The Senate on Friday confirmed Cameron Hamilton as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, returning the former Navy SEAL to the embattled agency he led temporarily last year only to be fired after he publicly opposed eliminating it.

Hamilton was among a group of 74 nominations approved by the Senate, including President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Transportation Security Administration, David Cummins, and his choice for ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Perez.

Upon his swearing in, Hamilton will take over an agency whose future has been uncertain since Trump threatened to get rid of it days into his second term. Hamilton’s nomination signaled that Trump may be moving on from that idea, but his Republican administration is still promising drastic changes in how the government handles disasters.

Hamilton will have to shepherd that overhaul while stabilizing an agency of more than 20,000 employees recovering from Kristi Noem’s chaotic tenure as Department of Homeland Security secretary, during which FEMA saw mass staff departures, disruptions to grant programs and delays of disaster aid.

While her successor, former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, has worked to reverse some of the upheaval, Democrats are accusing Trump of politicizing disaster relief. Trump has approved 80% of disaster requests from Republican governors but only about 60% from Democratic governors, a July analysis by The Associated Press found.

In his June hearing before a Senate committee, Hamilton pledged to advocate for FEMA and its workforce while promising to ensure FEMA is “objective, is fair and reasonable, follows the law, and is consistent in the approach to how we adjudicate and process claims and requests for disasters.”

He also maintained that the agency is burdened by bureaucracy and cannot be expected to respond to every disaster. “We would need to strike a new balance to encourage cost reasonableness and cost savings,” he said.

Hamilton was fired from a temporary role leading FEMA

Hamilton had limited emergency management experience before Trump named him FEMA’s temporary leader in January 2025. Formerly a critic of the agency, Hamilton has said he came to appreciate FEMA’s mission. His tenure proved short after he broke with Noem and other DHS officials over FEMA’s future.

“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton told a House panel in May 2025. He was fired the next day.

His stand drew admiration among some emergency management professionals.

“It tells you exactly who he is and how he will lead when the pressure is highest and the easy answer is the wrong one,” Pete Gaynor, FEMA administrator in Trump’s first term, said in a statement supporting Hamilton’s confirmation.

The National Emergency Management Association said it welcomes Hamilton as the FEMA administrator.

Still, some FEMA staffers have remained wary of Hamilton’s role in controversial decisions last year like canceling a multibillion-dollar resilience grant program.

FEMA has been an agency under siege

Hamilton will take over in the middle of a busy summer disaster season that has already brought destructive wildfires and dangerous flooding and as FEMA manages more than 1,000 open disaster declarations. He will be FEMA’s first permanent administrator in Trump’s second term, overseeing an agency eager for stability.

More than 4,300 employees separated from FEMA in the 2025 budget year, more than 1,500 through voluntary reductions, resulting in a “loss of institutional knowledge and experienced personnel,” according to a Government Accountability Office report.

Since replacing Noem in March, Mullin has rehired for some eliminated positions and rescinded a rule that any expense greater than $100,000 needed to be approved by the secretary’s office — a requirement that backlogged billions of dollars in disaster aid.

But DHS has also introduced policies stirring up new controversy. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration last month over new election security requirements in FEMA counterterrorism grants to states.

The Trump administration and lawmakers are advocating for sweeping changes to federal disaster response. At a meeting of governors last weekend, Mullin called FEMA “bloated.”

“The biggest reform you’re going to see is more responsibility is going to go back to your states,” Mullin said, with “FEMA there for worst of the worst, not every storm.”

In May, a Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council recommended major changes to how the federal government supports states, tribes and territories during disasters. That could speed assistance but might reduce how much and how often FEMA helps. Many of the suggested changes require congressional action.

Gaynor told the AP he expects that Hamilton will work quickly to make changes within his authority. “I think his biggest priority in general is making the whole recovery system simpler for disaster survivors, for states and locals to navigate, to make it less of mystery, and cut out red tape,” Gaynor said.

Senate approves 74 nominations, including for airport security

Other nominees confirmed included Cummins as head of the Transportation Security Administration, an agency also facing persistent challenges, particularly after this year’s record partial government shutdown left TSA employees working for weeks without pay. The funding lapse prompted thousands of officers to call out of work and about 1,100 to quit.

Cummins is a former senior vice president at the government contractor Serco, which runs air traffic control towers at 60 American airports. He is taking over as the Trump administration seeks to expand private airport screening and cut thousands of TSA jobs.

The Senate also confirmed Perez, a close friend of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a former speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Brazil.

