Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Australian lifestyle, Beauty, Skincare, Life and style
Title – ‘Russian’ manicures are on the rise – but experts say a lot can go wrong | Australian lifestyle | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/isabella-lee
Link – ‘Russian’ manicures are on the rise – but experts say a lot can go wrong | Australian lifestyle | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-10T15:00:49.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/11/russian-e-file-manicures-on-rise-differences-risks

A drill with a speed of 35,000 revolutions per minute sits on Alina Huck’s orderly work station. The drill bit is the length of an almond, and as soon as it touches the client’s nail it whips up a fine dust of dead skin.

“It’s definitely a satisfying experience,” says Huck, a Sydney-based nail technician who has spent nearly a decade specialising in e-file manicures, also known as Russian manicures.

Light machinery might seem out of place in a glossy nail salon, but it is the key to an e-file manicure. Over the past year, more clients have been requesting the once-niche beauty treatment, says Huck.

E-file manicures are characterised by the complete removal of the cuticle – the drill is used to lift the cuticle up and remove any skin on the nail plate beneath. This allows the nail technician to apply polish close to the base of the nail plate, resulting in a longer-lasting manicure.

Global Google searches for “Russian manicure” have risen steadily since 2020, with searches peaking last month. There are over 250,000 videos on TikTok under the hashtag #russianmanicure, with some dramatic before and after videos of sanded cuticles clocking more than 200,000 views.

“It just looks so natural – it’s this clean look,” says Linda Vasquez, a disability accommodation services manager. Every month, Vasquez travels an hour from Wollongong to her nail technician’s salon in Penshurst in Sydney’s south.

While regular gel manis last around two weeks, Vasquez says e-file manicures can stretch up to five weeks and are better able to withstand the “wear and tear” of her job. Their longevity comes at a pretty price, however, costing between $100 and $150 in Australia, roughly double that of a gel manicure. “It’s treated more as a craft … rather than a quick service,” says Sydney nail technician Salina Basnet.

Huck says when she migrated from Kazakhstan to Sydney in 2017, most of her clients were from eastern Europe, where the technique originated. Now she has a strong local clientele who travel from as far afield as Perth for an e-file manicure.

Huck opened her current salon in 2021 and employs three full-time staff – all specialising in e-file manicures. She has noticed a “big change” in the industry, with more technicians providing the service.

Samantha Elliott, owner of Seir Beauty School in Sydney, links the trend to the popularity of “immaculate” nail plates on social media. Enrolments in Seir’s “extremely popular” Russian manicure short course rose 30% in the last year, Elliott says. “Clients are requesting more and more of a flawless finish. If you’ve got a little bit of a hangnail or a little bit of the eponychium still sitting there, your clients are not going to be happy.”

As clients tighten their household budgets , they are also demanding higher standards from beauty technicians. “To justify the financial cost, you want good results,” says Christina Anthony, marketing lecturer and consumer psychologist at the University of Sydney.

In the case of e-file manicures, it’s an “investment” in a service that is supposed to be longer lasting.

Affordable luxuries, such as specialised beauty treatments, can provide a sense of control and comfort during uncertain times, Anthony adds. “We’re not just managing finances but we’re also trying to manage our moods and our emotions because we’re feeling a bit low,” she says. “We use consumption for emotion regulation.”

Meg Elkins, associate professor in economics at RMIT, says: “If your nails are on you’re always elevated – you might not have your face on, you might not have your hair done but your nails are always on.”

For Mariya Hull, a sales representative at a non-for-profit organisation, having a fresh set of nails is a “mood booster” when she is tapping away at her computer. “It’s like little art on my nails … when I look at them, it makes me feel better,” she adds.

But Basnet and Huck acknowledge that without adequate training, e-file manicures can be a risky service. “A lot can go wrong if it’s not done properly,” says Basnet. When Vasquez’s regular nail technician went on holiday she tried another salon, with less than ideal results. “My fingers looked deformed,” she says.

The main risk is infection, explains dermatologist Theone Papps. With no cuticle to act as a barrier, yeast and bacteria may enter the nail fold, which can lead to chronic inflammation around the nail. If the nail plate has been filed down too much it may also create thinner and more brittle nails.

While Papps herself indulges in gel manicures from time to time, she recommends minimising manicure frequency, and taking breaks between sessions to let your nails and skin recover.

Light pain or irritation after a manicure could indicate a“superficial bacterial infection”, she says. Papps recommends soaking your nails in a diluted saline or vinegar solution. But her main tip for aftercare is moisturiser. “During the manicure, you’ve had a lot of physical abrasion, a lot of chemicals going on the skin … so you need to rehydrate,” she says. Something “thicker or greasy” like petroleum or paraffin works best.

An e-file session takes time to get right, with a standard appointment lasting at least an hour and 20 minutes. But not every moment is spent drilling.

Hull’s latest session took three hours, much of it spent catching up with her manicurist. After all, she says, a visit to the salon is “like coming home”.

Keyword – Environment
Trefwoorden – Farming, Environment
Title – Farmers: tell us how you’re coping with rising costs and extreme weather | Farming | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-community-team
Link – Farmers: tell us how you’re coping with rising costs and extreme weather | Farming | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-04T07:51:51.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/farmers-tell-us-how-youre-coping-with-rising-costs-and-extreme-weather

Farmers are facing rising costs for fuel, fertiliser and animal feed as a result of the conflict in Iran, adding to existing pressures on the industry.

