Elissa Slotkin, under investigation over Pentagon video, says president using well-worn playbook' to silence debateDonald Trump is borrowing a strategy from authoritarian regimes to intimidate potential critics and discourage them from speaking out, according to a senator under investigation by his administration.Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan, faces questioning after she organised and appeared in a video with other Democrats imploring military service members to refuse illegal orders". Fellow senator Mark Kelly and three Democrats from the House of Representatives are also being investigated. Continue reading...
Independent media, civil society, the rule of law - these are the things that Iranians truly need. And there are ways for the west to help secure themSoon after becoming president in 2017, Donald Trump ordered an attack on an Islamic State (IS) underground complex in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. The strike involved the first-ever use in combat of a GBU-43 massive ordnance air blast (Moab) bunker buster" bomb - the US's most powerful conventional weapon. The bombing killed about 90 insurgents but failed to crush IS. It also made zero long-term difference to the US's losing battle with the Taliban.Yet that was not the point. Inexperienced Trump, who had famously avoided military service, was keen to show he was in charge, a commander-in-chief unafraid to make tough calls and send troops into harm's way. He craved a big bang - a spectacular demonstration of unmatched US power. Like a teenager who unexpectedly obtains the keys to the family gun cabinet, he could not resist the temptation to play with all those shiny new Pentagon weapons.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
Many believed a US president would - for the first time - rescue them but now people can only despair after mass arrests and brutalityWhen Donald Trump, said he would rescue" protesters if Iranian authorities started shooting, Siavash Shirzad believed the US president.The 38-year-old father had seen protests rise up before, only to be brutally crushed by authorities.
French president says no amount of intimidation' will make EU change course; Greenlanders march against takeover threat. Key US politics stories from Saturday 17 January at a glanceEuropean leaders have hit back at Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs on countries opposing his Greenland takeover, saying the move would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral".The US president threatened a 25% tariff on a slew of European countries - including Denmark, Germany, France and the UK - until the US is allowed to purchase Greenland, in an extraordinary escalation of the president's bid to claim the autonomous Danish territory. Continue reading...
by Adam Gabbatt, Robert Mackey and Callum Jones on (#72X8T)
Heads of state across Europe respond in solidarity with Denmark and Greenland, and boycott of World Cup suggestedDonald Trump threatened a 25% tariff on a slew of European countries including Denmark, Germany, France and the UK - until the US is allowed to purchase Greenland, in an extraordinary escalation of the president's bid to claim the autonomous Danish territory.In a lengthy post on Saturday on Truth Social, Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland beginning 1 February, on any and all goods sent to the United States of America". Continue reading...
Swift verdict of not guilty in case of Jacob Winkler another high-profile defeat for Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for DCA man tried on a felony charge of aiming a laser at presidential helicopter Marine One while it was transporting Donald Trump was acquitted recently by a jury in Washington DC - which reached its decision in about 35 minutes Tuesday.The swift verdict of not guilty in the case of Jacob Winkler represented another high-profile defeat for Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host whom Trump appointed to be the US attorney for the nation's capital. Pirro's office has pursued harsh penalties against individuals accused of attacking federal officers or threatening the president but has failed multiple times. Continue reading...
As high court considers trans kids' participation in school sports, tensions run high between opposing protest groupsAs the US supreme court heard arguments on Tuesday for a case that could determine whether transgender children can participate in school sports - and potentially impact LGBTQ+ civil rights protections more broadly - competing groups of activists rallied in Washington DC.On one side was a multiracial mix of hundreds of people rallying for trans rights and in support of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a track and field athlete from West Virginia and the plaintiff in the West Virginia v BPJ case before the supreme court. Continue reading...
People took to the streets of Greenland and Denmark on Saturday as part of the Hands Off Greenland' rallies in protest against Donald Trump's insistence the US should take control of the self-governing territory
US health department's new food pyramid places red meat and cheese high in saturated fats over plant-based proteinsThe new food pyramid rolled out in US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) places animal-based proteins, including cheese and red meats high in saturated fats, above plant-based proteins, which has raised alarm bells among health and environmental experts.This rejiggered food pyramid is in line with Kennedy's previous signals that he will recommend increasing saturated fat in US diets as part of the Make America healthy again" movement. Continue reading...
