The discrepancies between how the US and others are interpreting Trump's calls are adding upDonald Trump's shuttle diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine has at times resembled a game of broken telephone, and the US president's disregard for the details suggest the ceasefire he seeks is further off than his bullish statements may suggest.Consider the events of just the last week. After his call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Trump said that the two men had agreed to a partial ceasefire on energy and infrastructure" targets, indicating that Russia would not target bridges, hospitals, railways or other civilian structures. Continue reading...
by Thomas Anthony Durkin and Bernard Harcourt on (#6W2ZX)
A new 7 October 2023 taskforce says it'll investigate support for Hamas, paving the way for a legal strategy targeting free speechOn Monday, the Department of Justice announced the launch of Joint Task Force October 7 (JTF 10-7)". In an accompanying press release, the DoJ said it would bring to justice Hamas leaders who murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians in the deadly attack on Israel of 7 October 2023. Few would quarrel with this ambition. In the same breath, however, the press release claimed that the task force would also investigate acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups".In plain English, this means the student protesters. It could also include universities and colleges that have entered the government's crosshairs. Continue reading...
Egg interceptions' are up more than 150% at some ports of entry as a US avian flu outbreak fuels shortagesIn grocery stores across the US, egg shelves sitting empty and desolate have become a sign of the times. A surging bird flu affected nearly 19m birds in January alone, wiping out supply and sending prices soaring.Officials forecast a 41% increase in egg prices this year in what some are calling eggflation". Where eggs are available, consumers are often limited in the number they can purchase at a time. Breakfast chains from Waffle House to Denny's have added a surcharge of $0.50 per egg on their iconic dishes. Continue reading...
Kittery Wagner Ruiz saw two World Cups as a US Eagle and now coaches the Boston Banshees, one of six semi-pro sidesKittery Wagner Ruiz went to two World Cups with the US Eagles and on Saturday will help make history as head coach of the Boston Banshees against the New York Exiles in Women's Elite Rugby, a six-team semi-professional league kicking-off its first season. But even illustrious careers have to start somewhere, and Wagner Ruiz's story is typical of the American game in all its unruly glory.In high school, I played basketball, softball and soccer, and unfortunately, or fortunately, I was a little too aggressive for some of those," Wagner Ruiz said, before heading out for training. I had yellow cards, fallings out, all that kind of stuff. But I had a friend that said, There's this sport that you can actually hit people and you're not gonna get in trouble for it.' And clearly, I was an angry teenager, and needed that. And so I found rugby." Continue reading...
Agencies and organizations are complying with the directive to not lose funding, but are concerned vulnerable groups will sufferThe US government has ordered law enforcement agencies, the state department, and some non-profit organizations working to combat sex trafficking to remove references to victims' LGBTQ+ identities, race and immigration status from their communications and websites, a move experts warn will endanger vulnerable minors.Interviews with a prosecutor, government personnel, trafficking non-profit executives, as well as email correspondence reviewed by the Guardian show that agencies and organizations are complying with the orders to avoid losing federal funding. Experts in child safety say the policy is fostering a climate of fear, forcing organizations to acquiesce in order to retain crucial funding at the expense of helping victims. Continue reading...
That the US was once again bested by Panama showed that this is still a flawed team with ample chance to improveOn the eve of what turned out to be his first loss in a competitive match in charge of the United States men's national team and the end of his honeymoon with his newish employers, Mauricio Pochettino said something accidentally prescient.Football is about timing and it's about form and the situation of the player," he said to a room of reporters ahead of the US's 1-0 loss to Panama. Continue reading...
A historic vote to boost spending on defence and infrastructure shows the country is shedding its excess of caution - and its complacencyFew people outside Berlin's political bubble will have heard of Lars Klingbeil. They will soon, though, as he is about to become one of the pivotal players in the new German government. The co-leader of the Social Democratic party (SPD) captured the moment in this week's debate in the Bundestag, one of the most important in Germany's recent history.A few weeks ago, many would have thought that we couldn't have come to an agreement. The differences were too great," he said. What differentiates this country from others is that we are ready, as parties of the democratic centre, to find solutions and not to leave the ground for populist extremism to blossom."John Kampfner is the author of In Search of Berlin, Blair's Wars and Why the Germans Do It Better Continue reading...
