First Thing: Hillary Clinton accuses Republicans of ‘fishing expedition’ in Epstein testimony | US news

Good morning.

Hillary Clinton on Thursday blasted a congressional committee investigating her alleged contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, accusing its Republican members of going on a “fishing expedition” aimed at “diverting attention away from President Trump’s actions.”

In an opening statement to her testimony to the House oversight committee, the former secretary of state reiterated her insistence that she never met disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Epstein, who died in 2019, claiming the event was “partisan political theater” and “an insult to the American people.”

Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Jacqueline Sweet and Joseph Gedeon report reviewing three memos describing four interviews conducted by the FBI in 2019; these included clear but unproven allegations that Donald Trump had sexually abused an underage woman with the help of Epstein in the early 1980s. Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing. You can find more information about this story here.

• How did we get here? The Clintons reluctantly agreed to participate after being subpoenaed by the committee’s Republican chairman, James Comer, after they were threatened with contempt of Congress for impeachment. Both Clintons have previously complained that they were unfairly singled out to distract public attention from Trump, with whom they had a long friendship with Epstein before his split.

• What happens next? Former president Bill Clinton will also testify in a closed session again today.

Democrats in four states want ICE workers barred from future civil service jobs

Backed by billions of dollars from Congress, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has hired thousands of new officers to carry out a mass deportation campaign that Trump has likened to a “wartime draft” effort. Democratic lawmakers in many states want applicants to think twice about participating.

Bills introduced in the legislatures of at least four Democratic-led states in recent weeks would impose long-term consequences on new ICE workers by qualifying them for jobs in law enforcement, public education and, at its broadest, the entire state civil service.

• At what stage are the invoices? None have been legally signed and they could face legal challenges. However, the bills underscore the determination of Democratic state lawmakers in New Jersey, California, Maryland and Washington state to undermine Trump’s hard-line immigration policy.

• How did immigration enforcement acquire so many resources? The Big Beautiful Bill, approved by the GOP along party lines in Congress, appropriated nearly $30 billion to hire and train new ICE agents. The agency has embarked on a hiring spree that frequently uses xenophobic slogans in hiring ads as well as incentives such as signing bonuses of up to $50,000.

Pakistan declares ‘open war’ Afghanistan after cross-border attacks

Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared “open war” with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, amid major tensions between neighboring countries. “We have now run out of patience. There is now an open war between us,” he wrote to X.

Pakistan bombed Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and two other provinces on Friday, hours after a cross-border attack, in the latest escalation of deadly violence between unstable neighbors who signed a Qatar-brokered ceasefire in 2025.

After months of hand-to-hand fighting, Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly airstrikes. Hours later, at least three explosions were heard in Kabul, with each side making different claims about the death toll and locations hit.

• What do we know about the attacks? Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s federal minister for information and broadcasting, claimed that 133 Afghan Taliban officials were killed, more than 200 people were injured and more may be injured in attacks in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar on Friday. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s defense ministry said 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed in border clashes on Thursday.

In other news…

• High-stakes talks between the United States and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear program ended without a deal on Thursday. While the White House bears the weight of a major military operation.

• World Economic Forum president and chief executive Børge Brende resigns Following criticism of her links to Jeffrey Epstein.

• The Greens won a big victory in the UK by-election. It was a significant blow to Keir Starmer’s ruling Labor Party, which also defeated right-wing anti-immigrant party Reform UK.

• Columbia University student arrested and detained ICE launched on Thursday New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani after speaking with Trump

Status of the day: Netflix pulls out of deal with Warner Bros., paving the way for $111 billion acquisition of Paramount

Netflix abandoned its plan to buy Warner Bros Discovery and refused to revise its $82.7 billion offer. This means the Ellison family, which owns Paramount Skydance, is expected to buy the entire company, including cable news network CNN, for $111 billion.

Culture Selection: ‘I felt wild!’ The choreographer behind The Testament of Ann Lee’s exuberant dancing

The Guardian interviewed Celia Rowlson-Hall, choreographer of The Testament of Ann Lee. In the film, Amanda Seyfried plays the leader of the Shakers, an 18th-century Christian sect whose fervent prayer rituals can include dancing for days. Rowlson-Hall said that being an artist requires “a mixture of belief and drive, a little illusion and a lot of energy”.

Don’t miss this: How textile artist Tabitha Arnold weaves the labor movement

Chattanooga, Tennessee-based socialist and labor organizer artist Tabitha Arnold’s goal is to create work that reflects and inspires organizers and workers. His last exhibition, The Working Class Bible, featured tapestries highlighting working class struggles. “I see this as a source of encouragement for the organisers,” he said.

Climate control: The excruciating experience of walking through the heatwave of the future

Global warming is causing more frequent heat waves, which last longer and bring more heat. At the University of Sydney, the Guardian’s Graham Readfearn put his body to the test in an experiment to see what effects future heatwaves would have on people. “Sweat stings my eyes,” he said.

Latest Thing: Dead end boys and West End girls, Lily Allen’s best songs – ranked

Lily Allen’s first album in seven years, 2025’s West End Girl, was a startling autopsy of marital infidelity. Music critic Alexis Petridis is back and ranked the best songs of his career: Smile (“musically irresistible”), Pussy Palace (“the gloves really come off”) and The Fear (“brilliantly nailed the brutality of late 2000s celebrity culture”).

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