The sector is also grappling with extreme weather after the UK’s hottest May day on record, alongside wider concerns about the impact of climate change. Europe also experienced record-breaking temperatures in late May and the UN has warned about the imminent return of El Niño – a powerful weather pattern that raises global temperatures and worsens some rainfall.

We would like to hear from farmers around the world about how these issues are affecting them. Have rising costs changed the way you farm? How have recent weather conditions impacted your business? Are you concerned about the effects of climate change on farming?

If you’re having trouble using the form click here . Read terms of service here and privacy policy here

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Makerfield byelection, Andy Burnham, Labour, Politics, Greater Manchester, Reform UK, Byelections, UK news
Title – Power games in a pub garden as MPs seek Burnham’s favour in Makerfield | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jessica-elgot
Link – Power games in a pub garden as MPs seek Burnham’s favour in Makerfield | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-11T17:12:30.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/11/andy-burnham-makerfield-byelection-labour

For a few short weeks, the centre of political gravity in Britain has shifted from the Palace of Westminster to the bar of a former Labour club in Wigan.

In London, even as Keir Starmer insists he will fight to stay in No 10, the walls seem to be crumbling around him, especially with Thursday’s resignation of the defence secretary, John Healey.

Two hundred miles north, most mornings outside Stubshaw Cross community centre there is a queue snaking round the building as 20 MPs patiently wait to clock in to do their hours on the doorstep for Andy Burnham in Makerfield.

It is a seat that once looked so impossible to win that some of Burnham’s closest friends advised him to turn down the offer from Josh Simons to fight it.

But now, if the polls are to be believed, Burnham looks on the brink of proving his own concept, that he is the only Labour party politician who can stand a chance at beating Reform UK .

One MP said observing their colleagues make the pilgrimage to Ashton-in-Makerfield felt “like watching power change hands in a pub garden”: a few loyalist MPs looking at their shoes on the outskirts of the throng, while their colleagues eagerly sought praise from Burnham’s most influential fixers, Louise Haigh and Anneliese Midgley.

Inside, MPs are pocketing souvenir stacks of beer mats printed with the ubiquitous Stanley Chow cartoon of Burnham, with the slogan “Brewed Round Here”.

Standing in packs outside with activists, they are briefed to tell undecided voters on the doorsteps of Ashton-in-Makerfield and Orrell that they are from “Andy Burnham’s campaign” rather than the Labour party.

Over the next week, the party will target roughly 16% of undecided voters who have told canvassers they are still to make up their minds between Labour and Reform, though strategists say the number has narrowed since the BBC’s Question Time last week .

At the weekend, 450 volunteers came to canvass. By the end of the coming week, Labour activists will have knocked on every door in the constituency five times over.

Residents of Makerfield – though no one would ever call this area that name – know they are the centre of the universe during this bizarre period. As the canvassers make their way along the roads, many of them want to engage in long chats about national issues.

They want to talk about immigration, tax and transport, as well as local flooding, housing, antisocial behaviour, vacant shops and the future of local services. Some are unimpressed by Burnham’s unabashed sights on No 10, but for others that is the basis of his appeal.

There is no Labour attack literature against Reform, or against Restore Britain, which is also making significant inroads here. Instead, almost all the MPs who come to canvass for Burnham agree with the residents they speak to that change is desperately needed.

During four hours on the doorsteps, no voter had a good word to say about Starmer, though many struggled to articulate exactly why.

Among the MPs out on a daily basis are members of the Corbynite socialist campaign group, shoulder to shoulder with ministers and ambitious MPs from the 2024 intake.

Such is the desire to be part of this most momentous of byelections, constituency Labour parties are sending busloads of activists and staffers are staying in cabins in local people’s gardens.

There is an open admission of fear about how the party will even manage the number of eager volunteers who will turn up on polling day, without aggravating local voters by pestering them too much.

At the centre of it all, the “boys’ club” who were the power brokers in Starmer’s leadership have been replaced by a formidable band of female operators.

There is Midgley, the MP for Knowsley and a battle-hardened Unite and Labour organiser; Haigh, the ex- transport secretary who has become one of Burnham’s closest confidantes; and Sally Jameson, the Doncaster MP and former prison officer. MPs talk particularly about the influence of Haigh. “She is the oracle and the gatekeeper for Andy,” says one.

Outside on the terrace as they waited to get their canvassing instructions, MPs have begun to talk about the result and Burnham’s subsequent return to Westminster as a foregone conclusion. Talk has turned to whether Burnham will challenge Starmer – and the feeling is he will.

But those at the heart of the ground campaign are hesitant to look beyond next Thursday. They are wary of the habitual non-voters who turned out in significant numbers to vote for Reform in the local elections, in which the party swept all the wards.

The Reform campaign made a huge effort to establish a visual presence early. Boards went up along all the major roads within hours of the announcement – faster than the Labour campaign could get theirs to the printers.

The result is a dominant turquoise presence along many of the major arteries, though there are competing navy boards of Restore on many of the streets. On one digital board, the bright hoarding alternates unnervingly between Restore and Burnham’s “For Us” slogan.