Warner Bros is also being pursued by Paramount Skydance, helmed by David Ellison, son of president's allyDonald Trump bought at least $1m worth of bonds in Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to a financial disclosure form, days after he said would be involved" in a proposed merger between the two companies.The White House released a financial disclosure report on Friday which showed that Trump made two purchases from Netflix and two purchases from WBD, each amounting to at least $502,000. Continue reading...
Philadelphia sheriff Rochelle Bilal's words have become a rallying cry against Trump's immigration crackdownYou don't want this smoke," Rochelle Bilal, Philadelphia's sheriff, warned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during an 8 January press conference. Her words have since become a rallying cry for resistance to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. At the conference with Larry Krasner, Philadelphia's district attorney, and city council members, Bilal spoke out against the 7 January fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. We stand here today with all those who stand against the made-up, fake, what you can call ICE, professional law enforcement," she said at the conference. I don't call them none of that. I call them made-up, fake, wannabe law enforcement. Because what they do is against not only legal law, but the moral law."Bilal is part of a growing body of elected officials who are speaking out against the Trump administration's immigration policies and ICE's alleged misconduct and aggressive enforcement tactics. As the first Black female sheriff of Philadelphia elected in 2019, Bilal has faced perhaps the most vitriol from opponents who have targeted her for her race and gender. Race played a big [role in the] response," Bilal told the Guardian in a conference room on her Philadelphia office floor. The negative, nasty messages that are being received is ridiculous." Since the video of her speech went viral, Bilal told the Guardian that death threats that she's received have required her to increase her security detail. In a Facebook post, ICE also said that she should resign. Continue reading...
The Trump administration's immigration policies hearken back to the racist 1924 Immigration Act, meant to whiten the USOn 14 January, the Trump administration announced a stop on issuing immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as 10 countries from eastern Europe. The Department of Homeland Security justified the decision by claiming that immigrants from these countries are at high risk" of reliance on welfare and becoming a public charge".As an immigration scholar, I was immediately struck by the falsehood of this economic justification. The vast majority of immigrants have been legally disqualified from cash welfare since 1996. Those who do qualify for benefits like Snap and Medicaid use them at much lower rates than non-immigrants. Through their taxes, immigrants are net contributors - especially undocumented immigrants who are excluded from federal benefits. Continue reading...
I was a child actor, exploited by strangers on the internet. Now millions of children face the same dangerWhen I was a little girl, there was nothing scarier than a stranger.In the late 1980s and early 1990s, kids were told, by our parents, by TV specials, by teachers, that there were strangers out there who wanted to hurt us. Stranger Danger" was everywhere. It was a well-meaning lesson, but the risk was overblown: most child abuse and exploitation is perpetrated by people the children know. It's much rarer for children to be abused or exploited by strangers. Continue reading...
The secretary of state - a neoconservative foreign policy hawk turned America First cheerleader - has defied expectations that he would not last in Trump's cabinetThe exchange seemed to crystallize a master-servant relationship in a single instant.Early in January, in a White House gathering with oil executives invited to discuss investment in Venezuela after the US overthrow of Nicolas Maduro, its strongman president, Macro Rubio discreetly passed a note to Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Strong media presence in Minneapolis has ensured Renee Good's shooting, and its fallout, has received wide coverageAfter a federal immigration agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with grisly videos quickly going viral on social media, news organizations from around the state, country and world dispatched correspondents and anchors to the scene.In the days since, that media presence has ebbed and flowed - though a well-resourced local news corps and many national journalists have remained, including reporters for the Guardian, covering additional clashes between police and protesters. Continue reading...
Grantees outline risks to vulnerable populations over uncertainty of funds creating gaps in careA counseling program in Alabama for people with HIV, helping them get into treatment and housing. A training program in New Hampshire for first responders learning how better to respond to people in mental health crises. Mental health counseling for children in Tennessee experiencing trauma.On Wednesday, the funding for these and thousands of other programs was rescinded. The halt affected about 2,800 organizations across the nation offering mental health and substance use services, often on the front lines of the dual crises, in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa). Continue reading...
