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US president says levy on alcohol imports would be retaliation for nasty' 50% tariff imposed on bourbon whiskey

Authorities discover malnourished man, who says he has been held captive since age 11, during a house fireA Connecticut woman has been accused of holding her stepson captive for approximately 20 years after authorities discovered him - now 32 years old, 5ft 9in and weighing just 68lbs - during a house fire last month.On Thursday police in Waterbury, Connecticut, arrested Kimberly Sullivan, 56, and charged her with assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment in the first degree. Continue reading...

Ruling by California judge applies to thousands of employees dismissed from six federal agenciesA federal judge in California granted a preliminary injunction to reinstate thousands of fired probationary workers at federal agencies as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees.The ruling by the judge William H Alsup in the US district court for the northern district of California applies to fired probationary employees at the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury. Continue reading...

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System overhaul announced as new judge advocate generals being nominated after purge of predecessors. Plus, study finds marriage triples obesity risk in men - but not women Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereHello.The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, will overhaul the US military's lawyers in an effort to make the army less restricted by the laws of armed conflict, according to two sources close to the matter.How will the Jags overhaul do this? Sources say the aim is to retrain military lawyers to provide extensive legal advice to commanders to follow more aggressive tactics and be more lenient in charging soldiers with battlefield crimes.Is this the only setback to Doge? No - this week, a federal judge in Washington DC found the body held so much power that its records may be subject to public requests and it should begin a rolling" production of records within weeks. Continue reading...

Predictions that US firms could retain manufacturing plants in Ireland but move profits back to AmericaUS pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland are more likely to shift profits back to the US than close manufacturing plants after Donald Trump accused Ireland of stealing American tax and jobs, experts say.Aidan Regan, a professor of political economy at University College Dublin, said the US president was right to call out the trade imbalance created by US pharmaceutical companies in Ireland, arguing the warning signs have been there for years. Continue reading...

The quarter-finals have been decided with a dash of controversy. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of actionReal Madrid Continue reading...

The ways the pandemic has shaken Guardian readers' worlds - from new businesses to difficulty socialisingIt's been five years since the Trump administration declared a nationwide emergency across the US on 13 March 2020, The announcement came days after the World Health Organization (WHO) designated Covid-19 a global pandemic.Since then, there have been 1,222,603 deaths from Covid in the US. Much of the country, along with the rest of the world, has moved on from the pandemic, with fewer people wearing masks and life returning to the way it was before the outbreak started. Continue reading...

Britain in middle as some of US's trading partners retaliate while others want pragmatic' route in hope levies are easedSailors crossing the Atlantic in March are used to dealing with rough seas. But when two shipments of steel from Marcegaglia Stainless Sheffield were slowed up in crossing the ocean by storms this week it meant more than a few days' extra journey: the metal was caught up in the global trade war started by the US president, Donald Trump, as well.Obviously, it's a massive frustration," says Liam Bates, the president of long products at the Italian steelmaker's northern England operation. The company had hoped to rush through two weekly shipments in order to avoid the Wednesday deadline for Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium. Instead, it will have to bear the costs - or hope for grace from the US government. Continue reading...

Coalition of more than 20 states files lawsuit to block cuts after more than 1,300 employees laid off in one day

Football is living through a global case study on whether fairer actually makes for better in the world of professional sportThe number on the sign displayed prominently by the entrance of the football universe had been wiped away. IT HAS NOW BEEN ... 0... DAYS SINCE THE LAST VAR CONTROVERSY.The second leg of a scintillating Madrid derby in the Champions League round of 16 went to penalties on Wednesday, sending Real through over Atletico. Antonio Rudiger hit the winning spot kick, but the shootout truly turned on an especially eagle-eyed call by the video assistant referee.Leander Schaerlaeckens is at work on a book about the United States men's national soccer team, out in 2026. He teaches at Marist University. Continue reading...

In a video posted to her YouTube channel, former En Vogue singer Dawn Robinson admitted that she has been living in her car for nearly three years. Robinson said she decided to make the move after researching van living while her own living situation was uncertain, after difficulty with her mother and struggles with her manager over finding an apartment in LA Continue reading...

