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Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy, has written op-eds and reports questioning Ukraine's role in negotiations

Musk's team is targeting diversity initiatives and research, which amount to pennies compared with the real spending concernsThe so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) recently made headlines by touting $80m in Pentagon budget cuts, claiming it is eliminating wasteful spending". But while these cuts focus on politically charged programs like diversity initiatives and academic research, they ignore the real sources of financial waste in the Department of Defense - waste that costs taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars annually.If the cuts were genuinely an effort to balance the budget and not a direct attack on programs that focus on equity and social justice, and if the goal is truly to trim unnecessary expenditures while preserving national security, then Congress and watchdog agencies should focus on where the real money is disappearing: failed weapons programs, an over-reliance on private contractors, unnecessary nuclear expansion and a Pentagon budget so massive that it has never passed an audit.It has over 800 unresolved design flaws, including engine failures, software glitches and fuel system malfunctions.The cost per plane continues to escalate, with each unit now costing from $80m to over $100m - even before accounting for expensive maintenance costs.The program has been so ineffective that the air force has considered developing a new fighter jet to replace it - while taxpayers remain on the hook for the original purchase.Significantly higher costs: contractors are frequently paid far more than military personnel for the same jobs.Lack of oversight: many contracts go unchecked, leading to fraud, over-billing and waste.Conflicts of interest: many Pentagon officials move directly into high-paying defense contractor jobs after leaving government service, perpetuating a cycle of over-reliance on private firms.Katerina Canyon is a poet, human rights and peace activist, and the executive director of the Peace Economy Project. She holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and advocates for the reallocation of military spending toward social and community investments. Continue reading...

As defense secretary shifts focus to culture war, some fear he is neglecting future of warfare' for US military

The math doesn't work in the president's economic promises, which will create a giant upward transfer of wealthDonald Trump apparently believes his tariffs will bring so much money to the US treasury that the US will be able to afford another giant Trump tax cut.But Trump's tariffs - and the retaliatory tariffs already being imposed on American exports by the nation's trading partners - will be paid largely by the American working class and poor.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

The administration is cutting funds and threatening what it sees as liberal bastions, such as Columbia University, where it detained Mahmoud Khalil for his pro-Palestinian activismIf Donald Trump thought few Americans would care about the deportation of an Arab student protest leader accused of supporting terrorism and antisemitism at an elite university then he was wrong on several counts.Trump accused the student, Mahmoud Khalil, of being pro-Hamas" and hailed his detention by immigration officers, in front of his pregnant American wife as she waved her husbands permanent residence card, as the first arrest of many to come". Continue reading...

Amid anger over dysfunctional politics and alleged corruption, Aleksandar Vui faces a harsh spotlight, inside and outside SerbiaFrom the streets of Belgrade, the cracks in President Aleksandar Vui's near-decade-long authoritarian grip on power have become impossible to ignore. After more than four months of largely peaceful student-led protests, frustration with the regime appears to have reached breaking point.The country is gearing up for a massive anti-government protest today, as thousands of students and citizens prepare to rally against the Serbian administration. Many residents describe the capital as feeling under siege", with the authorities implementing extreme measures that critics argue are designed to intimidate and prevent people from attending the demonstration. Continue reading...

Wildly differing views about cosleeping and products like baby pods abound online. I admire those who offer clear, sensible supportThe first night we brought my son home from the hospital to our empty flat, we sat up far longer than needed, unmoored by a new, overwhelming responsibility to keep him alive. That some babies stop breathing in their sleep, and scientists still don't really know why, terrified me when I'd just been primally rewired towards his survival. All you can do, you are told, is try to minimise risk.And so you commit the guidelines to memory: For the first 12 months (adjusted for prematurity), the baby should be placed on its back in their own clear, flat, firm separate sleep space (eg a cot or moses basket) in the same room as you. They should not get too hot, and it should be a smoke-free environment."Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author. She is the author of a novel, The Tyranny of Lost Things, and a memoir, The Year of the Cat Continue reading...

