and there’s a lamb walking about with a crash helmet on! And not only that but he’s got it on the right way round”.’
‘Is it April the 1st? No, it’s definitely May! Thank you Ettie for noticing it and removing it. Also for proving to me that it had actually happened by sending me the photos.’
One Facebook user commented: ‘I hope it finds its bike’, while another quipped: ‘Bet he rode a LAMBbretta.’
A third added: ‘Must be getting ready for the Isle of Lamb races!’
Another said: ‘I think someone’s fleeced his bike.’
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is threatening to push forward a legislative effort to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress next week if he does not release a classified cable sent from U.S. diplomats in Kabul shortly before the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told reporters Monday that the House Foreign Affairs Committee could vote on the contempt charges at a hearing May 24.
The State Department has said it is trying to provide Congress with “appropriate” information on the cable while also protecting its employees. The so-called dissent channel has for decades provided a way for diplomats to discreetly voice concerns about strategy. They are automatically classified to protect the identities of the Foreign Service officers.
McCaul has battled with the Biden administration for months over gaining unprecedented access to the messages as part of a larger Republican inquiry into the 2021 withdrawal. It has raised the prospect of a constitutional showdown on the ability of the legislative branch to conduct oversight.
Scripps News
Al JazeeraThe State Department has previously briefed McCaul on the substance of the cables, but he said he was not satisfied. With their House majority, Republicans have launched a slew of investigations into the Biden administration, including its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I want to see the original content, and I also want to see the secretary's response,” McCaul told reporters. “It’s a state of mind in the embassy at the time, and to have 23 dissenters is very significant.”
The vast majority of the 123 cables sent since 1971, when the dissent channel was created during the Vietnam War, have remained classified, according to the National Security Archives at George Washington University. The State Department has long protected the cables from being released publicly.
McCaul said he expected the State Department to respond to his previous threats with a letter Thursday. He expected it to be a “counter-offer.”
A contempt of Congress charge would require a full committee vote before going to the House floor. With Republicans’ slim majority in the chamber, it is possible the vote to hold Blinken in contempt could pass the chamber. The charge does not carry the force of prosecution, but it serves as a referral to the Department of Justice to consider charges.
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