Wild swimmers' health should be ‘legal objective' for water companies
Act now to keep your subscription
We've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
19 minutes ago
- BBC News
How Trump is militarising the US-Mexico border
In the heart of the Texas desert, a Stryker is parked near a stretch of border wall. The light but powerful eight-wheeled combat vehicle was used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – and now is being used to stop what US President Donald Trump has called an "invasion" at the US-Mexico Stryker is just one of about 100 such vehicles being used along the 3,100 km border. In addition, it is estimated there are over 8,000 soldiers, as well as spy planes and drones, and two Navy ships monitoring the coast.A few kilometres away on the Mexican side of the border, a young man standing on top of a hill is one of the few signs of this so-called "invasion". He is what Border Patrol agents call a "hawk," the ones who monitor and decide when and where to encourage migrants to cross into the United those crossings – not long ago at an all time high – have slowed to a trickle. The declining numbers have raised questions about Trump's border tactics, which include an unprecedented deployment of American military might. A legal loophole Trump has been accused of bypassing the conventional distinction between the armed forces and domestic police by deploying the military to the the US, the Posse Comitatus Act prevents federal armed forces from participating in law enforcement activities unless Congress has expressly authorized the military is allowed to patrol its own bases and arrest trespassers through what is known as the "military purpose doctrine".Between April 18 and May 1, the Pentagon created two National Defense Areas, both bordering the Mexican state of Chihuahua, and made them de facto parts of existing military this has done, says Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty & National Security Program, is allow the military to patrol huge swaths of the caught crossing into these areas would be considered trespassers and may be temporarily detained by US soldiers until Border Patrol agents arrive."It's exactly what the administration is trying to set up here: to turn up to a third of the southern border into a military installation," she told BBC Mundo. "When someone enters the area and is detained, they can argue that the primary reason for doing so is to protect the base."The military command insists that its mission is to detain and alert border agents so they can make the official arrest - not to do domestic police work. The Trump administration argues the expanded military areas are necessary for national security, and points to its decisive election victory as a mandate. Stronger border security was a key Trump campaign promise and one of the biggest issues for House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the new areas "will enhance our ability to detect, interdict and prosecute the illegal aliens, criminal gangs, and terrorists who were able to invade our country"."It will also bolster our defenses against fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics that have been poisoning our communities," she added. 95% isn't good enough Ms Goitein questions how the expansion of the military is justified, given the numbers of crossings at the border have fallen to historic lows. While numbers began falling before Trump took office, the decline has accelerated since January, as the administration has ramped up its efforts to arrest and deport illegal April, more than 8,000 people were detained for illegally entering the country at the southwest border.A year ago, the number was 128,000 in April - a 94 % drop - according to government General Jeremy Winters, who is in charge of coordinating the efforts of different law enforcement agencies along the southern border, has said even one illegal crossing is too many."Containment is at 95%. But 95% is not 100%," he said during a press conference."For us to accept that 95% is good enough would be to say that it's conceptually okay to break the law. And that's not what we're doing here."The creation of these national defense areas has had a direct effect on arrests, statistics show. As of 3 June, the Joint Task Force on the Southern Border has detected approximately 340 migrant in these militerised the common charge of entering the United States illegally, prosecutors now can add the charge of intentionally violating security regulations in the areas now declared both are classified as misdemeanors, the penalties for violating security regulations are much steeper. While entering the country without permission through a location not designated as a port of entry carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to US$5,000, the second charge increases the possible penalties to up to one year in prison and a fine of US$100,000."This is pure wilderness, a desert" Carlos Ibarra, the public defender for several of the detainees, told BBC Mundo. "(The migrants) continue arriving as usual, but suddenly, they face military charges. And they don't understand anything."Some of those additional charges were dismissed, with a New Mexico judge finding that military signs were not clearly marked or could be missed. But many have been convicted and pleaded the militarisation of the border will even recently said that he pressured Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to allow the Army to cross into the neighbouring country to conduct operations against cartels, something the president flatly now, the troops remain on the US side of the border."This is their primary mission. This is not training. This is an operation to seal and protect our border, our own homeland," Brigadier General Winters said.