History tells us what happens when American presidents focus on foreign policy and neglect domestic economic policyDonald Trump's blitzkrieg since his 3 January seizure of the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has been guided by his triumph of the will, as he told the New York Times. Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me ... I don't need international law."Trump treats the spectacle as a reality TV show in which he is both the executive producer and the host who ultimately declares himself the winner. At his 3 January press conference on the day of Maduro's seizure, Trump mentioned oil" 27 times, money" 13 times and democracy" not once. He trashed the democratic opposition as lacking respect" and support". The capture of Maduro was a decapitation, not regime change. Indeed, Trump served as a convenient agent of an internal coup of the existing powers, whom he declared an ally". We have to fix the country first," he said. You can't have an election."Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Colvin, who died this week, made a stand on an Alabama bus nine months before Rosa Parks. When we met, her message about the struggle was clearIn life, there's the beginning and the end," John Carlos, the African American sprinter who raised his fist in a black power salute from the podium of the 1968 Olympics, once told me. The beginning don't matter. The end don't matter. All that matters is what you do in between - whether you're prepared to do what it takes to make change. There has to be physical and material sacrifice. When all the dust settles and we're getting ready to play down for the ninth inning, the greatest reward is to know that you did your job when you were here on the planet."Claudette Colvin, who died earlier this week in a hospice in Texas, did her job while she was here on the planet, although it was several decades before her physical and material sacrifice was acknowledged. On 2 March 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, aged just 15, Colvin took a stand and refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman.Gary Younge is a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester Continue reading...
Governor Tim Walz says weaponizing the justice system is an authoritarian tactic' as he and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey reportedly will be subpoenaedThe US justice department is investigating Minnesota's political leaders for allegedly conspiring to obstruct the Trump administration's controversial immigration crackdown there, according to multiple reports.The investigation, which CBS News first reported, marks an extraordinary use of federal power to challenge two of the crackdown's most vocal Democratic critics, including the state's governor, Tim Walz, and the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey. Continue reading...
Each board member will manage defined portfolio critical to Gaza's stabilization and long-term success', according to White House - key US politics stories from Friday 16 JanuaryDonald Trump's so-called board of peace" has been announced as the US president seeks to manage the reconstruction of Gaza and its transitional administration amid a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.The seven-member board includes US secretary of state Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and World Bank president, Ajay Banga. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks. Continue reading...
Lawyer for administration had apologized earlier for violating court order and admitted mistake'A US federal judge in Boston on Friday gave the Trump administration three weeks to rectify the mistake" it made by deporting a college student to Honduras while she was traveling home to visit her family for Thanksgiving as he recommended it issue her a student visa.The US district judge, Richard Stearns, imposed the deadline after a lawyer for the administration earlier this week apologized for having violated a court order that should have prevented 19-year-old Any Lucia Lopez Belloza from being sent to Honduras. She is a Honduran national who was brought to the United States by her mother when she was eight while seeking asylum. Continue reading...
by David Smith in Washington and Robert Mackey on (#72WTB)
White House says seven-strong board, chaired by Trump, will steer Gaza through next phase of reconstructionDonald Trump has appointed the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and former British prime minister Tony Blair to a newly created Gaza board of peace", a body he claims will steer the next phase of reconstruction and governance in the war-ravaged territory.The White House said the seven-strong founding executive board" will also include Trump's special envoy, the property developer Steve Witkoff; the World Bank president, Ajay Banga; and the president's son-in-law and long-time adviser Jared Kushner. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks. Continue reading...
Grand jury in Ohio charged Michael David McKee, 39, with aggravated murder and burglary for fatal shootingsAn Ohio grand jury has indicted an Illinois surgeon in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her dentist husband, who were killed in their Columbus home in December in a case that initially generated nationwide mystery.Court records show a Franklin county grand jury charged Michael David McKee on 16 January with aggravated murder and aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor. Continue reading...
Pennsylvania boy facing criminal homicide charges after 13 January shooting at family's homeAn 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy allegedly shot his father to death after previously having his Nintendo Switch handheld gaming system taken away.The boy is facing criminal homicide charges after a 13 January shooting at his family's home in Duncannon Borough. Continue reading...
Actor held without bond in New Mexico on child abuse charges stemming from twin brothers' complaintWith allegations of prior sexual misconduct against him continuing to mount, Timothy Busfield received an expression of support from his wife and fellow actor, Melissa Gilbert - as he was also ordered held without bond in connection with on-set child abuse charges in New Mexico.A statement that a representative for Gilbert, known best for her work on Little House on the Prairie, shared with media outlets said she supports her husband" and was keeping her focus ... on supporting and caring for their ... family, as they navigate this moment". Continue reading...
