House Democrats have launched an investigation into a meeting between oil company executives and Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home and club last month, following reports that the former president offered to dismantle Biden’s environmental rules and requested $1bn in contributions to his presidential campaign.

Democrats on the House oversight committee late on Monday evening sent letters to nine oil executives requesting information on their companies’ participation in the meeting.

“Media reports raise significant potential ethical, campaign finance, and legal issues that would flow from the effective sale of American energy and regulatory policy to commercial interests in return for large campaign contributions,” the Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee, wrote in the letters.

The investigation comes after the Washington Post broke the news of the dinner meeting, where Trump spoke in front of more than 20 fossil fuel executives from companies including Chevron, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum.

It was reported that Trump said steering $1bn into his campaign would be a “deal” for the companies because of the costs they would avoid under him. The former president offered in a second term to immediately end the Biden administration’s freeze on permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, while auctioning off more oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico and reversing drilling restrictions in the Alaskan Arctic, among other promises.

Oversight Democrats addressed letters to the CEOs of oil giants Chevron and Exxon, liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy, and fossil fuel firms Chesapeake Energy, Continental Resources, EQT Corporation, Occidental Petroleum and Venture Global.

They also sent an inquiry to the head of the American Petroleum Institute (API), the fossil fuel industry’s top lobbying arm in the US.

Asked about the investigation, API spokesperson Andrea Woods said the organization “meets with policymakers and candidates from across the political spectrum on topics important to our industry”.

Reports of the meeting are especially troubling, Raskin wrote in the letters, in light of revelations in Politico earlier last week that stated the oil industry is writing up “ready-to-sign executive orders” for Trump aimed at increasing gas exports, slashing drilling costs and increasing offshore oil leases.

He asked the executives to provide the names and titles of any company representatives who attended the Mar-a-Lago meeting, copies of materials shared with the attendees, descriptions of rules and policies discussed at the event, and an account of financial contributions to the Trump campaign made at the event or afterward.

The junior senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse, who chairs the Senate budget committee, has expressed interest in launching an investigation into the meeting as well. “Trump’s offer of a blatant quid pro quo to oil executives is practically an invitation to ask questions about Big Oil’s political corruption and manipulation,” he said in an emailed statement.

Compared with Raskin’s, Whitehouse’s investigation would have a significant advantage: if the companies refuse to turn over information, the Senate budget committee can file subpoenas. Because Republicans have a House majority, House Democrats do not have the power to subpoena documents.

A joint investigation by the Senate budget committee and House oversight Democrats revealed last month that big oil admits that it spent years covering up the dangers of burning fossil fuels, and that major oil companies lobbied against climate laws and regulations they have publicly claimed to support.

“Fossil fuel malfeasance will cost Americans trillions in climate damages, and the budget committee is looking at how to ensure the industry cannot simply buy off politicians in order to saddle taxpayers with the bill,” said Whitehouse.

Re your article (British Gas boss says all UK households should be forced to fit smart meters, 8 May), after being harassed by email, text, telephone, letters and finally doorstepping, and being told that we had to get smart meters for safety reasons, we relented and spent a fun day at home with the fitter. The smart meters don’t work; they never worked. Apparently they don’t work in our type of house.

The European Space Agency might be able to wake up the satellite Rosetta 673m kilometres away, but our power supplier cannot wake up our smart meters. Sorry, I have to rush, they want another meter reading. You see, they are experiencing a high level of calls so no one can answer the phone.
Jim Fleming
Edinburgh

Smart meters are only useful to customers if the visual display unit placed in each home actually works so as to enable householders to monitor fuel consumption. If it doesn’t, energy firms can refuse to repair the display unit if they have been installed by an earlier energy supplier, or if they have been put in over a year ago. Appeals to the energy ombudsman are fruitless. With more than 4m smart meters known to be malfunctioning, this is very much a one-way street exercise, primarily benefiting mammoth energy suppliers.
Andrew Warren
Cambridge

One problem is that installation teams and power companies don’t seem to communicate with each other, hence the dismal litany of misunderstandings and repeated emails, all asking for the same information, and requests to take pictures of the meter and its details – something I imagine the installer should have done. I blame Margaret Thatcher, but then I blame her for most things.
David Redshaw
Saltdean, East Sussex

Riot police used teargas to disperse protesters outside Georgia’s parliament and MPs brawled inside as a “foreign agents” bill – condemned as a Kremlin-inspired act of repression – was passed into law.