Labour canvassers say they believe Rupert Lowe’s Restore could end up with more than 10% of the vote.

Several Restore voters who spoke to the Guardian said, rather counterintuitively, they believed Lowe to be less extreme in his views than Farage and cited not his hardline immigration policies, but his position on animal welfare and on allowing children out of school to go on holiday.

But others are clearly attracted by his far more radical remigration and pro-death penalty policies, which have enormous reach on Facebook. The area has a historically significant far-right vote, including about 7% for the British National party as recently as 2010.

While Restore may ultimately help Burnham win the seat, it poses a not insignificant threat to Burnham’s legitimacy among his sceptics.

There are already murmurs among MPs saying that if the split on the right is the reason for his victory, it would cast doubt on his narrative.

But that is a problem for a week’s time. Until election day, Haigh and Midgley say they aim to get Burnham physically in front of as many of the 13,000 undecided voters as possible. On Tuesday he gathered more than 100 at a town hall meeting for a three-hour session of questions.

“He is our best electoral asset and people are genuinely quite shocked when he turns up to see them in person,” one campaign source said.

“‘They are starting to feel it’s worth one more roll of the dice.

“The message is not anti-Reform, the message is he is coming back to Westminster to change Labour. We want to be hopeful about the country again and put working people back at the heart of our economy.”

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Trump administration, Donald Trump, Law (US), US supreme court, UFC, US news, US politics
Title – Welcome to ‘the Claw’: the White House fighting cage captures Trump era rot | Sidney Blumenthal | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sidneyblumenthal
Link – Welcome to ‘the Claw’: the White House fighting cage captures Trump era rot | Sidney Blumenthal | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T10:00:41.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/trump-ufc-fighting-cage

“I f the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty – the people whose ancestors that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the government moved too fast – nothing can be done?” asked Judge Patricia Millet of the District of Columbia court of appeals on 5 June to the principal deputy assistant attorney general, Yaakov Roth. “I think that’s right, yes,” he replied.

In the case brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation against Donald Trump’s “sudden, unilateral, and unlawful decision” to demolish the East Wing of the White House and to construct a 90,000 sq ft ballroom, “without seeking approval from Congress; without requesting review and approval from the federal commissions charged with oversight of development in the nation’s capital; without conducting the required environmental studies; and without allowing the public any opportunity for input”, Trump’s Department of Justice has countered that he can simply do whatever he wishes, whenever he wishes, however he wishes.

“When did it become a fait accompli?” Judge Millett asked. “If this were complete lawlessness by the government … it couldn’t be stopped?” “On these theories, I think that’s right,” said Roth.

“If you move fast enough, nobody has standing to challenge it?” asked Millet. “I do think that that is correct,” Roth said. “The injury, it becomes non-redressable.”

The supreme court’s 2024 campaign ruling granting “absolute” presidential immunity for “official acts” is Trump’s Magna Carta for absolute rule. But if the president can do anything, anytime, anywhere, why even bother now with the irrelevance of the judicial system except as a residual bow to empty formal courtesy? Why dress up the “non-redressable”?

At the same time that the justice department insisted that Trump could demolish the Statue of Liberty at will, a monstrous and gaudy 600-tonne, 154ft-tall skeletal structure called “the Claw”, painted red, white and blue, was rising on the South Lawn of the White House, above the building itself and next to the rubble where the ballroom is planned.

Within “the Claw” there will be a cage, where the Ultimate Fighting Championship company will stage martial arts matches, an exhibition called “UFC Freedom 250”, to celebrate Trump’s 80th birthday on 14 June.

The cage fighter weigh-ins and face-offs will take place at the Lincoln Memorial, where the solemn marble Daniel Chester French statue is flanked by the engraved words of the Gettysburg Address (“a new birth of freedom”) and the Second Inaugural (“malice toward none”).

On the Ellipse, in the shadow of the Washington Monument, jumbotron TV screens will show the fight to tens of thousands of fans who have not been invited to join the select few designated by Trump to sit ringside with him at “the Claw”.

The event is billed as “free”, but in reality it appears to be an occasion for many complex transactions for Trump to further his economic and political control, reward members of his inner network and deepen his influence over them. While the fighters are the ostensible draw, they are not the true main event.

They are a pretext for Trump’s kleptocratic spectacle. The gladiatorial grappling has given Trump a chance to extract tribute for his favor, to put the federal government out to the highest bidder, to bind his big money allies closer to him, to make them more dependent. Not least, on his birthday, the circus revolves around him as the center of attention.

“This plan is deeply corrupt,” states the lawsuit brought by the non-profit Public Integrity Project in an effort to stop the “unlawful” event from taking place. “UFC Freedom 250 is a private, for-profit sporting event being ‘planned, organized, and executed’ by the UFC, its broadcast partners, and its advertisers, not by the federal government. And it is not in any material sense a ‘celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence’ – it is, instead, a celebration of the UFC’s brand and the 80th anniversary of Donald Trump’s birth.

“For these reasons, UFC Freedom 250 does not satisfy the strict conditions that must be satisfied for special semiquincentennial events to occur on the South Lawn or at the Lincoln Memorial.”