Education secretary ordered to take all necessary steps' to dismantle department; US rejects Mexico's request for water - key US politics stories from Thursday at a glanceDonald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that instructs the US education secretary, Linda McMahon, to start dismantling the education department, seemingly attempting to circumvent the need to obtain congressional approval to formally close a federal department.The administration may eventually pursue an effort to get Congress to shut down the agency, Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House on Thursday, because its budget had more than doubled in size in recent years but national test scores had not improved. Continue reading...
by Guardian staff and Associated Press on (#6W2TN)
US president reverses threat to suspend security clearances and cancel federal contracts after meeting with chair of Paul, WeissDonald Trump rescinded an executive order targeting a prominent Democratic-leaning law firm after it agreed to provide $40m in free legal services to support his administration's goals.The White House has targeted law firms whose lawyers have provided legal work that Trump disagrees with. Last week, he issued an order threatening to suspend active security clearances of attorneys at Paul, Weiss and to terminate any federal contracts the firm has. Continue reading...
Jeb Boasberg instructs Trump administration to explain how refusal to return flights did not violate court orderA federal judge instructed the Trump administration on Thursday to explain why its failure to turn around flights carrying deportees to El Salvador did not violate his court order in a growing showdown between the judicial and executive branches.James Boasberg, the US district judge, demanded answers after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations conducted under an 18th-century wartime law. Boasberg had directed the administration to return planes that were already in the air to the US when he ordered the halt. Continue reading...
Edward James received three-drug lethal injection under death warrant signed in February by governor Ron DeSantisA Florida man who killed an eight-year-old girl and her grandmother on a night in which he drank heavily and used drugs was executed on Thursday.Edward James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8.15pm after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida state prison outside Starke under a death warrant signed in February by Governor Ron DeSantis. The execution was the second this year in Florida, which is planning a third in April. Continue reading...
US claims tattoos prove membership of Tren de Aragua gang but relatives describe tributes to God, family and Real MadridLike many Venezuelans of his generation, Franco Jose Caraballo Tiapa is a man of many tattoos.There is one of a rose, one of a lion, and another - on the left side of the 26-year-old's neck - of a razor blade that represents his work as a barber. Continue reading...
Badar Khan Suri, who teaches at Georgetown University, being held incommunicado in Louisiana staging center'A US district judge has barred Donald Trump's administration from deporting an Indian academic from Georgetown University after the Department of Homeland Security accused him of having ties to Hamas.On Thursday, US district judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, prohibited federal officials from deporting Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at the university, in an order that is to remain in effect until it is lifted by the court, Reuters reports. Continue reading...
Doubts that whatever remains of department can govern student debt as one in four US adults under 40 has loansDonald Trump ordered the dismantling of the US Department of Education on Thursday, prompting uncertainty for those holding student debt and questions about what happens next.Trump's press secretary told reporters earlier on Thursday what remained of the department would continue to govern student debt. Continue reading...
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday calling for the dismantling of the US education department, advancing a campaign promise to take apart an agency that has been a longtime target of conservatives
Masih Alinejad had incurred the wrath of Tehran by campaigning for Iranian women to reject strict dress codesTwo men have been found guilty of plotting to assassinate the Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her home in New York City in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by the Iranian government.The verdict was returned at a federal court in New York on Thursday, ending a two-week trial that featured dramatic testimony from a hired gunman and Alinejad, an author, activist and contributor to Voice of America. Continue reading...
Donald Trump signed an executive order to undo the federal department on ThursdayDonald Trump has taken the overwhelming step of undoing the Department of Education on Thursday by signing an executive order to dismantle the agency in charge of the country's national education policy.With the stroke of a pen, Trump fulfills a campaign promise he made all the way back in 2016. Continue reading...
Pam Bondi said the three accused had caused of violent destruction' of Tesla cars and charging stationsThe US attorney general announced charges against three people she accused of violent destruction of Tesla properties", amid protests and controversy over Tesla owner Elon Musk's role in slashing US government staffing and budgets under Donald Trump.In a statement on Thursday, Pam Bondi said: The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended. Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars." Continue reading...
Investigators say he ran mafia-like' enterprise and is charged with crimes including drug traffickingFederal authorities have taken into custody on Wednesday an alleged longtime leader of a Los Angeles street gang who investigators say ran a mafia-like" criminal enterprise that included murder, human trafficking and extortion while he also worked as an entertainment entrepreneur, officials announced.Eugene Henley Jr, known as Big U", was one of 18 members of the Rollin' 60s Neighborhood Crips charged in a federal complaint with a litany of federal crimes including drug trafficking, conspiracy and firearms offenses, the United States attorney's office said in a statement. Continue reading...
We want to hear from federal workers and others whose area of work has been impacted by the Trump administration's policiesSince inauguration on 20 January, the Trump administration has sought to move quickly across a swathe of policy areas.From radically reducing the civil service, immigration, education, health, taxes and tariffs, aid, foreign policy and more, Donald Trump has sought to remake US policy, signing 92 executive orders in 2025 - the most in a president's first 100 days for decades. Continue reading...
