Mubeen Blogs

Land commissioner says state is ready to allow facility for ‘processing, detention and coordination’ of deportation The state of Texas has offered thousands of acres of land to Donald Trump “to construct deportation facilities”. Texas land commissioner Dawn Buckingham wrote in a letter to Trump that his “office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the US border patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/pDFEgZP

The Republicans were always the party of big business, but Mr Trump is turning them into a playpen for oligarchs One person turns up surprisingly often at Donald Trump’s side. Not his No 2, JD Vance, nor his wife, Melania, but another man a quarter-century younger and about $300bn heavier: Elon Musk. The two hunkered down in Mar-a-Lago on the night of the election, celebrating the results. This week they were in Texas, watching Mr Musk’s staff test-launch a spacecraft. During the campaign, Mr Musk personally chipped in $130m , made speeches at rallies and organised campaigns to “get out the vote”. Last week, the world’s richest man was picked by the president-elect to run a new “department of government efficiency”. So close are the pair that Mr Musk dubs himself “First Buddy”. American politics has always been coiled around money, tight as a vine around a trunk. Nearly 25 years ago, George W Bush joked at a swanky white-tie dinner : “Some people call you the elites; I call you my ba

Tax rises were needed, but Labour must not dismiss the difficulties faced by farming families No tax change is perfect. Systems can never be customised to take in every set of circumstances. There are always edge cases – people who are outliers in the groups that new measures are aimed at. Several hundred farming families seem likely to fall into this category, following the changes to inheritance tax in Rachel Reeves’s budget that have prompted this week’s angry protests. Those whose incomes will make it difficult for them to pay the new 20% rate on agricultural property above a £1m threshold may need to sell land, or adapt their businesses in other ways. Given that farms were previously exempt, it is not surprising that this has caused upset. Very few people want to pay more tax – especially on family-owned assets to which they are attached. There is a reasonable argument that more notice should have been given of the government’s plans, which were not in its manifesto. Had a cons

The pope’s call to investigate war crimes in Gaza highlights rising global scrutiny. But accountability remains elusive As an Israeli airstrike killed at least 30 people in a northern Gaza residential block, Pope Francis called for an investigation into whether genocide is being carried out under the cover of war. The staggering death toll in Gaza – an estimated 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children – underscores the urgency of his call for accountability. While the pope has criticised Israel’s war before, this marks his first public call for a deeper investigation of the conflict ignited by Hamas’s 7 October attack last year that killed 1,200 people. Legal scrutiny of the conflict requires access to Gaza, which has been sealed off for 13 months in defiance of the the international court of justice’s calls to permit entry to investigate a “ plausible genocide ”. The pope did not give a definitive judgment on whether the situation legally qualifies as the “ crime of crimes

Updates from St Lucia; match starts at 8pm GMT Live scorecard will appear here | Email Tim Jos Buttler calls right – and goes with the flow of this series. Every game has been won by the side batting second. Evening everyone and welcome to the fifth act of another sporting drama. Some might say it was a dead rubber, but they would be missing the point. In a sport that loves its records the way cricket does, rubbers never die. Any of the 22 players could post a career-best tonight, score a hundred, grab a four-for or do something that hasn’t been done before in nearly 20 years of T20 internationals. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/p4eH8oF

England coach does not believe he will be sacked Freddie Stewart says players should shoulder blame Steve Borthwick has claimed his England players were not fit enough for Test rugby when they began their autumn internationals after Saturday’s defeat by South Africa extended their dismal losing run. In what could be construed as a tacit admission that Aled Walters’ departure has been keenly felt, Borthwick has risked the ire of Premiership clubs by stating that his players’ “condition” was not “where it needed to be” at the start of the month. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/PbZ9wem

Late drama and justice featured in a breathless finish to this ­riveting encounter. When Neco Williams challenged Yunus Akgun and Connor Roberts tackled Kerem Akturkoglu in the Wales area, each seemed clean yet the referee, Juan Martínez Munuera, awarded a penalty. It was unclear for which ­player’s (apparent) misdemeanour and the VAR did not intervene but when Akturkoglu stepped up his spot-kick shaved Karl Darlow’s left post and missed, which felt fair. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4jK6Ehe