The bill was backed by 84 MPs to 30 despite western pressure and the rolling protests that have brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets of the capital, Tbilisi.

A number of protesters were treated by medics after teargas was used on a noisy but seemingly peaceful crowd of a few thousand people, while squads of police dragged some individuals away.

The violence spread into the chamber, with a dozen MPs fighting and one MP, from the governing Georgian Dream party, being held back by security guards as he violently lurched at the chair of the main opposition, Levan Khabeishvili.

Under the legislation adopted on Tuesday, media or civil society groups in Georgia that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad will have to register as “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”.

The US state department has called the bill “Kremlin-inspired”, as it has echoes of legislation introduced into the Russian statute books in 2012 by Vladimir Putin, which many people say has been used to silence critics.

The president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, has said she would veto the law, but the governing party has sufficient numbers in parliament to overrule her.

Georgia’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, earlier on Tuesday met the US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Jim O’Brien, in Tbilisi to discuss Washington’s concerns.

The prime minister’s office said Kobakhidze had “explained to Jim O’Brien the need to adopt the law On Transparency of Foreign Influence” and reiterated the “readiness of the leadership team to carefully consider all legal comments of international partners within the framework of the veto procedure.”

Kobakhidze said on Monday that O’Brien had also requested a meeting with the billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, who is widely thought to drive government policy.

He said Ivanishvili – who made his fortune in Russia – rejected the request on the grounds that the US had frozen $2bn (£1.59bn) of his funds.

The European Commission on Tuesday restated its position that the new law would undermine Georgia’s application to join the European Union. “EU member countries are very clear that if this law is adopted it will be a serious obstacle for Georgia in its European perspective,” it said.

Tina Bokuchava, parliamentary leader of the opposition United National Movement said: “Today’s vote will focus minds on the urgent need for regime change in Georgia. With elections to look forward to in October, I am confident that the unity seen on our streets in recent weeks will prove a watershed moment in our nation’s history.

“Our rightful place is in Europe – but the Ivanishvili stranglehold must be broken first if this dream is to be realised.”

On Monday, students from 30 Georgian universities joined the protests and went on strike, backed by lecturers.

Irakli Beradze, 22, a student in Tblisi, holding up a sign saying, “Russian can’t gaslight us, we have gas masks”, said that he and thousands of others “would not let Russia have our country”.

But in a speech on Tuesday, a Georgian Dream MP, Archil Talakvadze, called critics of the new law a “radical and anti-national political opposition united by political vendetta”.

“But nothing and nobody can stop the development of our country,” he added.

Elite French police forces are hunting gunmen who rammed into a prison van, killing at least two prison officers and allowing the inmate they were transporting to escape.

A police source told Agence France-Presse three officers were killed and two others wounded in the attack. Another source close to the case, who also asked not to be named, said two prison officers had been killed and three wounded.

The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France, another source close to the case added.

The inmate was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy.

A police source said several individuals, who arrived in two vehicles, rammed the police van and then fled. One of them was wounded, the police source said.

It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were in total.

“Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime,” the president, Emmanuel Macron, wrote on X. “We will be uncompromising,” he added, describing the attack as a “shock”.

The justice minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti, confirmed the attack on the prison convoy and said on X he was immediately heading to a crisis cell at his ministry.

“I am frozen with horror at the veritable carnage that took place at the Incarville toll,” said Alexandre Rassaert, the head of the Eure region council. “I hope with all my heart that that the commando team of killers which carried out this bloody attack will be arrested quickly.”

A unit of the GIGN special police force has been dispatched to apprehend the suspects.

Traffic was stopped on the A154 motorway where the incident took place.

The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, wrote on X that he had ordered the activation of France’s Epervier plan, a special operation launched by the gendarmerie in such situations.

“All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised,” he said.

BFMTV, quoting a source close to the investigation, said the 30-year-old inmate had been convicted last week and sentenced to 18 months in prison over robberies in 2019.

It said he had also been charged with murder over a 2022 killing linked to drug trafficking.