Perez has been central to an ongoing diplomatic dispute between the Trump administration and the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Earlier this week, the State Department said the Brazilian government’s refusal to accept Perez’s appointment was a main reason for its decision to revoke the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to the United States. International diplomatic protocols demand that host countries approve any foreign ambassadors before they can take their posts.

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Associated Press writers Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb.; and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Professor Jason Arday claimed to have locked-in syndrome and testicular cancer in a book proposal for his memoir, it has emerged.

The anecdotes appeared in a 2024 proposal for Great and Unfortunate Things, which is due to be published next week, but not in the final version.

There are also other inconsistencies between the two versions of events in terms of dates and characters, US magazine The Atlantic reported.

In the proposal, Professor Arday, 41, recounted being struck by a car as a teenager and spending several months in a coma – whereas in the memoir he described simply finishing school and taking his exams at that time.

The proposal said he had locked-in syndrome during the coma, and witnessed doctors telling his parents that he would never recover and should be taken off life support ‘as an act of mercy’.

The proposal said: ‘As I will describe to readers in the book, these months afforded me another profoundly different way of perceiving the world.’

It added he awoke ‘miraculously’ from the coma, and spent a year ‘relearning everything—how to walk, to talk’.

The proposal also referred to a bout of testicular cancer, rather than the two brain tumours described in the final version of the memoir.

The anecdotes appeared in a 2024 proposal for Great and Unfortunate Things, which is due to be published next week, but not in the final version (pictured: Professor Jason Arday)

It comes after Cambridge launched an investigation following allegations of plagiarism by Professor Arday, who quit this week as Cambridge’s youngest black professor over the ‘personal cost’ of the furore.

His other surprising claims have included being unable to write until the age of 18, running 30 marathons in 35 days, and raising £5million for charities.

His book proposal, which surfaced this week, lays out many of the same events as his memoir but sometimes with slightly different dates and details.

In an anecdote about a group of boys beating him up, they were four years older in the proposal than in the book.

A suicide attempt was described in the proposal as happening before the pandemic – whereas in the memoir it happened during.

In addition, the book proposal recounts how Professor Arday was given a prophecy in 2005 while working in Brazil by a ‘shaman woman’, who was ‘an elder in the small town where I had been assigned, who was well-known in the area for predicting people’s futures’.

The woman told him he would suffer in his life but also go on to do great things.

The proposal said: ‘Every event she described has since come to pass.’

There are also other inconsistencies between the two versions of events in terms of dates and characters, US magazine The Atlantic reported. Pictured: Great And Unfortunate Things,  which is due for release on Tuesday

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In the final memoir, the anecdote is retained but instead it happens in 2006, and the woman is a local aid worker, described as ‘a woman in her thirties with dark hair and eyes and a gentle, steady way about her’.

Professor Arday, the son of Ghanaian immigrants, was appointed to Cambridge in 2023 after applying for a vacant professorship in the faculty of education.

However, soon after, academics raised concerns with him and his bosses about plagiarism regarding his past work.

When Times Higher Education magazine began investigating the academic’s record, Professor Arday made a complaint to the police, resulting in officers calling the journalist involved.

On Thursday, Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, admitted the force ‘dropped the ball’ when it spent four months investigating the journalist.

Cambridge, Professor Arday and his publisher Simon & Schuster have been contacted for comment.

He said earlier this week of his resignation that the ‘personal cost’ of the row had ‘become too great’ and ‘it is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure’.

He added: ‘Sadly, the years since my appointment have also been marked by an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack. While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement. The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.’

The Palace cinema in Malton became Roxies on Wednesday evening while the filming took place.

A spokesperson for The Palace said: “We were approached by a location scout for a production filming in the area.

“They were looking for a nightclub entrance and thought our doorway and stairs were ideal.

“The art department transformed the front sensitively and quickly, filmed on Wednesday night and then put it back to normal the next day

“It was an exciting experience for the staff and it’s amazing to think we might be able to show a film on our screens that we feature in.”

President Donald Trump derided a federal appeals court ruling halting construction of his White House ballroom and demanding he seek congressional approval, insisting it would “severely jeopardize the lives and welfare” of White House staff.

In a lengthy Truth Social post Friday afternoon, the president said two judges on the D.C. Court of Appeals had made a “politically motivated” and “totally wrong” decision and characterized his White House ballroom project as crucial for national security.

“The Circuit Court’s decision, which is totally wrong on the vital subject of STANDING, of which the plaintiff has none, severely jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House — including all future Presidents of the United States, and their families, as well as the lives of all those visiting…” Trump wrote.

In a 2-1 decision, the appellate judges said the president was only a “temporary tenant” of the White House and had unprecedentedly knocked down the East Wing, paid for with American tax dollars, to build a 90,000-square-foot space without consulting Congress.