The UFC is offering special access VIP packages, “Partnership Investment”, for $1.5m. Two weeks after the match was announced, Trump’s “wealth advisers” purchased up to $50,000 of stock in TKO Holding Group, the UFC’s parent company. One TKO executive touted the upcoming event as “the greatest earned-marketing tool of all time”.

Marketing is everything to the UFC. Dana White, impresario of the UFC, owes Donald Trump for his first promotional break. The UFC was essentially a shell company in 2001 when White became its president after arranging its sale to a group of casino investors. Senator John McCain called it “human cockfighting”. The company’s activity was prohibited in 36 states and on pay-per-view cable TV. At that moment, Trump himself was also floundering. His Atlantic City hotel and casino, the Taj Mahal, had already been subjected to a bankruptcy . He hired the UFC for its first public matches to attract a crowd, which did not prevent the Taj eventually from collapsing into its final bankruptcy.

But Trump gave the UFC visibility. White also hired a knock-about comedian and actor, Joe Rogan, as a color commentator. Then 15 years later, in 2016, White sold the UFC to WME, the entertainment agency, for $4bn. White has been elevated into a cultural icon of the Trump age. He spoke on the podium of the 2024 Republican convention for Trump, contributes mightily to Trump’s political action committee and hosts Trump at UFC events where he enters like a conquering Caesar.

The Public Integrity Project lawsuit notes that White “admitted that the event was ‘Trump’s idea’”. Trump is staging a version of his past, when he brought the fledgling and proscribed UFC to his dying casino, but is now re-enacting the tawdry scene as a grand success using all the resources at his command in a celebration of his web of influence and himself.

Plebes may also pay a streaming service to see it, but not just any one . For an $8.99 plus tax subscription fee, viewers at home can see the event on Paramount+, owned by Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison, who are seeking Department of Justice approval of the takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery, and who put CBS News under the unerring mismanagement of Bari Weiss.

The cage match is expected to leverage millions of subscription sign-ups, sell expensive commercials to corporate sponsors that want to curry Trump’s favor, and establish Paramount+ as a live sports competitor with Netflix and Amazon Prime.

In fact, Paramount+ has emerged as the home for all UFC events under a seven-year contract with the TKO Group. The deal has a projected annual value of $1.1bn. That agreement came almost immediately after the Trump justice department granted approval for the Ellison-owned Skydance company to purchase Paramount for $8bn.

In what appears to be an attempt to clear the way for the Federal Communication Commission’s blessing, Paramount paid a $16m personal settlement to Trump to resolve his lawsuit in which he accused CBS News’s 60 Minutes of deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris.

David Ellison declared that “the addition of UFC’s year-round must-watch events to our platforms is a major win”.

A Republican lobbyist told NBC News about the Trump political operation’s frenetic activity surrounding the UFC event: “They are raising a shit-ton of money and have used it as another unofficial vehicle for corporate donors to give and gain favor with Trump.”

The night before the match, Trump is holding a $1m-a-person dinner at the Trump National Golf Club at Potomac, Virginia, for Super Pac Maga Inc.

Since the 2024 election, Maga Inc has raised more than $342m from “the GOP’s legacy donor class and its newer crop of tech and finance billionaires,” any number of them recipients of federal contracts or reliant on federal regulation, according to Forbes Magazine .

The corporate operator of Crypto.com, for example, has donated $20m , and as part of Crypto.com’s deal with the UFC, giving Crypto branding rights on all fighters’ uniforms, it is offering “a first of its kind, $1 million $CRO bonus pool for the Fight of the Night”.

“Maybe we’ll never, ever take it down,” Trump mused in a video on his TikTok account about “the Claw”. He compared it to the Eiffel Tower, built as a temporary structure for the 1889 Paris World’s Fair.

And “maybe”, following the doctrine promulgated by his justice department, he will keep “the Claw” and “bulldoze” the Statue of Liberty, “maybe” just to prove the point that he can.

The two structures are opposing symbols of the Trump era. The Statue of Liberty was built as the project of French liberals as a gift of the people of France to commemorate the Union victory in the civil war. In Liberty’s left hand, she holds a tablet on which is written “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI”– 4 July 1776 – and at her feet lie broken shackles representing emancipation from slavery, redemption of the revolutionary promise in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.”

Liberty faces Europe holding in her right hand an upraised beacon to shine for liberalism and freedom, in Lincoln’s words, the United States as “the last best hope of earth”. The funds for the statue were provided by the American public in a subscription drive launched by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World.

For that drive, the poet Emma Lazarus wrote The New Colossus, whose lines expressing the American promise to immigrants are inscribed at the statue: “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

“The Claw” overarching the cage for brutal combat is the physical representation of Trump’s Hobbesian vision for the rest of us while he presides in the owner’s box. That cage also signifies the many cages Trump has built for immigrants, a kind of sculptural Salvadorian Cecot of his own on the South Lawn.

But, more, Trump’s cage, his regime, has been lowered on the whole country to entrap it. Bombs away again, but then not for now. “I love inflation.”

After Trump attended the third game of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on 9 June, where he was heartily booed during the national anthem by the New York fans who are all too familiar with him and might not take well to the bulldozing of the Statue of Liberty, Joe Rogan, the original color commentator, sagely remarked: “He should stick to the UFC, they’re going to boo him everywhere else.”

Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man , Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth . He is a Guardian US columnist

Keyword – Food
Trefwoorden – Cocktails, Spirits, Food, Tomatoes, Korean food and drink
Title – Cocktail of the week: the Red Lion & Sun’s kimchi bloody mary – recipe | Cocktails | The Guardian
Author – Heath Ball
Link – Cocktail of the week: the Red Lion & Sun’s kimchi bloody mary – recipe | Cocktails | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T12:00:44.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jun/12/kimchi-bloody-mary-recipe-cocktail-red-lion-sun

This sour-spicy twist on the classic brunch drink is very easy to recreate at home.

Kimchi bloody mary

Serves 1

For the kimchi mix (for four serves) 45g Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce 45g fresh lime juice 18g kimchi – use your favourite; ours is Kim Kong 5g Tabasco 10g gochujang

For the drink 50ml vodka – we use Grey Goose 75ml good tomato juice 30ml kimchi mix (see above and method) 1 thick slice cucumber , to garnish 1 fresh mint sprig , to garnish

First make the kimchi mix. Put everything in a blender, blitz smooth, then decant into a clean jar or bottle, seal and store in the fridge, where it’ll keep for a good couple of months.

To build the drink, fill a boston shaker with ice and leave until the shaker feels cold to the touch. Measure in the vodka, tomato juice and kimchi mix, then shake hard for 10 seconds. Strain into a highball glass filled with fresh ice, garnish with the cucumber and mint, and serve.

Heath Ball, owner, The Red Lion & Sun , London N6

Keyword – Business
Trefwoorden – Oil, Economics, Business, US-Israel war on Iran, UK news, US news, World news
Title – Oil prices plummet as Trump claims he is close to US-Iran deal | Oil | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jillian-ambrose
Link – Oil prices plummet as Trump claims he is close to US-Iran deal | Oil | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T11:07:33.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/12/global-oil-prices-trump-us-iran-deal-brent-crude-strait-of-hormuz

Global oil prices fell on Friday to lows not seen since the first week of the Iran crisis after Donald Trump claimed he was close to reaching a peace deal with Tehran.

The price of Brent crude began to tumble from about $93 a barrel in overnight trade after the US president called off further military strikes against Iran scheduled for the evening.

It traded briefly below $85 a barrel on Friday morning in fresh hope that a deal between the US and Iran could mean a reopening of the strait of Hormuz over the weekend, and was later trading at about $87.50, a 3% fall on the day.

Trump called off his plan for renewed strikeslate on Thursday, saying that talks with Iran had progressed and a peace deal could lead to the reopening of trade through the strait of Hormuz as soon as this weekend.

Tehran said it had not made a final decision but large parts of the agreement had been finalised.

“Headlines are driving the market once again, as confidence grows that an eventual deal will be struck and the strait reopens,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates.

The oil market slump has taken prices to the lowest seen since early March, when Iran effectively blocked shipments of oil and gas from leaving the Gulf following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

The chokehold on the vital trade route caused oil prices to quickly reach highs of $113 a barrel before members of the International Energy Agency coordinated a release of 400m barrels of emergency crude to calm the market. Before the war started, Brent was trading at about $70 a barrel.

Oil prices have been falling in recent weeks because of a string of factors that have helped to rebalance the market, including import cuts from China and the emergence of stealth crude exports from the Gulf via “dark transits” .

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “The usual pesky caveats about details and signing remain of course, but if the two sides could actually come to an agreement that reopens Hormuz, that would provide the perfect boost for a stock market rally that was beginning to look more than a little tired.”

European markets followed Asia higher on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 down 1.5%.

Goldman Sachs, one of the most influential players in the global oil market, said on Friday that it still expects oil prices to average $90 a barrel in the last quarter of the year as oil flows slowly begin to normalise from August and countries refill their depleted stockpiles.

However, the US investment bank has lowered its oil price forecast for 2027 by $5 to $80 a barrel owing to higher expected supplies from the Americas and the UAE, and lower forecast demand.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US politics, US news, US domestic policy, World news, Surveillance, US Congress
Title – A powerful US surveillance law is set to expire – what happens now? | US politics | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sanya-mansoor
Link – A powerful US surveillance law is set to expire – what happens now? | US politics | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T10:00:42.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/12/fisa-law-surveillance

Donald Trump’s bid to install a controversial ally as the country’s leading intelligence official has shone a light on the wide reach of a powerful surveillance law, and raised questions over its future.

Privacy advocates say it deserves scrutiny, and reform, regardless of who the US president appoints as director of national intelligence (DNI).

A key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) is due to expire on Friday night amid a backlash to Trump’s announcement that Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a major Republican donor, would be acting DNI.

While Trump has moved to contain the furor – announcing his nomination of another top official, Jay Carney , to take the role on a permanent basis – US Congress has so far failed to extend section 702 of Fisa in time for Friday’s deadline.

While the Pulte row brought Fisa back in the spotlight, the program’s balance of civil liberties and national security has been the subject of fraught debate in recent months, and years.

“If Bill Pulte had never become part of the conversation, many of the underlying concerns about section 702 – if not all of them – would still exist,” said Jason Pye, vice-president of the Due Process Institute, a bipartisan nonprofit focused largely on criminal justice. “These debates didn’t start in this Congress, and they didn’t start with this administration.”

