North America

Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are renewing their attempt to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s job. The legislation is expected to be introduced this week. The same bill was approved by the panel in April but later blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said it was unnecessary. But there will be more pressure on senators this Congress as Democrats now have the House majority and have already introduced a similar bill. The legislation would allow any fired special counsel to seek a judicial review within 10 days of removal and puts into law existing Justice Department regulations that a special counsel can only be fired for good cause. It would also order that staff remain and documents be preserved while the matter is pending.

California Governor Gavin Newsom was sworn in and immediately drew sharp battle lines with President Donald Trump, pledging to enact “progressive, principled” policies as the antidote to the White House’s “corruption and incompetence”. Newsom, 51, said: “People’s lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe — they all hang in the balance”. Newsom takes over from Jerry Brown, 80.

A New York City firefighter fell to his death when he slipped through a narrow gap between lanes of a newly built bridge while trying to reach the victims of a car crash. Steven Pollard, 30, who had followed his father and brother into the FDNY just a year and a half ago, fell 15m as he tried to climb between a pair of low concrete barriers separating travel on Brooklyn’s Belt Parkway.