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US betrayal of Ukraine is the rehearsal for a grander bargain with Moscow and an assault on continental solidarityA prime time current affairs programme; a discussion about Donald Trump's handling of the war in Ukraine. He's doing excellent things," says a firebrand politician on the panel, before listing White House actions that have belittled Volodymyr Zelenskyy and weakened his battlefield position - military aid suspended; satellite communications obstructed; intelligence withheld. Do we support this?" It is a rhetorical question.We support it all. Absolutely," the celebrity host responds. We are thrilled by everything Trump is doing."Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Tesla sales are falling and apps and online groups are springing up to help consumers choose non-US itemsThe renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff was blunt in explaining why he and his quartet have cancelled a summer tour of the US.There seems to be a quietness or denial about what's going on," Tetzlaff said, describing his horror at the authoritarian polices of Donald Trump and the response of US elites to the country's growing democratic crisis. Continue reading...

Global 25% levy regime on steel and aluminium imports due to come into effect at midnight US time

Education secretary Linda McMahon describes layoffs as significant step towards restoring greatness' - key US politics stories from Tuesday at a glanceThe US Department of Education intends to lay off nearly half of its workforce, the department has announced. The layoffs of 1,300 people were announced by the department on Tuesday and described by the education secretary, Linda McMahon, as a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system".In a post on X, McMahon said: Today's [reduction in force] reflects our commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers." Continue reading...

Education secretary Linda McMahon announced hundreds of staff were subject to the reduction in workforce'. This blog is now closed.Polls have opened in Greenland for early parliamentary elections Tuesday as US President Donald Trump seeks control of the strategic Arctic island.The self-governing region of Denmark is home to 56,000 people, most from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds, and occupies a strategic North Atlantic location. It also contains rare earth minerals key to driving the global economy, AP reported. Continue reading...

Firings announced Tuesday as administration decried as detached from how Americans live'The US Department of Education intends to lay off nearly half of its workforce. The layoffs of 1,300 people were announced by the department on Tuesday and described by the education secretary, Linda McMahon, as a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system".In a post on X, McMahon said: Today's [reduction in force] reflects our commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers." Continue reading...

Eight states had requested a temporary restraining order, which judge granted saying programs ... will be gutted'A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration's plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training, finding that cuts were already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage.The US district judge Myong Joun sided with the eight states that had requested a temporary restraining order. The states argued the cuts were likely driven by efforts by Trump's administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Continue reading...

Protests continued in New York and Los Angeles in support of Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was taken into custody by agents from the US Department of Homeland Security over the weekend. Trump administration officials have accused Khalil of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas, while Khalil's lawyers say his protest activity was protected by the first amendment to the US constitution. Khalil, a Palestinian raised in Syria, arrived in the United States on a student visa and became a lawful permanent resident last year

Donald Trump said he will label violence against Tesla dealerships domestic terrorism as he appeared with Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, to show support amid recent anti-Tesla protests and the slump in the company's stock price. Several Tesla vehicles were parked in the driveway of the White House for the US president to pick from, accompanied by Musk and his young son.

Trump administration has axed $400m in federal funding to Columbia and detained student activist Mahmoud KhalilThe Trump administration said on Tuesday that Columbia University was refusing to help" the Department of Homeland Security identify people for arrest on campus, after immigration authorities detained a prominent Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate over the weekend.The Trump White House's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday the administration had given the university names of multiple individuals it accused of pro-Hamas activity", reiterating the administration's intention to deport activists associated with pro-Palestinian protests. Continue reading...

High-stakes vote fell along party lines, with just one Republican opposing it and one Democrat supporting itHouse Republicans pulled off a near party-line vote on Tuesday to pass their controversial funding bill to curb the looming government shutdown, shipping it off to the Senate, where it still will face an uphill battle to pass.The Trump-backed bill passed 217 to 213, with the Kentucky representative Thomas Massie casting the sole Republican no" vote, joining all almost all House Democrats who had come out hard against it for slashing social programs and granting the Trump administration broader federal powers. The Democrat Jared Golden of Maine joined Republicans in backing the measure. Continue reading...