A source close to the case, speaking to AFP, identified the inmate as Mohamed A. born in 1994.

Law and order is a major issue in French politics ahead of next month’s European elections and the incident caused fierce reactions from politicians, especially the far right.

“It is real savagery that hits France every day,” claimed Jordan Bardella, the top candidate for the far-right National Rally, which is leading opinion polls for the elections.

There is no evidence of widespread abuse of the UK’s graduate visa route, the government’s immigration advisers have concluded, despite repeated claims from senior Conservatives that it is being exploited to enter the jobs market.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said the graduate visa entitlement – allowing international students to work for two or three years after graduating – should remain in place. Members said the risks of abuse were relatively low and “not undermining” the integrity and quality of the higher education system.

The decision was greeted with relief by vice-chancellors, who have warned that abolishing the graduate visa would spell financial turmoil for the sector. But higher education leaders said they still feared No 10 could cherrypick elements of the report to justify a further crackdown.

The home secretary, James Cleverly, commissioned the review amid a growing clamour in Tory circles that graduate visas were being abused to gain access to employment.

Last week, Robert Jenrick, a former immigration minister, published a report with the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank that called for the graduate visa to be abolished, claiming it “allowed people to come and work in the gig economy and on very low wages”.

In a forthright response, the committee chair, Prof Brian Bell, said: “Our review recommends the graduate route should remain as it is, and is not undermining the quality and integrity of the UK’s higher education system.

“The graduate route is a key part of the offer that we make to international students to come and study in the UK. The fees that these students pay helps universities to cover the losses they make in teaching British students and doing research. Without those students, many universities would need to shrink and less research would be done.”

The committee said:

• There is concern about potential exploitation of both student and graduate visa holders due to poor practices by certain agents who recruit students on to courses and may be mis-selling UK higher education, but this is a separate issue from abuse of the rules of the graduate route.

• 114,000 graduate route visas were granted for main applicants in 2023 with a further 30,000 granted for dependants.

• The use of the graduate route is concentrated among four nationalities: the top four – India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan – account for 70% of all graduate visas with India accounting for over 40%.

Graduate visa holders are initially “overrepresented in lower-paid work” but their outcomes improve over time, the report said.

The MAC review was unable to assess the risk of overstaying due to a lack of Home Office data.

Alex Proudfoot, the chief executive of the representative body Independent Higher Education, said: “We urge the government to swiftly confirm they will follow their experts’ recommendation that the graduate visa be retained in its current form, and commit afresh to working with the education sector to maximise the benefits that international students bring.”

Tim Bradshaw, the chief executive of the Russell Group of leading research universities, said: “The overall message from the MAC is that the graduate route is achieving its objectives as set out by the government. We would therefore urge ministers to end the uncertainty and confirm as soon as possible that the route will continue in its entirety.”

In February, Universities UK (UUK) said it would review international student admissions processes after the allegations of “bad practice” by agents recruiting overseas students.

The MAC has recommended the government should establish a mandatory registration system for international recruitment agents, and universities should be required to publish data on their use of agents to “help protect the integrity” of the UK higher education system.

The review was launched in March after Cleverly instructed the committee, which gives independent advice to the government, to investigate “any evidence of abuse” of the graduate route, “including the route not being fit for purpose”, and to look at which universities were producing graduates who used the route.

Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of UUK, said: “The MAC’s recommendation that the graduate route should remain on its current terms is extremely important and welcome.

“The uncertainty caused by the decision to review the visa has been toxic,” she said. “We hope and expect that government now listens to the advice they have been given and provides categorical reassurance that the graduate visa is here to stay.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities, whilst preventing abuse of our immigration system, which is why the home secretary commissioned an independent review of the graduate route.

“We have already taken decisive action to address unsustainable levels of migration and our plans are working, with a 24% drop in visa applications across key routes in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

“We are considering the review’s findings very closely and we will respond fully in due course.”

Joost Klein, the Netherlands’ Eurovision contestant who was disqualified from the competition just hours before the grand final, will probably be charged with making illegal threats, Swedish police have said.

The 26-year-old favourite to win was expelled from the competition in Malmö, unprecedented in the 68-year history of Eurovision, after a female member of the production crew made a complaint about an alleged “backstage incident” to Swedish police.