New requirement hardens enforcement of existing law that hasn't been applied consistently to Canadians entering the United States

Trump pick to lead agency, the Republican ex-congressman Dave Weldon, has faced scrutiny over anti-vaccine viewsThe Trump administration withdrew its nomination for head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the day he was due to face a confirmation hearing, multiple outlets reported.Two sources close to the Senate process said Dave Weldon, a doctor and former Republican Florida congressman, would not face a hearing as planned, according to Axios, which broke the news. Continue reading...

Parts of Los Angeles hit by January blazes under evacuation warnings as west coast braces for heavy rain and snowThe US west coast is facing an atmospheric river event threatening flooding and power outages due to heavy rain and snow, with more than 20 million people in southern California under flood watches.Evacuation warnings were issued by fire officials in the Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Pasadena areas, which were affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires in January. Continue reading...

Kevin Fagan, who spent decades at the San Francisco Chronicle, argues in a new book that atrociously unforgivable' US poverty must be addressedThe veteran journalist Kevin Fagan spent decades covering homelessness for the San Francisco Chronicle, reporting on a crisis that persists despite billions poured into housing and services and years of political debate.The issue is personal for him. Fagan was episodically homeless in his youth, sleeping in his car and camping outside while he attended college and later in doorways abroad as a traveling musician. Continue reading...

It will take a new movement of responsible readers and benefactors to protect independent mediaWhen Disney announced yet another round of layoffs at ABC News last week, it came on the heels of a year in which almost 15,000 media jobs were lost - and capped off a quarter-century in which we've seen thousands of independent publications shut down or merged with larger conglomerates.The upshot is that Americans now find ourselves trapped in an information environment more tightly controlled than ever by a handful of oligarchs.Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of the Nation, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and she has contributed to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times Continue reading...

The 2025 NWSL season kicks off this week. We convened a panel of writers to discuss what they're most looking forward to this yearSeeing if the Orlando Pride's 2024 is repeatable in any way, shape or form. I'm a firm believer that last year's Shield and Championship winning team delivered the most impressive season in the history of the NWSL. Last week, Marta herself said it best that in 2025 everyone will hunt us." Seeing how Orlando will carry themselves as defending champions will be fascinating. TLH Continue reading...

London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham - I have favourite early-morning memories from each of themI've had enough of city living. London has been my home on and off since I came to university in 1986. I'm tired of it. But there's one bit I still love. That's when I find myself right bang in the middle of town early in the morning. I feel the same way about all the other cities in which I ply my trade: Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester, mainly. At about 6am, all cities have a similar character.I write this in a cafe on Old Compton Street in Soho, in central London, at 6.30am. Here more than anywhere, it feels as though you're in the eye of a storm. There aren't many people about because the people, millions of them, are all jammed up on the roads and crammed on to public transport, getting in each other's way, trying to get here. So for another hour or so we have it to ourselves. We" being the early starters and a few late finishers. Continue reading...

Guardian data analysis shows administration transformed immigration enforcement in only a few weeksUS immigration enforcement officials arrested more people in the first 22 days of February 2025 than in any month over the last seven years, according to a Guardian review of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data.The Guardian review, which analyzed DHS data from the first month of Donald Trump's presidency, in addition to interviews with immigration lawyers, advocates and former Ice officials, show how the administration has transformed immigration enforcement in the US within just a few weeks. Continue reading...

Key factors will drive the Kremlin's decision. Can Russia fight on and for what? Or is there more benefit in allying with Donald Trump?At this stage of the crisis, it is important to be clear-sighted. The US-Ukraine meeting in Jeddah was a damage-control operation. Both parties reset relations that had been damaged, largely by Washington's impatience. The US reversed its previous decisions in exchange for something Ukraine was ready to provide anyway: privileged access to Ukraine's natural resource wealth and a willingness to start a peace process.It is encouraging to see renewed US-Ukraine dialogue to end the war. As Churchill said, the only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without them. The public mugging in the Oval Office, calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator and the pause in military and intelligence support were hard to fathom. Ukrainians wondered why President Trump was putting the blame and the pressure on the victim, and protecting the aggressor. Trump's beautiful" deal involved bullying the weaker and reassuring the stronger. He finds it more natural to put pressure on allies, be it Ukraine or Canada, and relax it on adversaries. Continue reading...