Turtle was detected after a body scanner alarm went off at Newark Liberty airportA Pennsylvania man who was going through security at a New Jersey airport was found to have a live turtle concealed in his pants, according to the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA).The turtle was detected on Friday after a body scanner alarm went off at Newark Liberty international airport. A TSA officer then conducted a pat-down on the East Stroudsburg man and determined there was something concealed in the groin area of his pants. Continue reading...

Case is not related to three ongoing outbreaks in US and authorities say there is a low risk to publicThe first case of measles in Vermont in 2025 has been confirmed in a school-aged child in Lamoille county, the Vermontdepartment of health reported on Tuesday.The child became sick in recent days after returning with their family from traveling internationally and has been isolated from most community settings while they have been contagious, according to the department. There is believed to be a low risk to the public. Continue reading...

The US president, Donald Trump, has again suggested that Canada become the 51st state of the US during a press conference outside the White House with Elon Musk. Appearing to pitch the perks of joining the US, Trump claimed that Canada was highly taxed and that the US had comparatively low tax. He argued that such an arrangement would also solve the 'tariff problem'. 'Canada would be our cherished 51st state,' he said

Announcement comes after fatal collision between military helicopter and American Airlines jet on 29 JanuaryFederal investigators looking for the cause of the collision between a passenger jet and a US army helicopter that killed 67 people near Washington DC in late January recommended a ban on some helicopter flights on Tuesday to improve safety.The recommendation came after a military helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet as it approached Ronald Reagan National airport over the Potomac River on 29 January. Among the victims were 28 members of the figure-skating community. Continue reading...

Officials have begun large-scale destruction of classified documents, including using shredders and burn bags'

The extradition of the former president of the Philippines on an ICC warrant is an affirmation of the principles of international justiceAfter his arrest on an international criminal court (ICC) warrant on Tuesday, the former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, demonstrated an uncharacteristic concern for due legal process. A petition was unsuccessfully filed to his country's supreme court to stay his extradition, as lawyers challenged the ICC's jurisdiction, and pleas were madefor any trial to take place in a Philippine court.The relatives of those butchered during Mr Duterte's brutal and lawless war on drugs" will struggle to sympathise. Notoriously, many of its victims never gotnear a courtroom of any description. In 2016, months into a presidency in which thousands of Filipinos suffered summary executions, Mr Duterte readily acknowledged an indiscriminate dimension tothe lawless carnage he had unleashed. The deaths ofinnocents and children, he told reporters, amountedtoinevitable collateral damage" in his mission to clean up the streets.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...

Three people in custody after Southern University student Caleb Wilson was allegedly punched repeatedly in chestAuthorities have arrested two more suspects in the recent fraternity hazing death of a 20-year-old student at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Kyle Thurman was captured on Monday at a home in Port Allen, Louisiana, which is adjacent to Baton Rouge, local police said. Meanwhile, Isiah Smith, whose father reportedly owns a warehouse where Wilson was mortally injured while undergoing the pledging process to join Southern's Omega Psi Phi fraternity, turned himself over to the custody of police on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Democratic senator and former combat pilot dismisses billionaire who wrote You are a traitor' after Ukraine tripElon Musk is not a serious guy", said Mark Kelly, the US fighter pilot and astronaut turned Arizona Democratic senator, after the Tesla owner and close Donald Trump ally called him a traitor" for visiting Ukraine in support of its fight against Russia's invading troops.On Sunday, Kelly posted to social media photos of his visit and a lengthy statement. Continue reading...

Resident made marshmallow treats outside around when New York fires ignited, prompting closures and evacuationsAuthorities suspect the wildfires that broke out over the weekend in New York's Long Island were ignited by a local resident toasting the marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker treats known as s'mores.According to what the Suffolk county police commissioner, Kevin Catalina, said on Monday, investigators' operating theory" is that the fires were sparked by a resident making s'mores over a fire in a back yard in the hamlet of Manorville. The person used cardboard to light up the fire on Saturday, which he was having trouble starting because of strong winds. Continue reading...