Police spokesperson Jimmy Modin told the Guardian that their investigation was over and that a decision on the charges should come “within the next couple of weeks”. He did not say what the nature of the alleged threats were.

“We expect there will probably be a prosecution,” Emil Andersson, the police officer in charge of the case, told Swedish broadcaster SVT. He said an “accelerated prosecution”, a process that takes around six to eight weeks, will be likely as the altercation did not involve a more serious crime.

The Sydsvenska daily, a Malmö newspaper, said that the crime of making threats usually leads to fines upon conviction.

After Klein was expelled, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said it was “shocked” by the decision and said that while Klein made a “threatening move” towards a female camera operator, he had not touched her.

“Against the clearly made agreement, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the green room. At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasn’t respected,” Avrotros said.

The broadcaster claimed it had offered “several solutions” to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision, but Klein was ejected anyway.

The Guardian has gone to Klein and Avrotros for comment.

Organisers would not give more detail of the alleged incident during the competition, but clarified that it “did not involve any other performer or delegation member” due to rumours it had involved Israel’s delegation, amid tensions between contestants around the Israel-Gaza war.

When Israeli singer Eden Golan was told she did not have to answer a journalist’s question about whether her presence “posed a risk”, Klein interrupted to ask: “Why not?”, not long before he was disqualified.

On Monday, the EBU issued a statement amid criticism over how the famously apolitical song contest handled tensions around the Israel-Gaza war, saying that they “regret” that some delegations “didn’t respect the spirit of the rules”.

“We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention,” the EBU said.

“The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the [Eurovision song contest] in Malmö to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.”

The EBU confirmed several contestants and delegations had lodged complaints. Portugal’s national broadcaster RTP has complained about a delay in posting their contestant Iolanda’s performance to YouTube after the final, with the EBU saying the delay was due to Iolanda having her nails painted designs inspired by the keffiyeh – Palestinian scarves used to show support for the country.

Ireland’s contestant, Bambie Thug, also confirmed they made multiple complaints in the run-up to the final and accused Israeli broadcaster Kan of “inciting violence” against them during its coverage of their performance.

During the first semi-final, a Kan commentator said Bambie Thug had “spoken negatively about Israel”, adding: “But we can talk about that later. Prepare your curses.”

This may have been a reference to a lyric about placing a hex on an ex in Bambie Thug’s song, but the performer said they felt it crossed a line.

“The broadcaster [Kan] has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year [Israel] won’t be able to compete because of that,” Bambie Thug told reporters after the contest.

Some contestants described the atmosphere behind the scenes this year as “tense” and “horrible”, as thousands protested outside on the streets of Malmö calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a post on Instagram after the grand final, Golan wrote: “To say it was easy would be a lie. But with your support and love it gave me the strength to continue and put on the absolute best performance I knew I can do.”

Lithuania’s entrant, Silvester Belt, who performed after Golan at the grand final, called it a “traumatic experience” on social media, writing: “Going after that country, with the crowd being so intense, was one of the worst things I had to go through. I really did the best that I could in this situation.”

Swiss singer Nemo, who won the contest with their song The Code, said in a press conference after that the experience was “really intense” and that they felt “maybe Eurovision needs fixing a little bit”.

The European Commission also criticised a decision by the EBU to ban audience members from waving the EU flag at the grand final, calling it “completely regrettable” and “mind-blowing”.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

A multibillion-pound “net zero” project backed by two of the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms will be responsible for more than 20m tonnes of planet-heating carbon over its lifetime, according to research submitted to the UK government.

The Net Zero Teesside scheme to build a new gas-fired power station in north-east England is backed by BP and Equinor and says it will use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to capture up to 95% of its emissions and bury them beneath the North Sea.

But according to evidence submitted to the government, even if the project’s claims for its carbon capture and storage facility prove accurate, the gas power station would still be responsible for more than 20m tonnes of carbon pollution over its lifetime.

Andrew Boswell, an energy analyst who carried out the research based on Net Zero Teesside’s own figures, said: “When a project produces over 20m tonnes of carbon pollution, it is simply wrong, and misleading, to call it ‘net zero’.”

