View image in fullscreenTrump with Pam Bondi at an Oval Office event in October. Photograph: John McDonnell/APView image in fullscreenView image in fullscreenTrump with Pam Bondi at an Oval Office event in October. Photograph: John McDonnell/APFirst Thing: Trump accused of running ‘misogynistic administration’ after Bondi dismissalPam Bondi and Kristi Noem only two cabinet members to be fired despite string of scandals facing male officials. Plus, why New Yorkers are swapping gas for induction stoves
Donald Trump has been accused of running a “misogynistic administration” after Pam Bondi became the second woman to be fired from a cabinet already dominated by men.
The US president dismissed the attorney general yesterday amid mounting frustration with her performance, especially over the release of files relating to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The move came less than a month after Trump ousted the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem after criticism of her management of the department and immigration enforcement.
In a statement, Bondi said she was “thrilled” about “moving to an important private sector role”.
Who will replace Bondi? The president said Todd Blanche, her deputy, would serve as acting attorney general. Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency, is said to be a top contender to replace Bondi.
View image in fullscreenTrump shared footage of part of the newly built $400m B1 suspension bridge collapsing. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty ImagesDonald Trump claimed responsibility for destroying Iran’s largest bridge, a day after he threatened to bomb the country “back to the stone ages” if a deal to end the five-week-long war he started was not reached.
The US president shared footage of part of the newly built $400m B1 suspension bridge between Tehran and Karaj collapsing on to the causeway below amid a rising plume of black smoke.
Eight people were killed and 95 wounded, according to Iran’s state media. The middle of the 446ft-high bridge was struck twice. Later imagery showed a clear gap at the heart of what had been one of Iran’s premier infrastructure projects.
How badly has Iran been affected? At least 1,900 people have been killed and 20,000 injured in Iran since the start of the war, according to a rough estimate by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
View image in fullscreenJeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover are on a 10-day mission. Photograph: APThe four Artemis astronauts have fired up their spacecraft’s engine to break away from Earth’s orbit and zoomed towards the moon, a milestone that commits Nasa to the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.
With enough thrust to accelerate a stationary car to highway-driving speed in less than three seconds, the Orion capsule engine blasted on Thursday the astronauts on their trajectory towards the moon, which they now will loop as part of the 10-day Artemis 2 mission.
The burn lasting just under six minutes propelled them on their three-day voyage towards moon, a journey taking humans out of the Earth’s orbit for the first time since 1972.
Who are the astronauts and what have they been doing? The astronauts spent their first hours in space performing checks and troubleshooting minor problems on the spacecraft that has never carried humans before, including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.
View image in fullscreenTen out of Blake Lively’s 13 claims against Justin Baldoni have been thrown out. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images A federal judge has thrown out the majority of Blake Lively’s claims against Justin Baldoni. In a court ruling yesterday, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed 10 of the 13 claims in her lawsuit against her co-star and director of the domestic violence film It Ends With Us.
A Canadian woman and her seven-year-old daughter, who were held for nearly three weeks in a notorious detention center by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), were released yesterday evening after posting a bond of $9,500.
An investigation by Canada’s national broadcaster has found that a big Quebec producer has been diluting its maple syrup with cane sugar and selling the product to grocery chains.
View image in fullscreenVictims said they received rocks and sand instead of their pets’ ashes. Photograph: Jared Cohn/Getty Images/iStockphotoA Baltimore county man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding pet owners through his fake crematorium business, returning rocks and sand to grieving victims instead of ashes.
View image in fullscreenRobert Pattinson, left, and Zendaya in The Drama. Photograph: APA woman’s confession on the eve of her nuptials causes uproar in this insouciantly offensive provocation from the director of Dream Scenario. The Drama offers us a provocation, a jeu d’esprit of outrage, a psychological meltdown that is more astutely articulated than in many another more solemnly intended film. And it gives us what it promises in the title.
View image in fullscreenPope Leo XIV attending the weekly general audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Wednesday. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/ReutersAs Leo marks his inaugural Easter as pontiff, almost a year after his predecessor’s death, some Catholics are still trying to work out what kind of pontiff he is. The feast – the most important in the church’s calendar – comes against the backdrop of war in the Middle East, sparked by the US-Israeli strikes in Iran.
View image in fullscreenAdvocates say the switch to induction stoves could cut emissions and reduce harmful indoor air pollution. Photograph: Thalia Juarez/The GuardianA New York pilot scheme is replacing gas stoves with electric induction models in public housing, offering residents a safer and cleaner way to cook after years of disruption from gas supply issues. The pilot is part of a wider $32m plan to install induction stoves in 10,000 apartments. Advocates say the switch could cut emissions and reduce harmful indoor air pollution, though the technology has become an unlikely flashpoint in the US culture wars.
View image in fullscreenSensory organ in male cephalopod able to detect female hormone progesterone, even if male cannot see partner. Photograph: TheSP4N1SH/Getty Images/iStockphotoSex may seem an intimate act, but scientists have shed fresh light on how octopuses manage it at arm’s length. Male octopuses use a specialised arm called the hectocotylus to place a package of sperm inside the female’s reproductive system.
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