Section 702, first enacted in 2008, allows national security agencies to collect and review texts and emails sent to and from foreigners living outside the US, without a warrant. If an American is talking to a non-American target living abroad, their communications can get swept up too.

Privacy advocates say that while the law is intended to surveil foreigners outside the US, the federal government uses this loophole to spy without warrants on Americans, an unconstitutional practice. Intelligence agencies say they need these surveillance powers to prevent terror attacks.

This year, Congress has only been able to pass short-term reauthorizations of the section 702 program. Trump and Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have tried, unsuccessfully, to push through longer extensions that do not include key reforms demanded by a broad coalition including progressive Democrats and far-right Republicans.

In late April , Congress punted the original section 702 expiry date to 12 June, after negotiations failed to lead to a lengthier renewal.

“We’ve reached a point where we’re kicking the can” and trying “the same status-quo approach over and over”, said Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the security and surveillance project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It’s time to let these reform bills have a chance.”

In refusing to allow a vote on a warrant requirement to surveil Americans’ communications, Republican House leadership has closed the door to the most important change that dissenting lawmakers and privacy advocates are asking for. They, in turn, blame House speaker Mike Johnson for tanking repeated attempts to extend the program by taking a “my way or the highway approach”.

There appears to be an appetite for a warrant requirement. In 2024, lawmakers voted on an amendment that would have included one – but it failed after a dramatic 212-212 tie. Privacy advocates say they’re confident they now have the votes for a warrant requirement, based on their conversations with legislators who have changed sides, and new members of Congress.

Government surveillance under section 702 can still continue through March 2027, because it operates through year-long certifications approved by a special federal court.

Some lawmakers are worried about a statutory lapse and the program “going dark” – and the Trump administration has accused Democrats of playing politics with national security by blocking its renewal over Pulte’s appointment. But privacy advocates say this is a scare tactic, since all existing certifications and directives continue to be valid.

“It is shameful, and it is very, very dangerous,” an angry Johnson told reporters after Thursday’s failed House vote. “We did everything in our power to try to ensure that this statute does not expire,” he claimed.

The House has left town and is scheduled to return on 23 June – two weeks after the surveillance program’s deadline.

Laperruque, with the Center for Democracy and Technology, said Johnson’s willingness to send lawmakers home this week, without resolving the Fisa issue, is proof the national security implications aren’t as dire as he has suggested. “They would not be flying off to go home if they actually thought it was a real threat,” he said.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US Congress, US news, US politics, Donald Trump, Surveillance, US domestic policy, US foreign policy, US-Israel war on Iran
Title – Fisa spy powers almost certain to expire after Congress fails to act – US politics live | US Congress | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tom-ambrose,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lucy-campbell,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/taz-ali,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sanya-mansoor
Link – Fisa spy powers almost certain to expire after Congress fails to act – US politics live | US Congress | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T14:19:15.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/jun/12/donald-trump-fisa-kennedy-center-iran-ufc-white-house-latest-news-updates

Congress fails to act as Fisa spy powers set to expire

Hello and welcome to the US live blog.

A key surveillance tool that allows the US to collect intelligence abroad appears certain to expire after Congress failed to temporarily extend the program.

The impasse is a protest against president Donald Trump’s temporary pick to head the nation’s intelligence agencies, AP reported.

Trump doubled down on his choice of Bill Pulte for acting director of national intelligence, despite the federal housing finance regulator having little experience.

In response, Democratic politicians said they would not support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as Fisa, unless Trump withdraws Pulte’s appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

The House vote collapsed, with 19 Republicans and nearly all Democrats rejecting the temporary measure, 198-218. The Senate tried to approve its own versions, but also failed, with the law due to expire today at midnight.

After the votes, Trump announced Jay Clayton, a US attorney who previously served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as his permanent pick as intelligence director. But the president’s move did not seem able to break the standoff over Pulte before the deadline.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said:

Pulte has to go. He cannot be in the DNI role. It’s too important.

In other developments:

Donald Trump declared “a great settlement” with Iran, which could be signed soon “maybe in Europe, over the weekend”.

Trump’s hand-picked board at the Kennedy Center is mounting a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the performing arts facility before a court-ordered deadline to remove it by Friday. The board voted on Thursday to seek a stay of US district judge Christopher Cooper’s 29 May ruling that said Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center, according to a person familiar with the move who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Congressman Robert Garcia , who is in line to chair the House oversight committee next year if Democrats win back the majority in November, called for testimony from vice-president JD Vance and other senior officials over what he called “the White House cover-up” of the Epstein files revealed by the New York Times.

US federal authorities are investigating what appears to be a massive etching of “8647” into the grass of the National Mall . Live webcam footage from atop the Washington Monument as of Thursday afternoon shows the markings, with a highly visible “8,” along with less visible “6”, “4” and “7”.

Further to my earlier post , Andrew Giuliani, the CEO of the World Cup task force, confirmed yesterday that Donald Trump will not be in attendance when the United States opens its World Cup competition against Paraguay tonight in Inglewood, California.

“He’s not going to end up attending the opening game,” Giuliani told TalkSport. “As we’ve said, his scheduling is tight. But I know he’s going to be engaged throughout this World Cup.”