Porter, a former consumer protection attorney, enters a crowded field in which Kamala Harris may eventually enterThe former Democratic House member Katie Porter announced on Tuesday that she is entering California's 2026 gubernatorial contest, joining a crowded field of candidates that could be upended if former vice-president Kamala Harris joins the race.Porter, who became a social media celebrity by brandishing a whiteboard at congressional hearings while grilling CEOs, promised in a campaign launch video to be an aggressive counterweight to Donald Trump's administration at a time when the heavily Democratic state has clashed with the White House over issues from water management to immigrant rights. Continue reading...

President shares more than 100 Truth Social posts as stock markets react shakily to his refusal to rule out recessionDonald Trump posted to social media more than 100 times on Monday in a frenzy of self-aggrandizing messages even as the global stock market fell sharply amid fears that his economic policies could produce a US recession.Far from rushing to calm troubled waters after markets reacted shakily to his refusal to rule out a recession, the US president instead shared a blizzard of links on Truth Social, the platform he owns, starting at 11.44am ET with a link to a Fox News article about Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, raising defense spending before visiting Washington last month. Continue reading...

Elizabeth Oyer claims justice department senior bullied' her due to Trump's relationship with actor sentenced for domestic violence in 2011The pardon attorney of the US justice department was recently fired after refusing to recommend that Mel Gibson be allowed to own guns again, a right denied since the actor, director and prominent ally of Donald Trump was sentenced to probation for domestic violence in 2011, the New York Times reported.The pardon attorney is a non-political role, supervising matters of clemency and recommendations for presidential pardons. Elizabeth Oyer was appointed under Joe Biden's presidency in 2022. She told the Times she had been working on a project to restore gun ownership rights to some people convicted of crimes and misdemeanors, a power held by the justice department but not often used. Continue reading...

The Guardian can reveal comments by Ed Martin advancing false and racist claims. Plus, just seven countries meet WHO dirty air guidelines

Russian officials said two people were killed after Ukraine launched 337 drones at Russia on Monday night, with 91 of them targeting the Moscow region. Air and train travel were suspended as a result of the attack, with all four of Moscow airports closing for several hours. The attack came as Ukrainian and US officials prepared to meet in Saudi Arabia for the first time since Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with Donald Trump in Washington last month, after which the US president cut off crucial military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine

The movement unites family values' conservatives and tech bro rightwingers. Will this incoherent coalition hold?In his first address to the United States after becoming vice-president, JD Vance stood on stage and proclaimed: I want more babies in the United States of America." Weeks later, Donald Trump signed an executive order pledging support for in vitro fertilization, recognizing the importance of family formation and that our nation's public policy must make it easier for loving and longing mothers and fathers to have children".In late January, a Department of Transportation memo directed the agency to prioritize projects that give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average". And last week, it was reported that Elon Musk, the unelected head of the government-demolishing department of governmental efficiency" and a man who has said that the collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far", had become a father of 14. Continue reading...

Our refusal to reckon with the dark side of Purim reflects a refusal to reckon with the dark side of ourselvesLater this month, on the holiday of Purim, Jewish people will dress in silly costumes, eat triangular pastries, and listen to an ancient story about attempted genocide. What we notice, and don't notice, about that story says a lot about what we notice, and don't notice, in Israel and Palestine.The tale comes from the book of Esther. It begins with a dissolute Persian king. He hosts a banquet, gets drunk, orders his queen to display her beauty" to the revelers, and, when she refuses, banishes her from the throne. As her replacement he chooses Esther, a beautiful young maiden who, unbeknownst to him, is a Jew. Then he makes a calamitous personnel decision: he selects Haman, a pathological Jew-hater, to be his right-hand man. The stage is now set for an epic clash. Continue reading...

Revealed: rhetoric by interim US attorney for DC includes falsely claiming Kamala Harris self-identified' as BlackTrump's appointee as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia and nominee to hold the position permanently, Ed Martin, has repeatedly made derogatory and racist comments in past social media posts and columns.Martin's rhetoric includes falsely claiming Kamala Harris is self-identified" as Black and calling her the new Rachel Dolezal, claiming Planned Parenthood targets Black communities for abortions, claiming that the supreme court justice Sonia Sotomayor made racist comments to white males about her own identity and invoking false claims about Dr Martin Luther King Jr to affirm support for the Republican party and the Tea Party movement. Continue reading...

