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Plans are outlined to eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multi-year USAid contract awards, for a cut of $54bn to foreign aid. Plus, Jeff Bezos directs Washington Post opinion section to celebrate free markets'Good morning.The Trump administration has said it is eliminating more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60bn in overall US assistance around the world.What will be the likely impact? Earlier this month, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: There are actions that the US government is taking ... which we're concerned are having a serious impact on global health."What happens now? With the transfer, the two sides have completed the obligations for the first six-week phase of the ceasefire. Hamas said on Thursday it was ready to start talks on a second phase. Continue reading...

With Trump back in the White House, the state's superintendent is making efforts to install Christian viewpoints in governanceRyan Walters bowed his head in prayer at his desk in the Oklahoma state superintendent's office.Dear God, thank you for all the blessings you've given our country," the rising star on the Christian right said in the mid-November video. I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change for our country." Continue reading...

Eric Swalwell says threats to them and their families are stopping GOP officials from criticizing presidentRepublicans on Capitol Hill are shying away from criticizing Donald Trump's policies over fears for their physical safety and that of their families, a Democratic member of Congress has said.Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative from California, said his Republican colleagues were terrified" of crossing Trump not only because of the negative impact on their political careers, but also from anxiety that it might provoke physical threats that could cause personal upheaval and require them to hire round-the-clock security as protection. Continue reading...

A deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV league would directly benefit the US president's family businessIn his first month in office, Donald Trump destroyed federal agencies, fired thousands of government workers and unleashed dozens of executive orders. The US president also found time to try to broker an agreement between two rival golf tournaments, the US-based PGA Tour and the LIV Golf league, funded by Saudi Arabia.If concluded, the deal would directly benefit Trump's family business, which owns and manages golf courses around the world. And it would be the latest example of Trump using the presidency to advance his personal interests. Continue reading...

Adan Manzano and the woman charged with robbing him, Danette Colbert, did not have benzodiazepine prescriptionsA television sports journalist who was found dead in his hotel room near New Orleans while covering Super Bowl LIX had the presence of a sedative in his system - a kind of drug for which he did not have a prescription and was later seized from the home of a woman who is charged with robbing him, an investigator testified recently.Adan Manzano had a benzodiazepine in his body at the time of his death in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner on 5 February, four days before the Super Bowl, local police detective Jeffrey Fitzmorris said at a criminal court hearing on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Players' cycles, once deemed to be a minor inconvenience, are now seen as potential keys to unlock big gains in performanceIn 1921, the English Football Association banned women's soccer, declaring the game unsuitable for females". The sport has reclaimed its place on the world stage over the subsequent century-plus, but another outdated notion persists; that the players' menstrual cycles are just an inconvenience rather than a key performance variable worth studying.Now, a collection of researchers and medical professionals are lending their expertise to what could be the sport's next big evolution. Continue reading...

The Oscar-winning actor, star of The French Connection and Unforgiven, has died at the age of 95. Here we look back on a that career that spanned five decades and numerous awards Gene Hackman and his wife found dead - news

The UK prime minister said on Thursday there was 'no more important relationship' to the UK than that with the US. Keir Starmer spoke from the residence of the British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, where he met business leaders in an effort to strengthen the US-UK relationship. He vowed to 'get things built, reduce barriers to investment and growth' and said the UK was 'open for business, open for investment'

As the NFL gathers for the combine, we look at the plots that will dominate the news cycle in the coming weeks and monthsStafford and the Rams are in another contractual standoff, with Los Angeles giving their quarterback permission to seek a trade. Stafford is set to earn $27m next season, putting him way behind the highest earners at the position. According to reports, Stafford is looking for a new two-year, $110m deal from the Rams that slices the difference between Dak Prescott (who will earn $60m in 2025) and Trevor Lawrence ($52m). Continue reading...

The Wigan player will follow in the footsteps of his uncle and grandpa when he performs in Las Vegas on SaturdayBy Gavin Willacy for No Helmets RequiredWhen Wigan coach Matty Peet brings Tyler Dupree on to the field during their Super League clash with Warrington in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Dupree's mother Jackie will greet his arrival with whoops. But his uncle Billy Joe Dupree - who played in three Super Bowls - will not even know his nephew is playing.Billy Joe Dupree joined Dallas in 1973 and immediately established himself in Tom Landry's fabled team, taking Mike Ditka's No89 jersey. A Super Bowl win against Denver Broncos in 1978 was sandwiched between two defeats to Pittsburgh Steelers. Dupree smashed records galore in Dallas, going 11 seasons without missing a game. His nephew Tyler has won two Super League titles, a World Club Challenge and a Challenge Cup in less than two seasons with Wigan. Yet Billy Joe is oblivious to his success. Continue reading...

So much of our intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US - if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gatesAll the talk now is of how we might defend ourselves without the US. But almost everyone with a voice in public life appears to be avoiding a much bigger and more troubling question: how we might defend ourselves against the US.As Keir Starmer visits the orange emperor's court in Washington, let's first consider the possibilities. I can't comment on their likelihood, and I fervently hope that people with more knowledge and power than me are gaming them. One is that Donald Trump will not only clear the path for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, but will actively assist him. We know that Trump can brook no challenge to his hegemony. Russia is no threat to US dominance, but Europe, with a combined economy similar to that of the US, and a powerful diplomatic and global political presence, could be. Continue reading...