But Trump disagreed and further characterized his project as a national security matter because the administration is building an underground bunker, complete with a military facility, emergency operation center and more.

“It is all tied together as one big, expensive, and very complex unit, which is vital for National Security and Military Operations of the United States of America!” Trump wrote.

Though the president is insisting the project should continue, the judge’s ruling allows necessary national security construction to continue as legal challenges play out. It only halts above-ground, non-national security-related construction.

The court’s ruling will take effect for two weeks to give the Trump administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court, which the president said he would do.

Judge Patricia Millet, an Obama appointee, and Judge Brad Garcia, a Biden appointee, ruled in favor of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the group suing the administration to stop construction of the ballroom.

“We are aware of no instance in American history in which a President unilaterally and using privately collected funds demolished substantial portions of the White House that Congress authorized to be built and American taxpayers paid for. Until now,” they wrote.

In doing so, they agreed with a lower court ruling, issued in April, that found Trump overstepped his authority when he demolished the East Wing to make room for the new ballroom.

“This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom. What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require,” the judges added.

Meanwhile, Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, said she would have sided with the administration.

The Independent has asked the White House for comment.

Last year, Trump announced he would build the new glamorous ballroom, without using American taxpayer dollars, to serve as an entertaining space for state dinners and events.

But much like Trump’s other D.C. beautification projects, the cost, scale and public understanding of the project have changed over time.

The cost of the ballroom has surged from its original $200 million estimate to $400 million – with some believing it could cost upwards of $600 million. While Trump has said private donations will pay for the ballroom itself, in June the administration transferred more than $300 million from the Secret Service budget to cover security upgrades to the White House.

The administration has continued building the ballroom as legal challenges play out, arguing the ballroom is essential for national security because they are building an underground bunker containing a military complex, a hospital and an emergency operations center.

As judges have increasingly ruled against the construction of the White House ballroom, the administration has increasingly characterized the project as a pivotal national security or military project.

In Friday’s Truth Social post, the president referred to the project as “the desperately needed Military Center” even though the dispute is over the ballroom.

A cavalcade of blacked out Mercedes, flanked by police cars, rolled into the Fifa headquarters in Rabat, Morocco, earlier this week.

Infantino had summoned a select few members of the Fifa management board to discuss his plan to sell off 21% of the commercial and ticketing business to a private equity firm.

This is how the Swiss-Italian travels – in between flights on the Qatar Airways Executive jet which has been made available to him. The plane enabled him to take up to three flights a day, watching two games, throughout the 2026 World Cup.

That type of arrival does look presidential – only more like a president of a country than a sports body.

It enables him to travel the globe, visiting Fifa’s official offices like Rabat, where he was based over the past week as the Fifa Forward Enterprise controversy developed.

In his role Infantino is expected to visit the 211 member nations, to see the grassroots projects Fifa has funded.

Part of his remit is to unify football, which cannot be achieved from within the Fifa headquarters in Zurich.

It requires international travel to attend confederation meetings, and the global tournaments Fifa organises. Infantino needs to build relationships with officials and politicians.

In April, before the Fifa Congress in Vancouver, local authorities rejected a request for a level-four motorcade, usually reserved for heads of state or the Pope.

New Zealand police said they had declined a similar request during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Alongside the cavalcade of cars and the private charter flights comes a large salary, too, three times what he first earned when elected in 2016.

Infantino, who was paid about £1.3m 10 years ago, now takes home about £4m – a base salary of £2.2m plus a confirmed variable bonus payment of £1.8m.

His predecessor Sepp Blatter was paid a £2.6m package for his final year as Fifa president.

Infantino gets a ‘per diem’ too to cover expenses and living costs, worth £20,500 a year on top of his salary.

As the head of the most popular sport in the world, it should be expected that there is a wage to match.

Infantino would argue that by driving record revenues and funding for member associations, he has proven he is worth the salary.

Drivers have been urged to divert ‘where possible’

A lorry fire has blocked a major Cambridgeshire road on Friday, August 7. Motorists are facing delays of 50-minutes on the A1 in both directions due to a vehicle fire.

The road is blocked between the A47 at Wansford and B1081 at Tickencote in both directions. The lorry fire happened on the A1 northbound at Wittering service station.

Emergency services are at the scene. National Highways said there are delays of 50 minutes on the approach with four miles of congestion.

Cambridgeshire Police has warned drivers to “expect delays” and change their journeys “where possible”. The force has urged anyone with information regarding this incident to call 101 quoting incident 393 of the 7th.