A vote expected to be tense, tight and protracted turned out to be one-sided and extraordinarily brief, ending with Kirsty Coventry's election as IOC presidentIn addition to the seven candidates a total of eight IOC members will not be allowed to vote in the first round. They are using an electronic voting process that involves some kind of smart card, which are currently being distributed.All of the important procedural stuff are in the preamble or at the bottom of this page. Continue reading...
Justin Eichorn, 40, faces federal charge after allegedly trying to meet with underage girl found through sex adA Minnesota state lawmaker who is accused of trying to buy sex from an underage girl resigned from the state senate on Thursday before his colleagues were set to vote to expel him.Justin Eichorn, a Republican, was charged with a felony in federal court on Wednesday for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor after responding to online sex ads and trying to arrange a meetup with a 17-year-old. Continue reading...
Wendell Grissom, executed for fatally shooting a woman, will be one of four people put to death in US this weekOklahoma executed a man on Thursday for fatally shooting a woman during a home invasion and robbery 20 years ago.Wendell Grissom, 56, was declared dead by lethal injection at the Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester at 10.13am, a prison official told the Associated Press. It was Oklahoma's first execution of 2025. Continue reading...
Senate and House committee chairs warn against plan for US to relinquish command of Nato forces in EuropeRepublicans on Capitol Hill are threatening a revolt against a defence shake-up reportedly planned by the Trump administration that could see the US relinquish its command of Nato forces in Europe.The two top Republicans on the Senate and House of Representatives armed services committees, Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers, signaled their opposition in an extraordinary joint statement warning that the change would risk undermining American deterrence around the globe". Continue reading...
Johnathan Buma, who said his concerns about Rudy Giuliani were ignored, charged with disclosing classified informationA veteran FBI agent who blew the whistle on alleged political bias during Donald Trump's first presidency was arrested at New York's JFK airport moments before boarding an international flight.Johnathan Buma, a 15-year counterintelligence officer and eventual whistleblower, now faces charges of illegally disclosing classified information through a prospective tell-all book about his career. Continue reading...
Here's how to catch the college basketball's most chaotic three weeks on television and streaming, plus what to know about tip-off time, the Final Four and more Continue reading...
Political scientist Mneesha Gellman on the deportees' fates, dire prison conditions and Bukele-Trump parallelsThe Trump administration has flown 238 Venezuelans to an El Salvador prison that human rights groups say is designed to disappear people.Despite a judge's order temporarily blocking the move, the US government flew more than 200 men that it had accused of gang membership to the Terrorism Confinement Center", or Cecot - a draconian mega-prison that has become central to the promise of the Salvadorian president, Nayib Bukele, promise to rid his country of crime. Continue reading...
Gaza health officials say hundreds have been killed since Israeli bombing shattered the ceasefire. Plus, Trump and Zelenskyy share call over partial Ukraine ceasefire
Americans are struggling to reconcile Trump's campness and cruelty - but comedy has always been a tool for authoritariansEvery night on a new Broadway production of Cabaret, Adam Lambert waits to see how the audience will react to one of the show's biggest numbers, If You Could See Her. The song sees Lambert's Emcee dancing with a performer in a gorilla costume and finishes with him looking into the ape's eyes singing: If you could see her through my eyes / She wouldn't look Jewish at all."The line is supposed to represent the normalisation of bigotry, demonstrating how the Kit Kat Club, once the most immoderate, carefree cabaret club in Berlin, has amended its routines in order to placate the new Nazi patrons. The moment used to provoke gasps from audiences. But during this run, which spanned the US general election campaign and second Trump presidency, there have been many nights when the cast have heard guffaws in the crowd. Continue reading...
Every night I hurl them off the bed. Every morning they are replaced. Off, on, off, on, for ever. Serving no purpose whatsoever.Scatter cushions and bedspreads. Why? What for? If it wasn't for the waste and environmental impact, I'd make a huge pile and torch them all. You'd see the fire from the moon. Alternatively, pick them apart and make something useful out of them. I'd collect them by means of a national scatter cushion and bedspread amnesty. Post them to a facility and leave the rest to me.Let's take bedspreads first. Big, heavy, useless. Especially the one on the bed at my mum's house. I can't always summon the strength to drag it off the bed and leave it in a heap on the floor. If I do, along with leaving no floor space for anything else, this earns me a fierce bollocking. I am commanded to heave it out of the bedroom and hang it on the bannister, which creaks beneath its formidable weight. Then, when my stay is over, I have to wrangle the bedspread back on to the bed, as it is far too heavy for her to handle. I always ask what purpose it serves. I've never had an answer. Continue reading...
