First Thing: Top Democrats accuse Republicans of becoming ‘gelatinous blobs’ on Iran war
Senators Warren and Van Hollen attack Republican ‘rubber stamps’ in Congress for surrendering authority to Trump. Plus, could AI take your job? Some workers in China already know the answer
Good morning.
Senior Democrats accused Republicans in the US Congress of becoming “gelatinous blobs” who will not stand up to Donald Trump and “rubber stamps” for his war on Iran.
Elizabeth Warren, a US senator for Massachusetts, and Chris Van Hollen, a US senator for Maryland, argued that the Republican-controlled Congress had surrendered its constitutional authority to the president.
In interviews with the Guardian, the senators urged their Republican colleagues to stand with Democrats and assert Congress’s authority as a separate branch of the federal government – with power over declaring war.
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What else is happening in Washington? Trump has said a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza. However, briefings from both sides exposed disputes over its implementation that could prove difficult to overcome.
Trump says he may ‘temporarily’ drop attempt to make Blanche US attorney general
Donald Trump said yesterday he may “temporarily” pull the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, but would keep him in the role in an acting capacity until two Republican senators objecting to his confirmation leave office next year – an extraordinary escalation of an intra-party fight over an agreement to create a $1.8bn slush fund and give the president tax immunity.
Two Republican senators – John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina – have refused to back Blanche’s nomination until they receive written confirmation from the justice department that it is not moving forward with a widely criticized agreement creating a $1.8bn fund to compensate people claiming they were targets of political weaponization and granting the president, his family and business entities broad immunity from past tax investigations.
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What has Blanche said? Blanche has already said publicly that the payout fund to compensate victims of so-called government weaponization is not moving forward amid bipartisan backlash. But Cornyn and Tillis had sought assurances in writing, something Blanche has refused to do. Cornyn also sought to clarify the terms of the tax immunity portion of the agreement.
At least 34 die as 49,000 cross to Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco
At least 34 people have died trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after about 49,000 migrants breached the border with Morocco and poured into the tiny territory.
Spain sent military and police reinforcements to Ceuta on Thursday after people crossed by land and sea. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was expected to join the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, on a visit to Ceuta on Friday morning.
Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers’ association representing Civil Guard officers, described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis”. He said: “People are still entering. The reinforcements that have arrived are only helping the injured and other humanitarian efforts.”
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How did the people die? Many drowned but some were killed in a crush to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, Sbihi said.
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Why have so many breached the border at the same time? It was not immediately clear what prompted so many people to cross to Ceuta.
In other news …
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Seattle’s police chief has resigned amid criticism of the city’s response to a fatal shootout at a food festival last weekend, Katie Wilson, the mayor, said last night. The announcement followed hours of speculation about whether Shon Barnes would step down.
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Anthropic said on Thursday its AI Claude model hacked systems of three organizations during testing, days after rival OpenAI revealed a rogue agent had gone on a days-long hacking spree at AI firm Hugging Face.
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George and Amal Clooney have been forced to evacuate their home in south-eastern France as a wildfire burned nearby, the actor’s agent confirmed to Associated Press on Thursday. In a letter to the local mayor, the actor said that “whatever happens, they remain fully part of this community” and would “contribute to its rebuilding”.
Culture pick: Spider-Man: Brand New Day review – Zendaya saves Tom Holland’s semi-Cronenberg-style superhero
In the new instalment of the Spider-Man franchise,Peter is back where he started, adored by New Yorkers for crime-fighting as Spider-Man, living in a scuzzy single room with all his screens and tech gear, his secret identity a secret once more, but pining for the people he loves. And he’s not getting any younger. How much of a “brand new day” is this?
Stat of the day: All 55 Uefa members agree to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell-off plans proceed
European countries have agreed to boycott all Fifa competitions if Gianni Infantino pushes forward with his proposals to sell chunks of the World Cup to US-based private investment. In an extraordinary development, all 55 Uefa members resolved not to participate in future World Cups or other Fifa-run events, saying in a statement that they “unanimously and unequivocally reject” the proposals.
Don’t miss this: Could AI take your job? Some workers in China already know the answer
In China, the deployment of AI is being encouraged at a scale unseen in the west. Across the country, workers are fearful about the impact of AI on their livelihoods as the technology is rolled out at a staggering rate in an increasingly precarious labour market.
Climate check: Europe is burning – and if Trump’s war on the climate is not met with sanctions, things will only get worse
“Are we understanding it yet? As Europe burns in the west, the south and the north, are we grasping the fact that our economies, food systems, political stability and even our ability to plan for the future, will all be charred in a world on fire? Meanwhile the White House seems committed to ecocide,” writes Alexander Hurst for Guardian Opinion.
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