donations

Anonymous donors are using food delivery apps to send food to student protesters in New Delhi, where demonstrations over alleged medical exam paper leaks continue. The youth-led movement has expanded into wider calls for educational reform and accountability.

Overseas voters moving to the UK would be prevented from giving more than £100,000 in political donations for a year after their arrival, under new proposals.

Ministers announced the planned restriction alongside tougher checks on company donations, which they believe will help stop foreign money from influencing UK elections.

The government previously announced a £100,000 annual cap on donations from British citizens living overseas backdated to 25 March.

They now want an individual to be based in the UK for a minimum amount of time before their donations can exceed this limit. The change could hit two of Reform UK’s biggest backers, who have previously donated millions to Nigel Farage’s party.

British billionaire Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman, last year gave a single donation of £9m to Reform – the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person.

The cryptocurrency investor and aviation entrepreneur gave £12m in total to Reform in 2025 and a further £3m in January.

The Times last month reported Harborne has registered to vote in the UK, external, and in April he said the government’s planned crackdown on political finance would not stop him from giving money to the party.

Electoral Commission figures also show that Ben Delo, another crypto billionaire, donated £4m to Reform between January and March.

Delo, writing in The Telegraph in April,, external said he will move back to Britain from Hong Kong so he can contribute more to Reform.

Under the government’s planned changes, both Harborne and Delo would be among those donors still covered for a year by the £100,000 cap once they return.

Ministers said other changes will include political donations from companies being assessed against post-tax profits over the previous five years rather than revenue alone.

The government’s aim is to ensure only legitimate UK-linked businesses will be able to donate.

People running for election will also be required to prove that any funding they received before becoming a candidate has come from legitimate sources.

They will have to declare donations above £2,230 received prior to officially becoming a candidate.

The government said the proposals will be introduced as amendments to the Representation of the People Bill, which is currently scheduled to return to the House of Commons for further consideration on 14 July.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed said: “British democracy is not for sale.

“These tough new rules will shut down dodgy funding, stop foreign money influencing our elections and keep our democracy strong.

“By holding overseas donors to tougher standards and requiring candidates to prove where their funding comes from, we are taking world-leading action to protect the integrity of our elections and tackle the threats we face from abroad.”

The changes are part of the government’s response to a review of political funding, external led by former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft.

The review was commissioned last year in response to threats posed by foreign states attempting to meddle in British democracy.

In March, the government announced that donations in cryptocurrency to UK political parties would be banned alongside the move to cap donations of British citizens living abroad at £100,000 annually.

Reform was critical of the changes, with the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accusing Labour of “choking off legal funding for its main rival”.

California’s political watchdog commission on Thursday finalized a $31,500 fine against Gov. Gavin Newsom, alleging that the Democratic leader failed to report three dozen behested payments totaling $5.5 million mostly to support wildfire recovery by the deadline under state law.

The Political Reform Act requires elected officials to disclose payments of $5,000 or more that they solicit or direct others to give to a charitable, legislative or governmental purpose within 30 days.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission said 34 of the violations were for failing to report on time that Newsom and his staff directed outreach from companies and foundations that wanted to help after the Los Angeles wildfires to the California Fire Foundation. The nonprofit was started in 1987 by the California Professional Firefighters to support the families of fallen firefighters and communities impacted by fire.

The donations include $1 million from the Chuck Lorre Foundation and $500,000 apiece from Lockheed Martin, the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation and BlackRock, among others gifts.

The governor also failed in 2024 to report on time two behested payments, totaling $100,000 from the Schmidt Family Foundation and Schwab Charitable Funds to the Institute for Local Government, a nonprofit within the League of California Cities.

The commission said the governor reported all of the payments “prior to public discovery” or contact from its enforcement division, which it considered a mitigating factor. Newsom also signed the stipulation and agreed to the fine.

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Newsom’s office, said the issue involved late paperwork at a time when the governor’s staff was focused on emergency response and supporting survivors. She also underscored the fact that the reports were filed before he was contact by the FPPC.

Gallegos said the fine is unrelated to an alleged investigation into the governor and his wife by the Department of Justice, which Newsom announced this week.

Newsom alleged Monday that Trump is using the government as political weapon to target him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Newsom announced the investigation after he learned that the FBI and Internal Revenue Service asked his associates questions about nonprofits and businesses related to the couple.

The governor’s office characterized the investigation as a fishing expedition. The Trump administration declined to comment.

A source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly, said two federal probes have been going on for about a year, and that they originated not from Washington, D.C., but from conversations between whistleblowers and federal prosecutors based in Sacramento. The probes are linked to Newsom’s former chief-of-staff, Dana Williamson, and Siebel Newsom’s taxes, the source said.

The FPPC violations mark the second time Newsom has reported payments late, which increased his penalty for the new infractions. The commission fined Newsom in 2024 for failing to timely report 18 payments totaling $14.4 million.