Have you or anyone you know encountered any problems at the border, and are you changing your planned trip to the US?Following a French scientist being denied entry to the US after immigration officers searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration, we're interested in finding out more about any issues that people have experienced at the US border.Other reports at the US border include a German national, who is a permanent US resident and was detained by US border officials. A Canadian citizen was also detained by US border authorities for almost two weeks over an incomplete visa. Continue reading...
by Dave Caldwell, Stephanie Kaloi, Nicholas Levine an on (#6W23X)
Who are the players to watch? Will injuries cost Duke? Our writers pick the winners, sleepers and upsets in both NCAA Tournament bracketsPJ Haggerty, a 6ft 3in redshirt sophomore guard, is already on his third college team, Memphis, after brief stints at Tulsa and TCU. Haggerty was third in Division I in scoring this year, averaging 21.8 points per game, and he scored 83 points in three games to boost the No 5-seeded Tigers to the American Athletic Conference title. DC Continue reading...
The surprise move by California's Democratic governor is either gutsy' or insane', but each episode makes headlinesOn the latest episode of This Is Gavin Newsom, the California governor interviewed his Minnesota counterpart, the 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz. Thanks for having me," Walz said, flashing a cheeky smile. I'm kinda wondering where I fall on this list of guests."Walz was not only the first Democrat to make an appearance on Newsom's splashy new podcast, but also the first participant who had not cast doubt on the 2020 presidential election results or expressed sympathy for the mob that stormed the capitol on January 6. Continue reading...
The Celtic defender's star has risen alongside his country's soccer fortunes as they prepare for a potential Nations League clash with the USThe style and system Jesse Marsch has moulded for the Canadian men's national team is predicated on pressure; hemming in and harrying opponents until they are deprived of options. It is lovingly labelled the maplepress,' and it turns out its principles also apply to wedding planning.Alistair Johnston, one of the spiritual leaders of Marsch's rapid Canadian revolution over these past 10 months, will tie the knot this summer. When his fiancee Peyton Pesavento looked for time, she was immediately hemmed in. I only had one date that I could give her in the next two calendar years!" the Celtic defender says with a smile. Continue reading...
Artists might cancel shows, donors withdraw and audiences flee. It all plays into the hands of his authoritarian projectIn Washington, Donald Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center - the US's imposing national centre for the performing arts - presents a bizarre, unnerving and, at times, bleakly comical spectacle. Last month, he announced himself its new chair, replaced 13 board members, and inserted a new interim president, foreign policy adviser Richard Grenell. On Monday this week, the president's motorcade disgorged him at the building - which contains an opera house, theatre, concert hall and a plethora of smaller venues off its towering, chandelier-hung foyers. By this point, his and Melania Trump's portraits, alongside those of vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha, had been screwed to the wall beside the concert hall stage door.Trump and his new trustees - who include Usha Vance and Fox presenter Laura Ingraham - then discussed changes to the Kennedy Center Honors, founded in the 1970s to recognise the greatest figures in American cultural life. Trump called previous honorees, who have ranged from Fred Astaire to Francis Ford Coppola, radical left lunatics". Men such as singer Andrea Bocelli, who has performed at Mar-a-Lago, and Sylvester Stallone, who recently called Trump a second George Washington", were floated for future honours. With the truculence of a slighted schoolboy, Trump opined that he had never much cared for Hamilton - this, after the news that the musical has withdrawn from a 2026 run at the centre. He also complained about an infestation of mice. All this, the day before he was due to speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin to haggle over Ukraine's future. It is enough to give you a political-cultural attack of the bends.Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian's chief culture writer Continue reading...
Recent Four Nations competition, which excluded Russia, clearly got beneath the skin of hockey-loving strongmanAmid the somewhat murky details emerging from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's call on Tuesday - the two leaders discussed a halt on attacking energy infrastructure, then Russia immediately bombed Ukraine's energy infrastructure - one deal, at least, was clear: the US and Russia would resume playing ice hockey.Although benign enough on the face of it, the idea of organised games in the US and Russia, between players of both countries, was yet another concession to Putin from Trump. Unlike the US president's previous gifts - pre-emptively allowing Russia to keep the territory it has illegally invaded, refusing to give any security guarantees to Ukraine, and strongly hinting US sanctions would soon be lifted - this was soft power, wrapped in a pair of skate laces. Continue reading...
US news | The Guardian