The 2021 killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee in San Francisco helped spark a national movement against anti-Asian hateA 24-year-old man was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an elderly Thai man whose 2021 killing in San Francisco helped spark a national movement against anti-Asian American violence.A jury did not find Antoine Watson guilty of murder when it returned a verdict on Thursday for the January 2021 attack on 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. Jurors found Watson guilty on the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault. Continue reading...
Lawmakers' decision makes Virginia at least third US state in 2026 to vote on future of abortion accessThe Virginia state senate voted on Friday to let voters decide whether to amend the state's constitution to protect abortion rights, in a move that will make Virginia at least the third state in 2026 to vote on the controversial topic.The state legislature first approved the proposed amendment in early 2025, but Virginia law dictates that suggested constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive state legislatures. The state house of delegates approved the 2026 version of the amendment earlier this week. Continue reading...
Astrid Tuminez will step down as Utah Valley University president in May as school still reckons with Kirk's murderAstrid Tuminez, Utah Valley University's seventh president, will step down at the end of the semester. She announced the decision on Wednesday during a State of the University address, speaking to a packed audience of students and faculty.Tuminez, 61, said in an interview that the decision to step down had been building for some time. There's never a good time," she said. I love UVU so much." The choice, she explained, came with a mix of grief and relief. It is a swirl of emotion. I am heartbroken on one hand, but also happy and excited on the other, because life has its rhythms. Continue reading...
by Lucy Hough Chris Michael Bryony Moore Zoe Hitch on (#72WNF)
Donald Trump has been gifted the Nobel peace prize medal by Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The gesture comes after Machado was unexpectedly sidelined by Trump when US forces abducted her political rival, Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro. Her supporters had hoped Trump would recognise her as Venezuela's new leader, but instead he gave his support to the dictator's second-in-command, Delcy Rodriguez. Continue reading...
The US president wants Americans to believe they are facing an emergency. The real danger is from his administrationIn Minnesota, armed and masked agents are ripping families apart. They are seizing parents while they wait with their child at a bus stop, going door to door seeking undocumented migrants and breaking car windows to drag people out. Last Wednesday an officer shot dead Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old American citizen. Her killing is a tragedy for all who loved her, and most of all for the three children left motherless. Italso marks her country's crossing of a Rubicon.Where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) once preferred to keep a low profile, it now seeks publicity and confrontation - pumped up on billions of dollars in funding, the aggression and brazenness ofthe administration and the licensing of bigotry.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
We'd like to hear from people of color who believe they have been targeted by immigration agents because of their race, language or locationAmid Donald Trump's latest immigration crackdowns throughout the nation, people of color increasingly have reported that they have been racially profiled by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.In the Minneapolis area, where about 2,000 ICE officers and 800 Customs and Border Protection agents have been deployed, federal agents have targeted Latino and Somali communities in recent weeks. On 15 January, the ACLU and other attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration for the alleged racial profiling and unlawful arrest of three Minnesotans and others. One of the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit, a US citizen, said that he was stopped by masked ICE agents as he walked to lunch. In another instance in Minneapolis, ICE officers asked people of color to provide documentation that they were legally in the US as they charged their electric vehicles. Continue reading...
Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not 'go along' with his plan to annex Greenland, increasing pressure on European allies who have opposed his effort to take over the Arctic territory.Speaking at a White House event about the tariffs he slapped on pharmaceutical imports from the EU as part of his efforts to lower drug prices in the US, Trump added: 'I may do that for Greenland too. I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security.'
We want to hear from people in Minnesota about the surge of thousands of federal immigration agents in the areaThousands of federal immigration agents have been sent into Minneapolis in recent days, with protests taking place in Minnesota and across the country in response to last week's shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing federal immigration authorities in Minnesota of racial profiling and unlawful arrests. Continue reading...
European countries sending troops to the island is only raising the temperature and generating fear - exactly what the US president wantsIs Greenland Donald Trump's 25th-amendment moment? Last time around, this was when the Washington grownups" debated his capacity to be president, notably in the final fortnight of his presidency, after the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Under the constitution, a president can be replaced should the vice-president and a cabinet majority decide their leader is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office". The trouble today is that there are no grownups.The US president's designs on Greenland are clearly mad. He claims Russia and China are scheming to seize the island and that Denmark should be forced urgently to transfer its sovereignty. Denmark had long allowed the US extended military access to Greenland, but Trump seems to want to own it. None of his staff has been able to say why.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist and the author of A Short History of America: From Tea Party to Trump Continue reading...
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