The idea of Moscow as a paragon of Christian nationalism has penetrated the party of Reagan - and the lurch in US policy has huge implications for the global order

Our continent must be prepared to defend itself, by combining the best of its two most influential traditionsShould we all be Gaullists now? In the language of France's most important European partner, the answer is Jein!" (a German word combining ja for yes and nein for no). Yes, Emmanuel Macron has been right to warn us ever since he became France's president in 2017 that, discerning a long-term trend of US disengagement, Europe should be ready to defend itself. Now, confronted with Donald Trump, a rogue US president putting in question an 80-year-old American commitment to the defence of Europe against Russia, lifelong Euro-Atlanticists like me must acknowledge that we need not just a Europe with more hard power - something for which I have always argued - but also the real possibility of European strategic autonomy". Oui, Monsieur le President, you were right.Yet en mme temps (at the same time), to deploy Macron's signature trope, we should answer Non". For De Gaulle, a great man of his time, believed that defence should be the exclusive province of the nation state; that the emerging European Community should be a Europe of states (a disunited version of the European Union to which today's hard-right populist nationalist parties dream of returning); that Britain should be excluded from the European project (hence his famous Non!" to British membership in that emerging community); and that Europe should be constructed as a counterweight to the US, having close relations with Russia and China.Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnistDo 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...

Democrats dismayed after some help Republicans avert government shutdown; Trump vents about prosecutions while taking DoJ victory lap - key US politics stories from Friday at a glanceThe US Senate averted a government shutdown just hours before a Friday night deadline after 10 Senate Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to clear a key hurdle that advanced the six-month stopgap bill.The vote deeply dismayed Democratic activists and House Democrats who had urged their Senate counterparts to block the bill, which they fear would embolden Donald Trump and Elon Musk's overhaul of the US government. Continue reading...

Bill to avert shutdown passes 54-46 but furious progressives accuse yes-vote senators of acquiescing to TrumpThe Senate on Friday approved a Republican bill to fund federal agencies through September, averting a government shutdown hours before the midnight deadline after Democrats relented.The bill passed the Senate in a 54-46 vote, overcoming steep Democratic opposition. It next goes to Donald Trump to be signed into law. Continue reading...

British steelmakers lobby for government to set limit to compete with France and GermanyThe British steel industry has called for capped energy prices for heavy industry in order to match France and Germany, as companies grapple with the fallout from Donald Trump's trade war.UK Steel, a lobby group, has proposed the government set a maximum price for energy through a contract for difference (CfD), before an announcement of a new steel strategy. Continue reading...

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Family of Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, files $50m damages claim as lawyer accuses city of burying her alive'An unhoused woman living out of her van in San Diego was towed away by authorities, who did not realize she was inside the car until she was discovered dead in the vehicle a month later, according to a legal claim and autopsy records made public this week.Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was inside her parked Honda minivan at about 1am on 5 November 2023 when a driver crashed into her vehicle and another parked car, lawyers for her children outlined in a wrongful death claim against the southern California city. Continue reading...

In hourlong victory lap, president railed against Biden officials and their bullshit' case while boosting his lawyers

Sprawling storm system to affect vast swath of territory from Canada to Texas with tornadoes threatening in southThe National Weather Service has predicted extreme weather across a vast swath of the US encompassing more than 100 million people, with powerful winds gusts up to 80mph (130km/h) being forecast from the border with Canada to Texas.A sprawling storm system crossing the US on Friday overturned semitrucks on highways and fanned wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, where officials called for evacuations in at least one town. Tornado threats loomed for the Mississippi valley into the night and the deep south on Saturday. Continue reading...

The video, recorded by his wife Noor Abdalla, who is eight months pregnant, shows immigration agents confronting Khalil and informing him that he is going to be under arrest' and ordering him to stop resisting'. The agents then handcuff Khalil and take him into a car, refusing to give Abdalla their names when she asks for them. Khalil, a legal US resident and a green card holder, was sent to an immigration detention centre in Louisiana and is being threatened with deportation over his participation in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University

Swedish company's valuation jumped 24% in 2024 as buy now, pay later' market is projected to top $160bn by 2032The Swedish fintech firm Klarna disclosed on Friday that its revenue jumped 24% in 2024 as the buy now, pay later" (BNPL) pioneer made public its filing for a much-anticipated US stock market listing.The company, which reshaped online shopping through its short-term financing model, drew investor attention as its valuation soared from $5.5bn to $46.5bn in just two years, fueled by three funding rounds between mid-2020 and 2021. Continue reading...