A spokesperson for National Highways said: “The A1 is blocked both directions in Cambridgeshire between A47 Wansford & B1081 Tickencote due to a vehicle fire.

“Emergency services are working on scene. Current delays of 50 minutes on the approach, with 4 miles of congestion.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “We are currently dealing with a small lorry fire on the A1 northbound at Wittering service station. Please expect delays and divert where possible. Any information regarding this incident please call 101 quoting incident 393 of the 7th.”

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said two of its crews were called out to Water Lane this afternoon at 4.08pm and 4.25pm (August 8) after reports of fires out in the open.

For the earlier callout, one crew arrived at the scene and confirmed that a small grass fire had been burning in the area, but confirmed that it was now out.

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Shortly after this, they discovered another blaze close by.

“Crews used a backpack sprayer to damp down the area. Crew then discovered a further fire in the open within the vicinity, consisting of wood and tree branches, crews used two further backpack sprayers to extinguish,” said a spokesperson for the service.

Just 17 minutes later, a second crew were also called out to Water Lane to another fire that involved 200sqm of grassland.

A spokesperson added: “One hose reel and beaters used to extinguish. Police also attended the area.”

A misdemeanor gun charge against All-Star Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden in Texas has been dismissed after he completed an alternative resolution program allowing him to avoid a criminal record, court records show.

Harris County Criminal Court Judge Alex Salgado in Houston dismissed the criminal charge Thursday at the request of the Harris County district attorney’s office following Harden’s completion of an alternative resolution program. Such programs allow defendants to avoid a criminal conviction by doing community service. Court documents don’t detail the terms of Harden’s agreement.

Harden was arrested June 13 in Houston after police found that he had a handgun in his vehicle. Texas law makes it a misdemeanor to have a gun “in plain view” in a vehicle without a license, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

Neither the district attorney’s office nor Harden’s attorney in Houston immediately responded to email and phone messages Friday seeking comment. The Cavaliers also did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Harden, 36, finished his 17th NBA season in May when the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks swept the Cavs in four games in the Eastern Conference finals. He averaged 23.6 points per game during the regular season, playing in 70 of 82 games.

He has said he’d like to remain with the Cavaliers, but he declined to exercise a $42.3 million option to return next season in favor of a longer contract. A deal has not been finalized.

Harden is an 11-time All-Star and an eight-time All-NBA selection. He earned MVP honors in the 2017-18 season while playing for the Houston Rockets, averaging 30.4 points per game while the Rockets won the Eastern Conference championship but lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

BOSTON (AP) — A former U.S. Marine held in Russia for more than four years on disputed charges is gravely ill and at risk of dying, his family and advocates said Friday.

Robert Gilman, a 32-year-old teacher detained since 2022, has been in “a dissociative stupor” for 47 days due to the abuse he has suffered in prison, said Eric ‌Lebson, chief strategy officer of Global Reach, an advocacy group representing the family. Since Tuesday, Gilman has had a high fever and high blood pressure.

Lebson said he has been moved from a prison to a civilian hospital, where he is hooked up to a feeding tube and handcuffed to a bed. His mother flew to Russia a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to see him, Lebson said, but hospital officials denied the visit.

“I am more afraid for my brother than I have been since this horrible nightmare started,” Lexie Hudson, Gilman’s sister, said in a statement. “I’m worried that I ⁠may never see him again if the Russians don’t release him. I’m worried that he could die.”

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey called on Russia and the U.S. to work together to get the Massachusetts resident released. Gilman is one of at least 8 Americans who remain in Russian custody after a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges with the U.S. in recent years.

“I am very worried that, if urgent action is not taken to release Robert so he can receive urgent medical care in the United States, his condition could become permanent, or he could die in Russian custody,” Markey said in a statement Thursday. “I implore the United States and Russian governments to find a solution before we find ourselves in a situation that will further complicate an already difficult relationship.”

A spokesperson for the State Department said it was “deeply concerned about Robert Gilman’s health and continued detention in Russia.”

“Given these health concerns, the U.S. government has raised his case repeatedly with the Russian government and has requested his release on humanitarian grounds,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We take our commitment to assist Americans abroad seriously and will continue to track closely Mr. Gilman’s case.”

The Russian authorities have not publicly commented on his case.

The family on its website detailed how Gilman’s troubles started when he became violently ill on his way back to Moscow. Police allegedly tried to restrain him and he was then detained after his leg brushed against one of the officers. From there, the family said a “series of vague and escalating charges” were lodged and, in prison, he has been “goaded” into additional actions and related charges “through forced drugging, provocations, and torture.”