Boswell calculated that once the “upstream emissions” associated with the project, such as extraction, refining, transportation and methane emissions from the gas – including liquefied natural gas from the US – were taken into account, the power station would emit more than 20.3m tonnes of carbon pollution.

In February the project was given the green light by the energy secretary Claire Coutinho, despite Boswell’s calculations being acknowledged as correct.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero did not dispute the figures but defended the scheme, saying CCS has been described as a “necessity not an option” by the government’s climate advisers. “Power stations with these facilities will provide a stable energy supply, not dependent on the weather, with low emissions. This will be vital to support a secure, largely renewables-based energy system in 2050.”

They added the government’s £20bn investment in carbon capture and storage would drive economic growth and support up to 50,000 jobs.

Boswell, backed by the green industrialist Dale Vince, is taking the government to court to get a judicial review of the decision, which they say falls foul of climate commitments

Vince said: “This is a fake net zero project from two of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies. How on earth can polluting the atmosphere with 20m tonnes be net zero? The project should not have been allowed to go ahead and that’s why we’re supporting the legal challenge against this fossil-fuelled deception.”

Aside from the upstream emissions, scientists are also sceptical of the efficiency of the carbon capture technology that is at the heart of the Teesside project’s emissions’ calculations. The process aims to capture emissions, rather than release them into the atmosphere, and bury them underground.

A spokesperson for the Net Zero Teesside project said it would help the UK government meet its net zero targets by capturing significant CO₂ emissions. They said there were more than 40 CCS facilities in operation around the world. “National policy is clear, a key component of transitioning to a low carbon economy is the phasing-out of unabated gas generation through the deployment of gas-fired electricity generation with CCS.”

This month the government’s climate action plan was ruled unlawful in the high court, with the judge finding the government’s proposed measures would fail to meet the UK’s climate goals.

Mike Childs, the head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said: “It’s extremely optimistic to claim that CCS would capture 95% of this power stations emissions … the high court found that the government climate action plan was unlawful and ruled it must produce a new one in line with its targets. It’s fanciful to believe that gas-fired power stations with CCS are compatible with a carbon reduction strategy that is fit for purpose.”

A weight loss injection could reduce the risk of heart attacks and benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults across the UK, in what could be the largest medical breakthrough since statins, according to a study.

It found that participants taking the medication semaglutide, the active ingredient in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, had a 20% lower risk of heart attack, stroke, or death due to cardiovascular disease.

The study, presented at the European Congress of Obesity (ECO) and led by researchers at University College London, also found that semaglutide brought about cardiovascular benefits for its participants, regardless of their starting weight or the amount of weight that they had lost. It suggests that those with mild obesity or who have lost only a small amount of weight could have an improved cardiovascular outcome.

Prof John Deanfield, the director of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research and the lead author of the study, said the findings showed that the medication should be routinely prescribed to treat cardiovascular illnesses, and that millions of people across the UK could be taking the medication in the next few years.

“This fantastic drug really is a gamechanger. This [study] suggests that here are potentially alternative mechanisms for that improved cardiovascular outcome with semaglutide beyond weight loss … Quite clearly, something else is going on that benefits the cardiovascular system,” Deanfield said.

The study involved 17,604 adults aged 45 and over with a body mass index of over 27 from across 41 countries. The participants, who had also previously experienced a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, were prescribed either a 2.5mg weekly dose of semaglutide or a placebo for an average period of 40 months.

Of the 8,803 patients in the semaglutide group, 569 (6.5%) experienced a primary cardiovascular end-point event, such as a heart attack, compared with 701 (8%) of the 8,801 patients in the placebo group.

Semaglutide under the brand name Wegovy has been prescribed for weight loss on the NHS since 2023.

Deanfield said that in the 1990s, statins – drugs that lower cholesterol – were considered a medical breakthrough and revolutionary in treating cardiology practice, and he said semaglutide could be seen as similarly groundbreaking in regarding to improving cardiovascular health. “We now have a class of drugs that could equally transform many chronic diseases of ageing,” he said.

Prof Jason Halford, president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said that as the medication could be seen to improve cardiovascular health, it could be economically beneficial for it to be prescribed widely.