As a divided Congress and Democrats spar over a funding bill, here's what to expect from a government shutdownThe US stands hours away from a partial government shutdown as Democrats decide whether to play ball with Republicans on the first major legislative hurdle in Trump's second administration.The House approved a stopgap funding measure called a continuing resolution last week, and the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has urged Democrats in the Senate to pass the measure in the upper chamber.A 21-day partial closure in 1995 over a dispute about spending cuts between President Bill Clinton and the Republican speaker, Newt Gingrich, that is widely seen as setting the tone for later partisan congressional struggles.In 2013, when the government was partially closed for 16 days after another Republican-led Congress tried to use budget negotiations to defund Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.A 34-day shutdown, the longest on record, lasting from December 2018 until January 2019, when Trump refused to sign any appropriations bill that did not include $5.7bn in funding for a wall along the US border with Mexico. The closure damaged Trump's poll ratings. Continue reading...

Apparent rejection of new offer to free US-Israeli hostage dashes hopes of progress but will please Tel AvivThe Trump administration has accused Hamas of making entirely impractical" demands and stalling on a deal to release a US-Israeli hostage in exchange for an extension of the Gaza ceasefire.Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not," the office of Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and the US national security council said in a statement. Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes," it said, adding that Trump had already vowed Hamas would pay a severe price" for not freeing hostages. Continue reading...

College president says she is heartbroken' by latest escalation in Trump attack on US campuses

Addicted to Fox News and outlets even more extreme, the president finds support and justification for actions disastrous to Americans and the worldNot content with shattering the post-1945 international order, which delivered prosperity and power to his country for eight long decades, Donald Trump is seemingly set on destroying the US economy. And he's doing it because he, and the American right, have lost their ability to grasp reality.Start with the economic vandalism, unfolding in real time and mesmerising to watch. For weeks, you could see the US stock market falling and falling until on Thursday the S&P index passed an unwanted milestone: it stood more than 10% down from the peak it had reached less than a month earlier, a fall that meets the Wall Street definition of a correction". In other words, even if the market eventually rallies, this is no blip. Continue reading...

We would like to hear your views on President Donald Trumps's second termSince taking office in January, US president Donald Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders and made a series of policy moves that have dominated the global news agenda.They range from imposing and threatening international trade tariffs and trying to force through a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia; establishing the Department of Government Efficiency; suspending the refugee resettlement programme, and declaring a national emergency on the southern US border; putting an end to birthright citizenship and ending diversity programmes in federal government, to exiting the Paris Climate agreement and cuts to USAid. Continue reading...

Trump should reverse his misguided effort to deport Mahmoud KhalilThe Trump administration's threatened deportation of Mahmoud Khalil seems to reflect a dangerous disregard for freedom of expression - a blatant example of official censorship to curb criticism of Israel.Khalil was a recent graduate of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He holds a green card, giving him permanent residence status, and is married to a US citizen. They are expecting their first child soon. Immigration agents arrested him last week in his university housing and sent him for detention from New York City to Louisiana. He had been a leader of protests against Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Continue reading...

US and Israel reportedly contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and SomalilandSudanese officials say they have rejected a request from the US to discuss taking in Palestinians displaced from Gaza under Donald Trump's plan to turn the territory into a Riviera on the Mediterranean".According to an Associated Press report, the US and Israel contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland about resettling uprooted Palestinians. The contacts suggested both countries are determined to press ahead with Trump's proposal despite international outrage and massive practical difficulties - or at least use the plan to force other actors in the region to come up with their own ideas for Gaza when hostilities finally end. Continue reading...

Lawyers demand in updated lawsuit that Columbia University graduate be released from custodyMahmoud Khalil felt as though he was being kidnapped when he was handcuffed and shackled and rushed from New York to immigration detention in Louisiana last weekend, his lawyers wrote in an updated lawsuit demanding that the Columbia University graduate be released from custody immediately.The activist has told his lawyers that agents who arrested him at his university housing last Saturday night, in front of his eight-month pregnant wife, never identified themselves. Continue reading...

I don't think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere,' Kentucky governor Andy Beshear saysOne potential future Democratic presidential candidate hit out at another on Thursday, as Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, criticized Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, for welcoming far-right provocateur Steve Bannon on to his podcast.I think that Governor Newsom bringing on different voices is great; we shouldn't be afraid to talk and to debate just about anyone," Beshear said at a House Democratic retreat in Virginia. But Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger, and even at some points violence, and I don't think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere." Continue reading...