A “predatory” serial sex attacker was left free to murder two women because police and court blunders saw him released on bail allowing him to prey on other victims.

The Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police (BTP), and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are all face serious questions over how Simon Levy was allowed to grope, rape and murder women between February 2023 and August 2025, after he was found guilty of murdering two women and raping a third on Friday.

The timeline of his escalating crimes reveals a string of errors where officials failed to stop a dangerous predator who was already a registered sex offender.

Levy, of Tottenham, north London, was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday for murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, five months apart last year.

The 40-year-old suffocated both women in sexually motivated attacks, with Ms Valencia-Trujillo found in a largely abandoned block of flats on the Aylesbury estate in south-east London, and Ms Wilkins behind a car park wall near Tottenham High Road, north London.

He was also convicted of two counts of rape and assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, as well as non-fatal suffocation over a brutal sex attack in January 2025, which the victim survived.

The car park was also where Levy carried out the January rape, which left the victim unconscious with a broken collarbone.

The timeline of Levy’s offending reveals successive blunders from the Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police (BTP) and prosecutors.

Members of the victims’ families burst into tears as the verdict was delivered after the jury deliberated for 13 hours.

Levy was brought into police custody for questioning on September 4 and charged soon after.

Prosecutor Will Martin said his desire to sexually assault women was “on the verge of compulsive or pathological”.

Speaking outside the Old Bailey, Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, from Scotland Yard, said: “Simon Levy is a dangerous and predatory offender. His crimes were calculated, cruel and deeply disturbing.

“Throughout the trial, he has shown complete disregard for the victims and victim-survivor, despite being fully aware of the lasting and devastating impact of his actions.”

Flanked by Ms Wilkins’s two sisters and the daughter of Ms Valencia-Trujillo, he appealed for any more victim-survivors of Levy who have yet to come forward to contact the police.

Ms Valencia-Trujillo’s children described her as a “big character” and “full of life”. She became a grandmother in 2024 and was said to be a “much-loved” member of the community with a love of salsa-dancing.

Mother-of-four, Ms Wilkins’ family said she was a much-loved woman and was missed every day by those who knew her.

Jurors heard that Levy was already a registered sex offender. He sexually assaulted two women in 2018 and was jailed in 2021.

He assaulted a prison officer while in jail in 2022, then once released groped a woman on the Tube in October 2023, three more in October the following year, and beat and raped another in January 2025, before he murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025.

He then sexually assaulted six more women on the Tube – one in March, three in April and two in May 2025, before he murdered Sheryl Wilkins in August last year.

Jurors saw through his claims that all the contact had somehow been accidental on wobbly or crowded trains, or after he became partially sighted in May 2024.

He would grope the young women he had chosen as victims, with some reacting angrily when they realised what had happened.

One called him a pervert and emptied a can of coke over him, while another shouted at him not to touch her.

He was convicted of 10 counts of sexual assault on the Tube, and an 11th at Brixton prison, by a jury at Inner London Crown Court on February 4.

An Old Bailey jury reached verdicts after deliberating for 13 hours.

Levy, who wore sunglasses in court, made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered.

At the time charges were laid, Commander Clair Kelland, who leads the Met’s Public Protection Team, said: “As the lead for public protection at the Met, one of our main priorities is to better protect women and girls.

“The investigation into Simon Levy is one of great complexity. We are working closely with partners across relevant boroughs, including Haringey and Southwark, to encourage reporting and raise awareness of the support we can provide to victim-survivors.

“Whether you are a victim-survivor, or someone with information, we urge you to come forward and speak to us.”

His victims spoke of their shock at learning of his other crimes, with one, who cannot be named for legal reasons, telling the court: “After reporting the sexual assaults, it wasn’t long before I learned that my attacker was already known to the police for sexual violence and is a convicted sex offender.

“You could not begin to understand the horror I felt at hearing this.”

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) spokesperson said: “Our independent investigation began in January following a voluntary conduct referral from the force, relating to alleged failures by two officers in his management following his prison release on licence in February 2023.

“We are investigating the management of Simon Levy from his first conviction in September 2021 up to his arrest in September 2025.

“We are examining whether action could or should have been taken to prevent his reoffending, and if all officers involved in his management followed policies, procedures, and training.

“We are also assessing whether any learning, whether individual, force-wide, or nationally or other changes should be implemented in light of the events under investigation.

“At this stage, we have served a gross misconduct notice on a police constable and a misconduct notice on a detective sergeant, which means that the actions of those officers are under investigation.

“The serving of conduct notices does not necessarily mean disciplinary proceedings will follow.”

People can contact the Metropolitan Police’s incident room directly on 07751 700 330 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.