Tax-exempt special interest groups like lobbyists and non-profits are exercising power with little democratic oversightThe repression that began under the Biden administration has accelerated under Trump. Mahmoud Khalil's detention by federal agents - reportedly Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers - despite his legal, permanent resident status will probably have its intended effect. People will speak up less; their fear of the irreversible harm meted out by a vengeful state is justified. Now we are all left to contend with the wreckage of the first amendment to the US constitution, which used to guarantee the right to speech in this country.Responsibility for the erosion of our rights is attributable - in part - to the bipartisan embrace of the non-governmental, non-profit sector. That's because from the 1940s onward, the federal government has ceded much state authority to philanthropies and non-profits. Those groups, in turn, have acted to craft policy - everything from how to develop equitable housing or the benefits of inoculating children to ensuring that speech targeting Israel is punishable by law. Continue reading...

I've always believed the people are powerful. Now we know the world's richest man does tooOn Saturday morning, I woke up to a nightmare of notifications. On Sunday, it got worse. Elon Musk had tweeted and amplified inflammatory lies about me and Tesla Takedown, a growing national grassroots movement peacefully protesting at Tesla showrooms that I'm proudly a part of. Musk tweeted: Costa is committing crimes."As a longtime local activist and organizer in Seattle, I'm accustomed to some conflict with powerful forces. The intention of the Tesla Takedown movement is to make a strong public stand against the tech oligarchy behind the Trump administration's cruel and illegal actions, and to encourage Americans to sell their Teslas and dump the company's stock. Protests like these - peaceful, locally organized, and spreading across the world - are at the heart of free speech in a democracy and a cornerstone of US political traditions. So it's telling that the response from so-called free speech absolutist" Musk has been to single out individuals - and spread lies about us and our movement. The harassment that's followed his post has been frightening. Continue reading...

We are seeing a pale version of military Keynesianism, and for what? That money would be better spent fighting the climate crisisThings could be worse for Rachel Reeves, but not much. The economy is stagnant. Donald Trump has decided the UK will not be exempt from tariffs on steel and aluminium exports to the US. Stock markets have taken fright and share prices are tumbling.Five years on from the start of the Covid-19 lockdown, the scars of the pandemic have proved to be deep and long-lasting. The spring statement on the economy that Reeves will deliver later this month will announce cuts to welfare in order to prevent the government breaking its own borrowing rules.Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The government's move to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion policies is a naked attempt to appeal to prejudice - but it may well backfireAlmost a decade ago, I started a business called Rent-A-Minority, which enabled companies to hire a minority ethnic person whenever they needed an injection of diversity to boost their image. I had a variety of inclusivity-enriching hires available, including an ethnically ambiguous" category and a selection of smiling Muslim women (guaranteed not to support Islamic State or your money back).Like every good startup, Rent-A-Minority posted testimonials from clients and influencers on its website. I made up all the blurbs, because that is the Silicon Valley way: fake it till you make it. One of those fake comments was from Donald Trump, who was still considered a long shot for the presidency in January 2016, when my business launched. When I'mpresident, I'll shut this site down," Trump's blurb read. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider harmful effects of pollution; justice department demands shelter release names of migrants - key US politics stories from Wednesday at a glanceDonald Trump has previously called the climate crisis a hoax" and dismissed those concerned by its worsening impacts as climate lunatics", but now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has gone even further under his authority, issuing an extraordinary cavalcade of pollution rule rollbacks.The agency has announced it would potentially scrap a landmark 2009 finding by the US government that planet-heating gases, such carbon dioxide, pose a threat to human health. Continue reading...

Republicans only have 52 yes votes and senator says Democrats won't help get to the 60 votes needed for the bill to pass. This blog is now closed.Congressional brinkmanship, including repeated near-misses with shutdowns and over the nation's $36 trillion in debt, has contributed to global ratings agencies' moves to downgrade the US federal government's once-pristine credit rating, reports Reuters.Democrats have long chided Republicans for threatening or voting for government shutdowns, and Republicans were quick to call them out for considering votes that could risk one. Continue reading...

Canadian government says it will follow dollar-by-dollar' approach and institute 25% tariffs on US importsCanada announced retaliatory tariffs on nearly C$30bn worth of American imports after US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports went into effect on Wednesday.The Canadian government said it will be following a dollar-by-dollar" approach and institute 25% tariffs on American imports, including steel, computers and sports equipment. Continue reading...