News outlet was sued by Smartmatic over claims that voting equipment company hacked 2020 electionThe conservative news outlet Newsmax agreed to pay the voting equipment company Smartmatic $40m last year as part of a settlement in a defamation suit over Newsmax's decision to broadcast false claims about the 2020 election, a new filing revealed.The parties did not reveal details of the settlement when it was reached in September, but Newsmax disclosed the settlement amount in a public 7 March financial filing. The news outlet said it had also offered Smartmatic the option to buy stock in the company and that it had paid $20m of the settlement amount so far. Continue reading...

Twelve people taken to hospital with minor injuries after flight forced to divert about 30 minutes after takeoffAn American Airlines flight heading from Colorado Springs to Dallas-Fort Worth was forced to divert about 30 minutes after takeoff to make an emergency landing at Denver on Thursday evening, whereupon one of the plane's engines dramatically caught on fire on the tarmac.Passengers were swiftly forced to evacuate, including via wing and emergency slide, and could be seen running for safety through thick smoke with flames behind them. Continue reading...

Department of government efficiency' to terminate 793 leases as poll says 60% of voters disapprove of Musk agency

You don't need to hold sympathy for Mahmoud Khalil's views to see why his targeting is an immense threat to free expressionThe dust is starting to settle on the conflicting reports emerging after immigration officers' arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University protest leader and green card holder, last weekend - and Americans should be alarmed by the similarities to authoritarian regimes' speech policing.The White House has confirmed the arrest took place under a law granting the secretary of state unilateral power to act when given reasonable ground to believe" an immigrant's presence or activities in the United States ... would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the country. Continue reading...

The minority leader argued a government shutdown would hand Donald Trump and Elon Musk a carte blanche'. Plus, JD Vance booed at Washington concertGood morning.The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has announced he will vote for a Republican funding bill to avert a government shutdown, saying he believed a stoppage would carry consequences for America that are much, much worse".What does Schumer think the consequences would be? He said a shutdown would hand Donald Trump and Elon Musk a carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now". It could lead to the furloughing of staff without guarantee they'll be rehired, he said.Why did Trump take over the Kennedy Center? In Trump's words: We didn't like what they were showing and various other things. We're going to make sure that it's good and it's not going to be woke." Continue reading...

Danish Egg Association says US asked if it could export eggs as prices surge despite president's promise to lower themThe United States has asked Denmark and other European nations if they can export eggs as Americans face surging egg prices, the Nordic country's egg association said on Friday.The request from the US Department of Agriculture coincides with a raft of new US tariffs on countries, including in Europe, and the threat of more. Continue reading...

Whether the Meta boss and his ex-lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg are truly beyond awful is neither here nor there. I thought he was done with factcheckingI am as shocked as I am confused that Mark Zuckerberg is going all-out to block a memoir by Facebook's former director of global public policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams. I thought information wanted to be free? I definitely heard that speech should be. We know Meta's revolting oligarch doesn't write his self-serving public pronouncements, but he should at least make time in his busy Magafication schedule to read them.Anyway, even if you think the stories in Careless People are untrue - and I don't, for a single nanosecond - I thought the Meta boss said disinformation wasn't a thing any more? He recently binned off all his factcheckers to dramatically reduce the amount of censorship". Yet here we are reading stories of how Meta this week launched an emergency action in the US to ban Wynn-Williams from promoting or further distributing copies of her book. It argued - successfully, for now - that it would face immediate loss ... in the absence of immediate relief". Continue reading...

Governor signs bill limiting liability for companies found guilty of starting wildfires, sparking debate over who paysWyoming's governor has signed a bill that limits the liability for electric utility companies found guilty of starting wildfires.Legislators argued that the bill was necessary for utility companies to function in an era of massive fire-related class-action lawsuits, especially for many of the smaller, co-op utilities that are a hallmark of the mountain west. Continue reading...

The work of making change is difficult. Most of it is boring, unsexy and, at best, modestly incremental from day to dayDonald Trump is attempting to dismantle American constitutional democracy before our eyes. For the past six weeks, many of us have been telling ourselves we have to do something about this before it's too late. And yet many people who feel this way - no matter how outraged they are or how genuinely worried they are about our country's future - are doing very little but handwringing and doomscrolling.Elected leaders in the Democratic party are mostly failing to provide inspiration for people who are alarmed about the president's actions. The protest paddles they held up at Trump's speech before a joint session of Congress underscored the fact that they're flailing more than they're leading. Meanwhile, for most of us, the chance to vote again is almost two years away. Continue reading...