“I think in the next 10 years we’ll see a radical change in the approach to healthcare,” he said. “Once the costs come down then the cost savings to the NHS will be significant. There are already people in the Treasury thinking about the savings to the economy because of the opportunity to boost productivity. You need to get your workforce as fit as possible.”

About 7.6 million people in the UK are living with heart or circulatory disease, according to the British Heart Foundation.

Another study based on the same clinical trial found that participants who were prescribed semaglutide lost an average of 10.2% of their body weight and 7.7cm from their waist over a four-year period, while the placebo group lost 1.5% of body weight and 1.3cm from the waist.

A separate study looking at a new slimming jab has found that it could be much more effective than those already on the market. Retatrutide, a weekly injection, works by suppressing appetite and also by helping the body burn more fat, according to its phase 2 clinical trial.

The trial of 338 participants living with obesity showed that participants lost 24% of their body weight over a 48-week period. Researchers say it is more effective for weight loss than Ozempic or Wegovy, which only work by suppressing appetite.

Prof Naveed Sattar, of the University of Glasgow, who has worked on trials of other weight loss treatments, said: “Five or 10 years ago, we could never have imagined drugs that would cause this kind of weight loss. The trial suggests retatrutide still hadn’t plateaued, so it’s probably going to see more weight loss. If we give this drug even longer, I think it could reach nearly 30% of someone’s body weight.”

Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor who was once considered one of Donald Trump’s top vice-presidential contenders, has been banned from nearly one-fifth of the state after two more tribes voted to prohibit her from their lands.

The move by the Yankton Sioux tribe and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe last week follows criticism from the governor who has – without evidence – accused tribal leaders of “personally benefiting” from drug cartels. The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes banished Noem earlier this year.

Noem has been the subject of controversy in recent weeks after the Guardian reported that the governor described killing a family dog and a goat in her new book.

Noem also falsely claimed to have met the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un – in a passage she later said should not have been included in the book – and claimed to have cancelled a planned meeting with Emmanuel Macron, which the French government denied. The controversies appear to have weakened Noem’s chances of becoming the former president’s running mate.

Her dispute with South Dakota tribes heightened after remarks she made at a forum in March, accusing tribal leaders who had been critical of her catering to drug cartels.

“We’ve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that’s why they attack me every day,” Noem said. “But I’m going to fight for the people who actually live in those situations, who call me and text me every day and say: ‘Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared.’”

The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate said it had moved to ban Noem after she made statements that were “injurious to the parents of tribal children”, Kelo, a local TV station reported.

In a statement announcing the ban in April, the Rosebud Sioux said the decision was based not only on Noem’s recent comments but an “ongoing strained relationship” with the governor, who took office in 2019.

The tribe cited Noem’s support of the Keystone XL pipeline, her opposition to checkpoints on reservation borders established by the Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux during the pandemic, and her support of the removal of “significant sections” of Native American history from state social-studies standards, among other issues.

“Governor Noem claims she wants to establish meaningful relationships with tribes to provide solutions for systemic problems. However, her actions as governor show blatantly otherwise,” the tribe said in a statement.

“Her disingenuous nature towards Native Americans to further her federal political ambitions is an attack on tribal sovereignty that the Rosebud Sioux tribe will not tolerate.”

The tribe said it would acknowledge Noem only after she issues a public apology and presents a “plan of action” for supporting and empowering the Lakota people.

In response to the wave of bans, Noem again repeated her claims about the tribes’ leadership. “Tribal leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” Noem said.

Cal Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said that unlike previous disputes, Noem seems to be “stoking it actively, which suggests that she sees a political benefit”. He said it is likely Noem does not mind the focus on this conflict rather than on other recent controversies.

“I’m sure that Governor Noem doesn’t mind a focus on tensions with the Native Americans in South Dakota, because if we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about her shooting the dog,” Jillson said.

With at least five minutes of stoppage time still to run, the stadium announcer asked the Aston Villa supporters to remain in their seats at the final whistle for a lap of appreciation. At that particular moment, it was wishful ­thinking as Villa went for the jugular. Seconds earlier, Moussa Diaby had blasted at goal, forcing Alisson into a smart, right-hand save to prevent an improbable 4-3 comeback victory against Liverpool and bedlam in the stands.

