Live Updates: Senate to Vote on Curbing Trump’s Use of Force in Venezuela

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The Icebreaker Araon Stops Near the Thwaites Glacier

Less than a day after arriving at the ice, we are already up close and personal with the fastest-melting glacier in Antarctica.

Officials piloting software to tackle deepfakes ahead of Scottish and Welsh elections

Electoral Commission says tools to detect AI-generated content could be in place before campaigns beginElection officials are working “at speed” with the Home Office on a pilot project to combat the use of deepfakes to target candidates standing in this year’s Scottish and Welsh elections.Officials at the Electoral Commission in Scotland said they and the Home Office expected software capable of detecting AI-generated deepfake videos and images to be operational before election campaigns begin in late March. Continue reading...

New archbishop of Canterbury not fit for job, says alleged church abuse victim

Complainant to appeal against C of E’s dismissal of accusation about Sarah Mullally’s handling of abuse claimAn alleged abuse victim at the centre of a complaint against Sarah Mullally, the incoming archbishop of Canterbury, says she is not fit for the job as the church dismissed his allegation against her.The alleged victim, known as N, told the Guardian he would exercise his right of appeal against a decision on Thursday to take no further action against Mullally who he accused of colluding with his alleged abuse. Continue reading...

Trump and Noem double down on defending ICE agent who killed Minneapolis woman – live

Donald Trump repeated his claim that the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Macklin Good acted in self-defense; Kristi Noem again claims shooting was in response to an ‘act of domestic terrorism’FBI takes over investigation of killing of US citizen by ICE officer and revokes Minnesota’s access to materialsSince early December, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations – many of them masked and brandishing rifles – have grabbed people at hardware stores and gyms, or outside homes and schools around the cities.They have violently tackled undocumented immigrants as well as US citizens, including advocates and protestors. Continue reading...

Brazilian president vetoes bill reducing Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejects bill passed by congress as he marks anniversary of 2023 Brasília riotsBrazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has vetoed a bill that would dramatically reduce the prison sentence of the country’s far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year of plotting a coup.Lula vetoed the bill, which was passed by congress in December, on the third anniversary of riots by Bolsonaro supporters in the capital, Brasília, over his defeat by Lula in the 2022 general election. Continue reading...

Badenoch claims forthcoming business rates U-turn for pubs ‘too little, too late’ – UK politics live

Conservative leader criticises government’s U-turn but change likely to be welcomed by pub tradeHelena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, has insisted “that is it” in response to farmers claiming the inheritance tax U-turn does not go far enough.Since starting this role in September I’ve listened to farmers and stakeholders about your cncerns on proposed changes to inheritance tax. You told me the threshold was too low. You told me it would hit small family farms. We listened, and we are making changes.In terms of inheritance tax changes, that is it. I also say with the greatest respect to those outside, it is those inside who have engaged with us constructively and relatively quietly that have had an influence in this process, not those blaring their horns.If the Tories took the red wall in 2019 – and I was part of that, by the way, I represented a seat in the Midlands – we took the rural wall in 2024. We’ve got 49 rural seats and 87 semi rural on one of them. So 136 rural and semi rural seats. That’s a huge representation in parliament.And I have conversations with those MPs week in, week out, and they are expressing concerns or ideas to ministers all the time, and I’m doing all that I can to ensure that rural communities know that we’re on their side. As a government, we truly care about rural Britain, because we are the, you know, we can have. We are the party with more representation than others. Continue reading...

Venezuela cooperating fully and US will control its oil for years, Trump claims

US president says Delcy Rodríguez’s interim administration is doing ‘everything that we feel is necessary’ The US is receiving full cooperation from Venezuela’s regime and will control the country and its vast oil reserves for years, Donald Trump has claimed.Caracas was giving Washington “everything that we feel is necessary” and the US would remain a political overlord there for an indefinite period, the US president said. Continue reading...

Iran experiencing nationwide internet blackout, monitor says

This is a breaking news story.