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An intruder who broke into the home of Nancy Pelosi and her husband was searching for the US House Speaker.

The attacker is thought to have broken into the couple’s San Francisco home via the back door at around 2.30am on Friday, armed with a hammer.

Police chief William Scott said police officers were called to the house for a “wellbeing check” and arrived to find both men holding the hammer.

The suspect then pulled the hammer away from Mr Pelosi and used it to “violently assault” him, before being tackled by the police officers.

At some point, the suspect had shouted “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?”, according to NBC News.

Forty-two-year-old David Depape was named by police as the suspect.

He will be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, and “several other additional felonies”, the police chief said.

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Mr Pelosi, who owns a San Francisco-based real estate and venture capital firm, was taken to hospital, where he is “receiving excellent medical care and is expected to make a full recovery”, spokesman Drew Hammill said.

‘Dastardly act’

Mrs Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives, and second-in-line to the presidency, was in Washington DC at the time, having recently returned from a security summit in Europe.

Had she been at home, her security detail would have been present but Mr Pelosi is not eligible for this protection on his own.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement: “What happened to Paul Pelosi was a dastardly act.

“I spoke with Speaker Pelosi earlier this morning and conveyed my deepest concern and heartfelt wishes to her husband and their family, and I wish him a speedy recovery.”

‘The president is praying’

The White House said in a statement: “The president is praying for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family.

“This morning he called Speaker Pelosi to express his support after this horrible attack.

“He is also very glad that a full recovery is expected.”

The attack is being investigated by San Francisco police, Capitol Police and the FBI.

It comes amid growing concern about the safety of America’s politicians almost two years after the Capitol insurrection in January 2021.

Last year, Capitol Police investigated around 9,600 threats made against members of Congress.

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Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022

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Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022

A man has pleaded guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022.

Bryan Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminal justice student, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings.

He was accused of sneaking into the rented home in Moscow, Idaho, which is not far from the university campus, and attacking Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.

Kohberger previously pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and burglary.

It comes after he agreed to a plea deal, just weeks before his trial was set to begin, in a bid to avoid the death penalty.

Read more:
Surviving Idaho student ‘saw masked man in black clothing’
Idaho suspect ‘warned after making creepy comments’

Bryan Kohberger during a hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho
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Bryan Kohberger during a hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. Pic: Reuters

Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Xana's boyfriend Ethan Chapin
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Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin

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Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has sparked ugly debate – so why is it so controversial?

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Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' has sparked ugly debate - so why is it so controversial?

It is certainly big – 940 pages long – but on the question of beauty, Congress is divided.

Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has sparked ugly debate – both for its ambitious scope and for the political manoeuvring that’s gone on around it.

Elon Musk branded it “political suicide” for Republicans and threatened to fund challenges against those who back it in next year’s midterm elections.

But the president hit back, suggesting he would consider cutting Musk’s lucrative government contracts or even deporting him back to South Africa.

The “big, beautiful bill”, or HR 1 to give the proposed legislation its proper title, is Mr Trump’s signature spending and tax policy.

It extends tax cuts he secured in 2017 and bankrolls his second-term agenda in the White House.

File pic: Reuters
Image:
File pic: Reuters

Here is a summary of the key points:

Permanent tax cuts: Extending relief from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Small business support: Doubling the small business expensing limit to $2.5m (£1.8m) to help businesses expand and hire staff

Child tax credit: Expanding the child tax credit and making it permanent, benefiting 40 million families

Making housing affordable: Expanding the low-income housing tax credit to kickstart construction of affordable homes

Defence and border security: Allocating $170bn (£123bn) for border security alone, including $46bn (£33bn) for completing the border wall

Made-in-America incentives: Providing tax breaks and incentives for domestic manufacturing to promote US industry

Healthcare and social welfare: Implementing restrictions on Medicaid, which provides healthcare for millions of Americans, and reducing funding for certain healthcare and nutrition programmes.

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Clash over ‘monster’ debt bill

Musk, Mr Trump’s former ally and the man who established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claimed the bill “raises the debt ceiling by $5trn, the biggest increase in history.”

“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” was President Trump’s response.

The national debt currently stands at $37trn (£27trn) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill could add $2.4trn (£1.7trn) to that over the next decade.

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Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk

Bill splits Republican ranks

Republican Senator Thom Tillis voted against the bill and, following criticism from the president, announced he would not seek re-election in North Carolina.

He said he couldn’t support it due to his concerns about the impact cuts to Medicaid would have on people in his state.

Democrats in the Senate forced a full reading of all 940 pages and then a vote-a-rama, a series of marathon voting sessions.

Read more from Sky News:
Elon’s dad on the Musk-Trump bust-up
How Musk’s cost-cutting mission fell flat

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In the House of Representatives, it passed by a single vote, 215-214. In the Senate, Vice President JD Vance, had to cast the deciding vote to break a tie (50-50).

Legislatively, the progress of the bill has been a case study in the complexities of American law-making.

Strategically, it represents a mammoth effort to consolidate the president’s policy agenda and secure his legacy.

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Gaza ceasefire proposal a significant moment – but there are still many unanswered questions

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Gaza ceasefire proposal a significant moment - but there are still many unanswered questions

In the long Gaza war, this is a significant moment.

For the people of Gaza, for the Israeli hostages and their families – this could be the moment it ends. But we have been here before, so many times.

The key question – will Hamas accept what Israel has agreed to: a 60-day ceasefire?

At the weekend, a source at the heart of the negotiations told me: “Both Hamas and Israel are refusing to budge from their position – Hamas wants the ceasefire to last until a permanent agreement is reached.

“Israel is opposed to this. At this point, only President Trump can break this deadlock.”

The source added: “Unless Trump pushes, we are in a stalemate.”

Israel-Gaza – live updates

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Will Trump achieve a Gaza ceasefire?

The problem is that the announcement made now by Donald Trump – which is his social-media-summarised version of whatever Israel has actually agreed to – may just amount to Israel’s already-established position.

We don’t know the details and conditions attached to Israel’s proposals.

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Would Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza? Totally? Or partially? How many Palestinian prisoners would they agree to release from Israel’s jails? And why only 60 days? Why not a total ceasefire? What are they asking of Hamas in return?

We just don’t know the answers to any of these questions, except one.

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Dozens killed at beachfront cafe in Gaza

We do know why Israel wants a 60-day ceasefire, not a permanent one. It’s all about domestic politics.

If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to agree now to a permanent ceasefire, the extreme right-wingers in his coalition would collapse his government.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have both been clear about their desire for the war to continue. They hold the balance of power in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition.

Read more:
British-Israeli soldier killed in Gaza
‘Almost 60 killed in Israeli strikes’

If Mr Netanyahu instead agrees to just 60 days – which domestically he can sell as just a pause – then that may placate the extreme right-wingers for a few weeks until the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is adjourned for the summer.

It is also no coincidence that the US president has called for Mr Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be scrapped.

Without the prospect of jail, Mr Netanyahu might be more willing to quit the war, safe in the knowledge that focus will not shift immediately to his own political and legal vulnerability.

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