Today's Jeddah summit will be crucial. But so too is the need for European unity to counter Russian aggression now, and deter it in the future

Economic uncertainty and polarisation are a potent cocktail that extremist politicians such as Clin Georgescu thrive onIn a forest outside Bucharest, a woman cradled her infant in one arm while raising the other in a Nazi salute. She was one of about 70 people who gathered on 30 November last year to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, a leader of Romania's interwar fascist Legionary Movement and head of its paramilitary wing, the Iron Guard.Codreanu and his ally, Ion Antonescu - Romania's virulently antisemitic wartime dictator - were central figures in the country's Holocaust history. Codreanu was assassinated in 1938 and Antonescu was executed as a war criminal in 1946. Continue reading...

The president has slashed $400m in funding from Columbia University. He wants to stifle criticism of Israel - but the real target is dissentFor those who fear Donald Trump is a despot in the making, don't worry: he has an answer. I've stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America," he triumphantly declared in his State of the Union address. It's back!" JD Vance scolded Europe in his speech at the Munich security conference last month, declaring that free speech is in retreat" across the continent.Like all authoritarian creeds, Trumpism turns reality on its head and empties words of their meaning in an effort to sow confusion and disarray among its critics. On the same day Trump announced the revival of free speech in Congress, he posted on Truth Social that federal funding for educational institutions that allow illegal protests" will be ceased. Notably, illegality was not defined, but the issue Trump is referring to, of course, is Palestine. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came," he declared. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!"Owen Jones is a 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...

Donald Trump's talk of tariffs and the unpredictability of a trade war is causing investor uncertainty in the ASX 200

From cries of McCarthyism' over Palestinian activist's detention to fears over a Trumpcession' - key US politics stories from Monday at a glanceThe Trump administration's decision to have immigration authorities arrest pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for alleged support of Hamas is an attack on free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union warned on Monday.This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American," said Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read the latest story hereSecretary of state Marco Rubio has announced that USAid will cancel the majority of its programs, while the rest will be folded into the state department.Writing on X, Rubio said:After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States. Continue reading...

Critics condemn arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia University graduate student who led protests over Gaza warA judge has blocked the deportation of the prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University's protests against Israel over the war in Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University until this past December who holds permanent US residency, is being detained by US immigration authorities at a facility in Louisiana after his arrest, according to information from officials.A spokesperson for the US's homeland security department - as well as the country's top diplomat - confirmed the arrest. In a statement to the Associated Press, a homeland security department spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said Khalil's arrest was made to support Donald Trump's presidential orders prohibiting antisemitism". Continue reading...

US president's late-night social media post came after Turnbull criticised Trump's leadership as chaotic'

Health secretary accuses food companies of exploiting loophole' over food safety and urges greater transparencyThe US secretary of health and human services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has directed the Food and Drug Administration to revise safety rules to help eliminate a provision that allows companies to self-affirm that food ingredients are safe.The move would increase transparency for consumers as well as the FDA's oversight of food ingredients considered to be safe, Kennedy said on Monday. Continue reading...

Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, announced the new version, raising privacy concerns for those using CBP OneOn day one of his presidency, Donald Trump issued a directive abruptly ending the government's use of CBP One - an online application that had served as the primary means for people at the southern border to apply for asylum in the US. On Monday, the administration announced it has reimagined the app as a platform for self-deportation".Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the app had been rebranded as CBP Home" and that anyone with the old CBP One app would be redirected to the new version. Continue reading...

Judge denies Edward Kelley's motion to dismiss separate charges of plotting to kill federal agents investigating himA man pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection who also was convicted of plotting to kill federal agents investigating him is still legally liable for the plot, a judge ruled on Monday.Edward Kelley was pardoned by the president for his role in the US Capitol riot, but he remained in prison on separate charges. The Tennessee man had developed a kill list" of FBI agents who had investigated him for the Capitol attack. Continue reading...

Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all down by at least 2% and Tesla shares fall 15% for worst day since September 2020The US stock market continued to drop on Monday as the White House denied that Donald Trump's trade policies were causing lasting chaos within the economy.The S&P 500 fell 2.7%, the Dow Jones dropped 2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 4% as investors sold shares in the so-called magnificent seven" - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla. Tesla's shares had their worst day since September 2020, falling 15%. Continue reading...