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Telegraph
How Musk turned on Trump's tax ‘abomination'
In the world of Elon Musk, five days is a very long time. Last Friday, Donald Trump described Musk as a 'very special' friend as he stepped down from his role as cost-cutting tsar, bidding farewell by presenting the Tesla chief with a golden key to the White House. After accepting the gift, Musk told reporters in the Oval Office that he would make good use of it. 'I'll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and adviser to the president,' he said. Just a few days later, it appears the billionaire's punchy advice may already be pushing this friendship to breaking point. Late on Tuesday, Musk escalated his criticism of Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill', attacking the US president's package of tax cuts over fears it could add trillions to the national deficit. 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore,' he told his 220m followers on his social media site X. 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Congress is making America bankrupt.' I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2025 More ominously, he took aim at the 215 Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted for the Bill. 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' he said. He didn't stop there. Two hours later, he warned of reprisals at the crucial Congressional midterm elections in 2026. 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.' These are words that could send a chill through Republican Party politicians, including the president himself. Last year, Musk pumped almost $300m (£220m) into Trump's election campaign, providing the financial firepower required to restore him to the White House. And while the Tesla chief has recently exited his role in the Trump administration and vowed to cut his political spending, Musk still looms large over US politics. Anti-Trump allies Unsurprisingly, the White House has so far played down Musk's criticism. 'Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this Bill,' White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday. 'It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it.' The Bill's next stop is the Senate, where it's already facing a less unanimous welcome from Republicans. John Thune, the Republican Senate majority leader, is sticking with his boss. 'My hope is that as [Musk] has an opportunity to further assess what this Bill actually does, that he comes to a different conclusion,' Thune told reporters. But the Tesla billionaire has found a vocal ally in the fiscally hawkish Republican Senator Rand Paul, a longstanding Trump critic. The pair spent Tuesday sharing each other's posts on X. 'I've been pretty consistent in my time in the Senate: I oppose deficit spending no matter which party is in charge,' Paul said in one X post that Musk then promoted. 'If we don't get serious about reining in the debt, the next generation will pay the price. Fiscal responsibility isn't a campaign slogan. It's a duty which I take very seriously.' Maga maverick For Musk, this isn't just a matter of policy. It's personal. The Bill's fiscal profligacy flies directly in the face of the mission that brought him into politics as a chainsaw-wielding Maga maverick: cutting government spending. His department of government efficiency, or Doge, has been on a move-fast-and-break-things campaign to reduce the size of the state. At the White House ceremony to receive his golden key, he wore a T-shirt with the iconography of The Godfather film reworked as 'the Dogefather'. He compared Doge to Buddhism, describing it as 'like a way of life'. He is yet to reach fiscal nirvana, though, having fallen well short of initial ambitions to cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget during his allotted 130 days as a government agent. By the start of June, his 'wall of receipts' was showing savings of $180bn, although several independent efforts to verify Doge's claims have struggled to make the sums add up. 'Maybe why Elon Musk is a bit worked up about this is that he thought he had a mandate to cut spending, and that didn't really happen very much with Doge,' says John Stopford, of fund manager Ninety One. Musk has publicly vented frustration at what he sees as obstructionism from Trump lieutenants and Republican members of Congress keen to protect spending that benefits their districts. Now Trump is in his sights, too. Musk told CBS over the weekend that the tax-cut Bill 'undermines the work that the Doge team is doing'. Market jitters Musk isn't alone in questioning whether Trump's signature legislation is as beautiful as it is big. Yields on longer-dated US Treasury bonds, which finance the government's deficit, are at or near their highest in decades. Investors are worried that the US fiscal trajectory is unsustainable, and are demanding a bigger reward for holding debt beyond the next few years. Term premiums on 10-year US Treasuries – the extra compensation that investors demand compared with shorter-dated bonds, and which can be used as a proxy for investor caution on long-term debt – have hit their highest level in more than a decade. The higher the term premium, the lower the demand. 'What we have been seeing is just a lot of worry about the sustainability of US finances. Worries that there just simply aren't enough investors, especially foreign investors, in the market,' says Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities. A dearth of buyers raises the risk of a crisis in which sellers could become unable to clear their sales, Goldberg warns. This would drive a sharp surge in rates and could force an emergency intervention from the Federal Reserve. 'If there was a big deleveraging that happened and there was a big source of selling, whether it's from foreign investors or hedge funds or levered investors or basis investors, it could potentially overwhelm the system,' he says. Ninety One's Stopford agrees. 'There is a risk that you reach a tipping point at some point,' he says. However, beyond the economy, it's possible that if anyone has reached a tipping point, it's Musk himself.