As you will remember, Trump will be very busy hosting the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House on Sunday, which is also his 80th birthday.

While it is uncommon for a head of state from a host country to miss the nation’s World Cup opener, it is not unprecedented. The US delegation will be led by secretary of state Marco Rubio , transportation secretary Sean Duffy , and homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin .

Giuliani, the son of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, said he wasn’t sure when Trump would make an appearance.

“Having known President Trump for now 30 years, what I can tell you is: expect the unexpected. Always expect a cliffhanger with him,” Giuliani said. “Throughout the course of this tournament, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see him engage more and more with the World Cup.“

Trump has attended several big sporting events while president, including Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden earlier this week, where he was met with a chorus of boos .

Trump lashes out at ‘dishonourable’ Iran over terms of deal reported in state media

Donald Trump has dismissed Iranian media reports on an imminent deal with the US as “fake news”, saying they were not the terms Washington agreed to.

Several Iranian media outlets have been reporting what they described as details of a draft proposal being reviewed by Iran’s leadership. Some of the terms of the agreement, according to the reports, include Iran’s control of the strait of Hormuz and postponed discussions on its nuclear programme (see more here and here ).

Trump said the reports were inaccurate and lashed out at Iran , calling them “very dishonorable people” and warning, “They better get their act together, and FAST!”

He wrote on Truth Social:

The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing. What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth. Very dishonorable people to deal with. With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING! Also, their totally rebuffed Drone attack last night against Indian Ships leaving the Hormuz Strait is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. They better get their act together, and FAST!”

Analysis: controversial spying power is set to expire – what happens now?

Section 702 of Fisa due to expire tonight – and remain so for at least a week during recess – amid backlash to Trump’s pick Bill Pulte for acting DNI.

While Trump has moved to contain the furor – announcing his nomination of another top official, Jay Carney , to take the role on a permanent basis, yesterday – Congress has so far failed to extend the key power in time for tonight’s deadline.

But, per my colleague Sanya Mansoor while the Pulte row brought Fisa back in the spotlight, underlying concerns over the program’s balance of civil liberties and national security has been the subject of fraught debate and controversy in recent months, and years.

Section 702, first enacted in 2008, allows national security agencies to collect and review texts and emails sent to and from foreigners living outside the US, without a warrant. If an American is talking to a non-American target living abroad, their communications can get swept up too.

Privacy advocates say that while the law is intended to surveil foreigners outside the US, t he federal government uses this loophole to spy without warrants on Americans, an unconstitutional practice . Intelligence agencies say they need these surveillance powers to prevent terror attacks.

This year, Congress has only been able to pass short-term re-authorizations of the section 702 program. Trump and Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have tried, unsuccessfully, to push through longer extensions that do not include key reforms demanded by a broad coalition including progressive Democrats and far-right Republicans.

In refusing to allow a vote on a warrant requirement to surveil Americans’ communications, Republican House leadership has closed the door to the most important change that dissenting lawmakers and privacy advocates are asking for. They, in turn, blame House speaker Mike Johnson for tanking repeated attempts to extend the program by taking a “my way or the highway approach”.

What happens now? Well, government surveillance under section 702 can actually still continue through March 2027, because it operates through year-long certifications approved by a special federal court.

Some lawmakers are worried about a statutory lapse and the program “going dark” – and the Trump administration has accused Democrats of playing politics with national security by blocking its renewal over Pulte’s appointment. But privacy advocates say this is a scare tactic, since all existing certifications and directives continue to be valid.

“It is shameful, and it is very, very dangerous,” a vexxed Johnson told reporters after yestserday’s failed House vote. “We did everything in our power to try to ensure that this statute does not expire.”

As you know, the House has left town and is scheduled to return on 23 June – two weeks after the surveillance program’s deadline.

Jake Laperruque, with the Center for Democracy and Technology, said Johnson’s willingness to send lawmakers home this week, without resolving the Fisa issue, is proof the national security implications aren’t as dire as he has suggested . “They would not be flying off to go home if they actually thought it was a real threat,” he said.

Also in attendance at the match later will be California governor Gavin Newsom . According to Politico, he and secretary of state Marco Rubio – both widely considered potential future contenders for the presidency – are expected to sit within close proximity of each other at kickoff at SoFi Stadium.

“The Governor is there to support Team USA. Any frame-mogging that occurs will be purely incidental,” an official familiar with the governor’s plans told Politico. Rubio’s office declined to comment.

The United States begin their World Cup challenge – their first on US soil for 32 years – today, taking on Paraguay in a high-stakes match in Los Angeles.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio will attend the opening match. Donald Trump has said he would be present at other games in the tournament, but hasn’t specified which.

The start of the action on the pitch yesterday will have come as a welcome relief to football’s world governing body Fifa , which has faced stinging criticism over the eye-watering cost of tickets.

In addition, Trump’s immigration crackdown has seen a top Somalian referee, Iranian team officials and dozens of fans refused entry to the United States .

For all things World Cup, my colleagues have got you covered:

About half of evangelical Christians – a core component of Donald Trump’s political base – believe his administration’s approach to the Iran war and immigration enforcement is not in line with their understanding of Christianity, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Evangelicals helped power the Republican’s 2024 election victory, and Trump and his top officials including defense secretary Pete Hegseth have regularly used religious language in describing their goals and policies.