We are about to get a painful global lesson in why we should listen to, rather than denigrate, experts. No one wins a trade war

Senate minority leader says Democrats will not provide votes for stopgap measure and calls for bipartisan effortSenator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said on Wednesday that Democrats would not provide the necessary votes to pass a stopgap funding bill, dramatically raising the risk of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.Announcing the decision in a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer urged Republicans to consider a shorter funding extension that would give congressional negotiators more time to consider a bipartisan path forward. Continue reading...

Baher Azmy, director of Center for Constitutional Rights, said: 'Mr Khalil's detention has nothing to do with security. It is only about repression.' Khalil, who is a student at Columbia University, was arrested by immigration officials on Saturday over his role in the college's encampment protests against Israel's war on Gaza. Although he is a legal permanent US resident and green card holder, he currently sits in Ice detention in Louisiana

US president said of Senate minority leader: He's not Jewish any more. He's a Palestinian'Donald Trump has been condemned by a leading US Muslim civil rights group for seeking to use the word Palestinian" as an insult when he attacked the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, as not Jewish any more".President Trump's use of the term Palestinian' as a racial slur is offensive and beneath the dignity of his office," said Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or Cair. Continue reading...

Keith Self, Republican chair of a US House subcommittee, adjourned the hearing after he was challenged for misgendering Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress. McBride, a first-term Democratic congresswoman from Delaware, elected last November, shot back at the chair by responding: 'Thank you, Madam Chair.' She was joined by Bill Keating, a Massachusetts Democrat, who defended her saying: 'This is not decent'

Subpoena issued to Manhattan hotel asks for a list of full names of aliens currently residing' at the siteFederal prosecutors have sent a criminal subpoena to a Manhattan hotel housing undocumented immigrants through a New York City program providing shelter to asylum seekers, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Guardian.The subpoena issued on Wednesday asks the hotel to provide a list of full names of aliens currently residing" at the site as well as any corresponding identifying information", including dates of birth, nationality and identification numbers. The subpoena also asks the hotel to give evidence about an alleged violation" of federal immigration law. Continue reading...

Court document claims potentially serious foreign policy consequences' amid outcry over Palestinian activist's arrestThe US government is relying on a rarely used provision of the law to try to deport a prominent Palestinian activist who recently completed his graduate studies at Columbia University, where he was a leader in last year's campus protests.A government charging document addressed to Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident and green card holder who is currently being held in a Louisiana detention center, said that secretary of state Marco Rubio has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States". Continue reading...

The US president, Donald Trump, says a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia is 'getting close' after Ukraine agreed to accept a 30-day break in fighting. Trump says he has people on the way to Russia and is hopeful Moscow will accept the deal. However he also makes veiled threats that Russia could face 'devastating' financial repercussions if it decides to continue the warWe have people going to Russia right now,' says Trump as Zelenskyy hopes for strong steps' if Russia rejects ceasefire - Europe live Continue reading...

For now Keir Starmer can say there is a middle way, but Donald Trump will soon force Britain to pick a sideNo country can avoid the economic impact of DonaldTrump's aggressive trade policy. There are no exceptions to the president's global tariff on aluminium and steel and no escaping the general volatility and constant uncertainty provoked by a capricious regime. But Britain is lucky not to be a direct target.Mr Trump has no border-related grievance against the UK, as he does with Mexico and Canada. The balance of bilateral trade is neutral enough for Britain to avoid being listed among the nations that sell more to the US than they buy from it. The White House sees that asymmetry as a devious scam, for which tariffs are a form of retribution.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...

More than 1,300 dismissals seem first step toward quashing US agency entirely as education secretary touts efficiency'The Trump administration has decimated the US Department of Education, firing more than 1,300 employees in a single day in what looks to be the first step toward abolishing the agency entirely.The mass dismissal - delivered by email after most staff had left for the day on Tuesday - has slashed the department's workforce by half. Along with voluntary departures and probationary firings, the agency that started 2025 with 4,133 staff now operates with an estimated 2,100 employees two months into Donald Trump's presidency. Continue reading...

Health secretary, under fire for his response to the measles outbreak, attacked seed oils in Sean Hannity interviewRobert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, appeared with a cheeseburger and fries in a nationally televised interview on Fox News - a highly unusual move for a federal health official.The appearance, in which he endorsed the decision of the burger chain Steak n Shake to cook its fries in beef tallow, comes as Kennedy has attacked seed oils and made claims about the measles vaccine that lack context. Continue reading...