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Biden issues blistering defense of his presidency as Trump orders probe into his use of autopen
Joe Biden issued a blistering response to Donald Trump after the president ordered an investigation into his use of auto-pen during his term in the White House. Trump last night claimed there was a 'dangerous' conspiracy and misuse of executive power due to Biden's declining mental and physical health during his presidency. It came after months of claims of a cover-up by aides who may have worked to shield the extent of the Biden's condition from the public. In a statement Wednesday night, Biden furiously defended his time as commander-in-chief, asserting that he was at the helm of all decisions. 'Let me be clear,' he said. 'I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false.' Biden put the blame on Trump and the Republican Party, who are trying to draw attention away from the MAGA civil war currently happening over the current president's 'big, beautiful bill.' 'This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans,' Biden said. He accused Trump's administration of 'working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.' Trump is currently facing criticism from his former 'First Buddy' Elon Musk, who is calling for his 'big, beautiful bill' to be axed because he believes it is a 'disgusting abomination' which will add financial pressure to American households. But talk of Musk's betrayal fell to the wayside on Wednesday as Trump embarked on a mass rollout of major decisions for national security. The investigation announcement came during a busy evening for President Trump, who also issued sweeping travel bans on 12 foreign countries, along with severely restricted travel limitations for nationals of another seven nations. The president also restricted visas for foreigners coming to the United States to study at Harvard University. Trump's probe into Biden will see all of the pardons, clemency grants, executive orders, presidential memoranda, and other presidential policy decisions issued by the former president investigated. Actions under review would include Biden's pardons for son Hunter and other family members and orders related to a variety of areas including education, immigration, health care, climate change and more. He also ordered a probe into which Biden aides may have worked to shield the then-president's mental and physical condition to the public. 'This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts,' Trump said. But former Biden administration insiders railed against any conspiracy, noting the autopen technology has been used by presidents for years. Sources close to the president have argued officials would use the autopen only after the President had made a conclusive decision on a matter. Trump believes the use of the autopen invalidates Biden's orders. If his administration can get the courts to agree, it could undo thousands of actions taken by the former president. It's unclear which documents from the Biden administration were signed by the then-president and which may have been signed by an electronic pen. Biden was pictured signing some orders while in office, including ones on the use of AI and on gun safety issues. The power of the president to issue pardons is also broad, and does not necessarily require a signature. This could limit Trump's scope if he tries to argue that the use of an autopen should reverse such decisions. His allies have pushed back on reports his mental and physical health were on the decline during his tenure. But a spate of recent books on his presidency have raised numerous questions about the matter. Trump also demanded a look into 'any activity, coordinated or otherwise, to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden's mental and physical health.' White House counsel David Warrington, along with Attorney General Pam Bondi, will lead the probe. Trump has been vocal as he rallied against the use of autopen since he returned to the White House, despite accepting he has used the technology in the past. 'I understand he signed almost everything with an auto pen,' Trump said of Biden last week. 'It really means you're not president.' The Trump White House noted that the Biden administration issued 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the Federal bench, and issued more pardons and commutations than any administration in United States history. Wednesday's order could result in those multiple actions taken by Biden challenged in court. Previously, the courts have ruled use of the autopen legal but that was during the Obama administration and the makeup of judges has changed since then. Trump's order calls for Warrington and Bondi to investigate 'whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden's mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.' Trump also argued aides did not have the power to sign documents in Biden's name. 'If his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity, while taking radical executive actions all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency, a circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden's name,' he noted in the order. In Wednesday's White House press briefing, Fox News' Peter Doocy brought up the use of the autopen, arguing Biden's signature appeared different - and genuine - on certain documents, such as the pardon for his son Hunter Biden. 'The President is making a good point when he discusses the usage of the autopen and who was running the country for the past four years,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt replied. 'The American people deserve answers,' she added.