Republicans will be counting on them in the November midterm elections, when they will be defending thin majorities in the US Senate and House of Representatives.

Some 54% of evangelicals in the 3-8 June poll said Trump’s use of the military in Iran was not in line with their understanding of Christianity, while 41% said it was in line with it.

Some 51% of evangelicals said the administration’s approach to immigration policy was not in line with Christian values, with 44% saying it was.

Donald Trump’s hand-picked board at the Kennedy Center is mounting a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the performing arts facility before a court-ordered deadline to remove it by Friday.

The board voted on Thursday to seek a stay of US district judge Christopher Cooper’s 29 May ruling that said Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center, according to a person familiar with the move who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

The formal stay will be filed on Friday, the person said.

Cooper ruled that only Congress could institute a change to the Kennedy Center’s name and ordered references to Trump be removed by Friday. He also blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July and last for two years.

The board move marks a shift from a 4 June memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel saying email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as “The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center”.

The Kennedy Center’s website has dropped the president’s name. And an email earlier this week sent to members offering ticket packages for the 28 June Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony came from the Kennedy Center without including Trump’s name.

Autistic children injected with unapproved stem cell treatments supported by RFK Jr

Autistic children as young as 18 months old are being injected with human stem cells derived from umbilical cords in unapproved, unproven and potentially harmful “treatments” that scientists warn are proliferating across the US under the active encouragement of the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr .

Clinics in Florida, Texas and other states are selling what they bill as “regenerative medicine” to families with autistic children who have intensive care needs.

The procedure, which can involve the child being sedated with ketamine before receiving intravenous doses of millions of stem cells , costs up to $20,000 each treatment. Families are often advised to return for regular top-ups.

Profoundly stressed parents are being wooed to the clinics with promises that a high-dose infusion of umbilical cord stem cells can lead to dramatic improvements in their children’s ability to speak, socialise, or avoid aggressive or self-harming behaviour. Yet there is no scientific evidence that the procedure works – the most comprehensive clinical trial staged so far, a placebo experiment conducted by Duke University , found insignificant benefits for most of the 180 children tested.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directly cautions parents that if they are being offered stem cell treatments outside an approved clinical trial, “you are likely being deceived and offered a product illegally” .

Though the Duke trial found minimal safety concerns with properly administered stem cell infusions, authorities continue to highlight the potential risks of under-regulated therapies.

The FDA warned in 2021 that it had received reports of complications following applications of umbilical cord stem cells and other related unapproved products leading to “blindness, tumor formation, infections and more” .

In his 16 months as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services within the Trump administration, Kennedy has undercut established scientific endeavors. He has fired thousands of federal health officials, dismissed longstanding scientific advisers , defunded $31m in autism-related research and attempted to shrink the recommended list of childhood vaccinations.

At the same time, largely unnoticed, he has given his backing to alternative health providers moving to fill the gap. Kennedy appeared by video link at the first two annual summits held in San Diego by Autism Health, a leading advocate of stem cell infusions for autistic kids.

At the summit last year, he told the audience that “your issue is no longer on the fringe”. At this year’s gathering in April, he promised to “create opportunities that extend across a lifetime” and to work with the stem cell providers “to drive solutions together”.

Here’s Ed’s full report:

Congress fails to act as Fisa spy powers set to expire

Hello and welcome to the US live blog.

A key surveillance tool that allows the US to collect intelligence abroad appears certain to expire after Congress failed to temporarily extend the program.

The impasse is a protest against president Donald Trump’s temporary pick to head the nation’s intelligence agencies, AP reported.

Trump doubled down on his choice of Bill Pulte for acting director of national intelligence, despite the federal housing finance regulator having little experience.

In response, Democratic politicians said they would not support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as Fisa, unless Trump withdraws Pulte’s appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

The House vote collapsed, with 19 Republicans and nearly all Democrats rejecting the temporary measure, 198-218. The Senate tried to approve its own versions, but also failed, with the law due to expire today at midnight.

After the votes, Trump announced Jay Clayton, a US attorney who previously served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as his permanent pick as intelligence director. But the president’s move did not seem able to break the standoff over Pulte before the deadline.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said:

Pulte has to go. He cannot be in the DNI role. It’s too important.

In other developments:

Donald Trump declared “a great settlement” with Iran, which could be signed soon “maybe in Europe, over the weekend”.

Trump’s hand-picked board at the Kennedy Center is mounting a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the performing arts facility before a court-ordered deadline to remove it by Friday. The board voted on Thursday to seek a stay of US district judge Christopher Cooper’s 29 May ruling that said Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center, according to a person familiar with the move who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Congressman Robert Garcia , who is in line to chair the House oversight committee next year if Democrats win back the majority in November, called for testimony from vice-president JD Vance and other senior officials over what he called “the White House cover-up” of the Epstein files revealed by the New York Times.

US federal authorities are investigating what appears to be a massive etching of “8647” into the grass of the National Mall . Live webcam footage from atop the Washington Monument as of Thursday afternoon shows the markings, with a highly visible “8,” along with less visible “6”, “4” and “7”.