McLaurine Pinover made posts at work as personnel management office enforced Trump and Musk's layoffsThe chief spokesperson for the agency overseeing mass firings as Donald Trump and Elon Musk slash the federal workforce used her office to record fashion influencer videos even as thousands of workers were losing their jobs.McLaurine Pinover, communications director at the US office of personnel management (OPM), posted several Instagram videos during business hours in which she posed in different outfits, CNN reported. Continue reading...

You learn so much when you're forced to clop around town in a great big boot. And you make so many friends ...I've long had a soft spot for the achilles tendon, my own and everyone else's. This goes back to middle school where we read a book called Greeks and Trojans by Rex Warner, which I greatly enjoyed, although my engagement with the classics went no further. It related the story of the demise of the hero whose name the tendon bears. Also, my initial and my surname have been known to autocorrect to the name of the great warrior/tendon. We have a connection.The achilles is the tendon connecting the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles in the calf to an insertion point at the calcaneus. Or, in English, it's the worryingly cable-like thing running down the back of your ankle to your heel. The Greek Achilles was fatally wounded in the heel while fighting in the Trojan war. My own (non-fatal) achilles wound was sustained a long way from the gates of Troy, at a leisure centre in Stourbridge. I did it playing pickleball. Not especially heroic, I appreciate, but for someone who'd never picked up a pickleball paddle before, I was thought to be half-decent. Given the pain I've been in ever since, I doubt I'll be back for more. And with his vulnerability in the heel area, I can't imagine pickleball would have much suited the original Achilles either.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Pepper, a nine-month-old sea lion, has mesmerised her carers by performing intricate rhythmic gymnastics-style circles through the waters at Point Defiance zoo and aquarium in Tacoma, Washington. Noelle Tremonti, a biologist at the aquarium, says the strips help the pup learn how to interact with kelp, which grow in abundance in the animal's natural environment, and how to explore her environment using her mouth. Pepper was the first sea lion born at the facility's its 120-year history

Break in talks comes as Trump escalates trade war with Canada and threatens its sovereigntyThe United States has paused negotiations with Canada on a key water-sharing treaty as Donald Trump continues both his threats to annex his northern neighbour and to upend major agreements governing relations between the two counties.British Columbia's energy ministry said officials south of the border were conducting a broad review" of the Columbia River Treaty, the 61-year-old pact that governs transnational flood control, power generation and water supply. Continue reading...

As the US ramps up enforcement, scenes of family separation and despair from Trump's first term are repeatedThe United States has resumed placing immigrant families in detention, re-embracing harrowing operations where scenes unfold such as toddlers learning to walk under the supervision of private prison corporations and children marking their birthdays at government facilities they can't leave.If the Obama and first Trump administrations are anything to go by, parents will have to watch their little ones go hungry without familiar foods, the kinds families cook if their children aren't stuck in so-called baby jails". Continue reading...

The Russian president remains unwavering in his demands, making wider sanctions and tariffs ineffective

Secretary of state's visit has backdrop of trade war between US and allies and Trump's threats to take over CanadaMarco Rubio has said he is not planning to discuss Donald Trump's threat to take over Canada" during a visit to Quebec, as Washington's top diplomat arrives to the backdrop of a raging diplomatic crisis and trade war.The US secretary of state is flying on Wednesday for a two-day summit with other foreign ministers from allied G7 countries at the river resort of La Malbaie, the first such gathering since Trump retook power with his America first" agenda. Continue reading...

Brussels countermeasures to target 26bn of US goods from April while UK takes pragmatic' approach; US tariffs cover wide range of household goods such as tin foil

The Palestinian student's arrest at Columbia University is a harbinger of what's to come on college campusesOn 8 March, Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University, was apprehended from university housing by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents. Khalil, a Palestinian and student leader at the Columbia encampments last year, was told by the arresting officers that his green card had been revoked", an action that only an immigration judge can decide. It has since been revealed that he is in Ice custody in La Salle, Louisiana, a detention site notorious for abuse.On Truth Social, Donald Trump celebrated the apprehension of Khalil, whom he called a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and bragged of more arrests to come. Continue reading...