Many fans had spent the ­previous 10 minutes on their feet after Jhon Durán’s late double secured an unlikely point that may prove priceless in the race to secure a Champions League berth. Just when it seemed inevitable Liverpool would yield ­victory from Jürgen Klopp’s final away game, the substitute striker, unpredictable at the best of times, flipped the mood in the stands. His goals, in the 85th and 88th minutes, in this breathless contest may well define Villa’s season.

A point edges Villa closer to fourth and a place in the Champions League. Unai Emery will doubtless be glued to events at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday, where anything but a Spurs win against Manchester City will secure Villa’s return to Europe’s ­premier competition for the first time since 1982-83.

Villa got off to a disastrous start, Emiliano Martínez turning the ball into his own net with the game a ­minute old and, though Youri ­Tielemans replied, goals by Cody Gakpo and Jarell Quansah looked to have earned Liverpool a relatively simple victory. “Jürgen Klopp, la, la, la, la,” sang the visiting support.

Not so fast. Never have Villa cele­brated a draw quite so emphatically. Before kick-off the centre-circle banner swirled and swayed to the thud of Jeff Beck and Villa hope it will have the stars of the Champions League on the giant flag next season. “Hopefully that gets us Champions League football,” Villa’s captain, John McGinn, said as he addressed a boisterous crowd. For now, one of the league’s last live storylines – the protracted battle for fourth – could run to the final day, when Villa head to Crystal Palace and Spurs visit Sheffield United. The only caveat is that first Spurs must beat the defending champions.

Durán’s equaliser was a touch fortunate, Diaby’s overcooked pass cannoning off his thigh and looping in after the Frenchman skipped clear of Alexis Mac Allister in midfield. It was not the purest of strikes. As Klopp put it, “somebody hit somebody and the ball goes in”. Not that it will bother Durán and Villa. Suddenly Diego ­Carlos’s inconceivable miss on 36 minutes, when he contrived to slice Leon ­Bailey’s cross wide from a yard out at 2-1 down, felt a long time ago.

Conceding inside 62 seconds courtesy of a goalkeeper howler is one way to kill the pre-match buzz. Tielemans, back from a groin injury, surrendered possession on halfway and Harvey Elliott stepped on to the gas, zoomed upfield and played a one-two with Mohamed Salah. ­Elliott sent a ­seemingly harmless cross in from the right but the ball clinked Pau Torres’s left shoulder and that proved enough to bamboozle Martínez at his near post. He shifted from right to left in good time but the ball squirmed through his hands and, while the Villa goalkeeper tried to claw it back with his right glove, the damage was already done.

“I’m so glad that Jürgen is a Red,” came the adoring chant on loop from the visiting supporters, keen to shower Klopp with love on his final away day in charge. ­Martínez’s error stunned the home support but they were soon on their feet, Tom Hanks – one of Villa’s celebrity fans – celebrating Tielemans’s ­leveller. Ollie Watkins toyed with Quansah and then comfortably beat the defender to the byline, where the Villa striker cut the ball back for an unmarked Tielemans to leather in.

Hanks was interviewed pitchside before kick-off and said he hoped to witness “a little bit of history”. A pulsating game certainly delivered. “I am exhausted, more than the players,” Emery said, smiling.

As Emery added afterwards, his team rarely lie down. Even after the freakish Martínez error and the manner in which an unmarked Gakpo converted from close range after meeting Joe Gomez’s low cross at the back post to retake the lead. Even after Villa started the second half dreadfully, Liverpool storming into a 3-1 lead three minutes after the restart, Quansah looping a header in off a post. Lucas Digne did little to prevent the Liverpool centre-back making clean contact on Elliott’s cross at the back post. “Martínez is the No 1 but he’s human, he can make a mistake sometimes,” Emery said.

McGinn had said they underachieved by failing to win the Europa Con­ference League but qualifying for the Champions League would be the perfect tonic. Durán, the hulking 20-year-old signed from Chicago Fire 16 months ago, entered in place of the injured substitute Nicolò Zaniolo on 79 minutes and, regardless of Emery’s rallying message, even he surely never envisaged what happened next. Klopp’s perfect goodbye – not for the first time this season – was blemished. Villa, meanwhile, are close to a return to the European elite, a stage Klopp knows well. “Danke für alles,” read a banner in the away end. Klopp doffed his black cap.