The PM sounds like Elon Musk when promising to fight the blockers', but his government's plans will weaken the link between peoples and politicsEvery new prime minister has an Elon Musk moment. A sudden attack of frustration leads to a burst of machismo, a chainsaw response. The system stinks. Slash the bureaucrats. Smash the machine.Thatcher had her subversives", Tony Blair his scars on my back", David Cameron his enemies of enterprise". Now Sir Keir Starmer claims to be haunted by the blockers, checkers, regulators, bloaters. All are ganging up against the cry of his new friend, Donald Trump, to grow, baby, grow. So get going, chainsaw, do your job.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The billionaire foreshadows cuts to Medicare and social security - despite Trump's campaign pledgesThe Trump administration is setting records and shattering norms in many ways, including in its almost daily policy flip-flops and rhetorical missteps. The latest started on Monday, when Elon Musk torched Trumpism by trumpeting the need to make cuts in federal entitlement programs.He did not clearly say whether or how those cuts would affect Medicaid, Medicare and social security benefits. But he was clear that those programs will be on his target list. Continue reading...

These offseason deals have interesting implications for the players, their new teams, and the USWNT talent poolShocking trades used to be a staple of the NWSL offseason. Thankfully, these moves will no longer surprise the players themselves, with the league agreeing to new rules that require players' consent to get moved. This long overdue transition away from the stone age means that everyone who changed teams this offseason did so because they wanted to, and there were still plenty of major moves.A handful of those players looked for a change in order to reinvigorate their careers after 2024 didn't go according to their plans. Here are three of the biggest moves, and what you can expect from them on their new teams. Continue reading...

The president's attacks on diversity and immigration have already affected many artists and will affect many more in the coming monthsOne of the most pernicious effects of a bully's intimidation is making victims afraid of being true to themselves, because it's the essential and authentic parts of them that incite the bully's contempt.During his first week in office Donald Trump issued a blitzkrieg of executive orders. Among them, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity and Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing." According to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, among the things these orders direct the administration's agencies and staff to do are:Terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, and programs in the federal government; terminate equity-related grants and contracts; and repeal prior executive orders designed to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace, including a decades-old executive order from the Johnson Administration ... " Continue reading...

Trump has met a force he cannot control: people's ability to parade their anger and distaste through consumer choiceWhat do you buy the richest man in the world? The answer, obviously, is the one thing that usually can't be had for love nor money, and that's pimping out the presidential office for advertising purposes.Posing with Elon Musk beside a scarlet Tesla parked on the White House driveway, Donald Trump announced that he was buying one of his friend's cars despite not being allowed to drive for security reasons because: I just want people to know that you can't be penalised for being a patriot." The billionaire currently chainsawing his way through so many ordinary federal workers' jobs had, he said indignantly, been unfairly treated by people who inexplicably now seem to have turned against his cars.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Exclusive: JD Vance, the US vice-president, and his wife, Usha, were met with a chorus of boos at Washington DC's Kennedy Center on Thursday. They were attending a concert featuring works by Shostakovich and Stravinsky. The center has been thrown into turmoil after Donald Trump sacked its chairman, 13 of its trustees and appointed Maga loyalists Continue reading...

An American Airlines plane caught fire after landing at Denver International Airport, before slides were deployed so passengers could evacuate. The Federal Aviation Administration said flight 1006 - which was headed from the Colorado Springs Airport to Dallas Fort Worth - diverted to Denver and landed safely after the crew reported engine vibrations Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read the latest story hereLuxury Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari says it is ready for countermeasures if US President Donald Trump imposes hefty tariffs on European auto imports.We are ready with some countermeasures," Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna told Cnbc's Converge Live in Singapore. We are waiting for the official number to be published," he added, referring to Trump's threat of duties of around 25%" on EU carmakers.

Judge says it is a lie' that employees at federal agencies had performance issues; Trump mulls EU alcohol tariff - key US politics stories from Thursday at a glanceA federal judge in California has 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 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...