As much as the basketball itself has started to round into shape for the Lakers and Mavs after the biggest trade in NBA history, the wounds have only just begun to healA lot of emotions, not much sleep ... I'm just glad it's over." Those were 25-year-old Slovenian basketball phenom Luka Doni's succinct and surprisingly vulnerable initial thoughts on Tuesday night after his first rendezvous with his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, when his Lakers hosted them in Los Angeles. It was a highly anticipated game, the culmination of weeks of NBA drama following the biggest blockbuster trade in league history, when Doni was traded for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. Davis was sidelined on the bench with an adductor strain on Tuesday, which slightly dampened the dramatic potential. But with both Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and minority owner Mark Cuban joining Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss in attendance, the tension was palpable. There's really no such thing as a hands-clean breakup, but this one has been particularly messy, and as much as the basketball itself has started to round into shape for both clubs, the wounds from the parting have only just begun to heal.The wins" and losses" of the trade have been covered ad nauseam. The basketball of it all, the Xs and Os, what might work, what might not, have been dissected to death. The drama, trying to figure out what conspiracy theories could have been at play to set it into motion, has made for unassailably compelling television. But, as is the case in many sports sagas, the human element of it all seems to have gotten somewhat lost in the shuffle. Continue reading...

A pack of Americans looks to make its mark as the Nordic world ski championships begin in Trondheim, where one of the sport's most electric atmospheres awaitsCompeting in a Nordic world ski championships is always special, but doing so in the heartland of cross-country skiing elevates the experience to a whole different level. This year's edition kicks off in earnest on Thursday with the first medal events in Trondheim, the picturesque university town seated on the lip of a fjord in central Norway. More than 190,000 tickets have already been sold and the sport's most passionate fans will spend the next week and a half packed into vertigo-triggering grandstands around the finishing area. The intensity and tradition of ski racing in Norway create an intoxicating backdrop for any athlete, a challenge an upstart American contingent is keen to embrace.Jessie Diggins knows what's coming and what's required to meet the moment better than anyone. Reflecting on her first world championships at Oslo's storied Holmenkollen when Norway last hosted, she recalled Tuesday in a conference call with reporters, It's quite painful for me to watch my technique [in 2011], but I skied with a lot of guts and that has not changed." She was just 19 then, still seven years away from her historic Olympic gold at Pyeongchang. Now 33, Diggins has built a legacy unlike any other American in the sport's history, but as she heads into this year's worlds, her famous tolerance for discomfort will be put to the test like rarely before. Continue reading...

Support for Ukraine means that closer ties to Europe are now a patriotic priority, opening up avenues that Brexit had once blockedIt would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging British upside to Trump's efforts at crashing the post-cold war order. It might even get a boost from Thursday's Washington visit by Keir Starmer.In July 2024, when Starmer became prime minister, Labour was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority was to reconnect with leave voters. Everything about Europe was thus sidelined during the election. Only vague generalities were permitted. The only foreign leaders pictured in the party manifesto were Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada's Justin Trudeau.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Jeanne Shaheen discusses Trump's demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to rare-earth reserves for helping end warDonald Trump may be pursuing a mineral rights deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia as well as with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, a top Senate Democrat has warned, discussing the US president's demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to 50% of its rare-earth reserves, as a price for helping end the war three years after Russia invaded.I think anything that helps position Ukraine for any peace negotiations is a positive move," said Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations and armed services committee, who recently visited Ukraine. Continue reading...

Internal memo and court filings reveal president to also eliminate $60bn in overall US assistance around worldThe Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60bn in overall US assistance around the world.The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAid projects for advocates to try to save in what are current court battles with the administration. Continue reading...

Trump's first cabinet meeting of his second term revealed a wide range of aims for the administration - key US politics stories from Wednesday at a glanceIn his first full cabinet meeting of his second term, which was attended by Elon Musk, President Donald Trump praised dramatic planned cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and his planned 25% tariffs on European Union imports.Musk, who runs the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) team, said at the meeting that their goal was to achieve $1tn in deficit reduction by financial year 2026" - already halving the $2tn in cuts he had promised during the campaign. He claimed this would require saving $4bn per day, every day" until the end of September. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read our latest story hereThere has been reaction to Trump's proposal for a gold card" for wealthy foreigners (post 11.14am) which would give them the right to live and work in the US as well as a route to citizenship in exchange for a $5million fee.Immigration and wealth advisers have said the proposed initiative is unlikely to trigger a major inflow of wealthy global investors seeking US citizenship because of concerns over higher taxes, Reuters reports.I do not believe that the current POTUS offer will have a big impact, as getting a green card in the US if you meet certain criteria, is not difficult.Paying $5 million for a golden visa and getting taxed on your global income defeats the purpose. Continue reading...

Order calls for transformation' in US spending on contracts, grants and loans by requiring centralized payment systemDonald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order meant to expand the power of Elon Musk's governmental cost-cutting program, the so-called department of government efficiency", or Doge.The new order calls for a transformation" in federal spending on contracts, grants and loans by requiring agencies to create a centralized system to record and justify payments, which may be made public for transparency - an initiative that would be monitored by Musk's team. Continue reading...

Tulsi Gabbard said request was clear and egregious violation of Americans' privacy and civil liberties'The new US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, weighed in on the encryption feud between Apple and the UK on Wednesday. In a letter to British lawmakers on Wednesday, she wrote that the UK government's order for Apple to create a backdoor" to iCloud users' accounts is a clear and egregious violation of Americans' privacy and civil liberties".Any information sharing between a government - any government - and private companies must be done in a manner that respects and protects the U.S. law and the Constitutional rights of U.S. citizens," Gabbard wrote. Continue reading...

California governor's intervention could offer avenue of freedom for siblings jailed over 1989 LA killing of parentsThe California governor has ordered the state parole board to examine whether the Menendez brothers would pose a risk to the public if they are released from prison - which could offer an avenue to freedom for the siblings who have been behind bars for almost three decades.Attorneys for Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, reported on Wednesday that the board will complete a comprehensive risk assessment" to determine if the brothers have in fact been rehabilitated since the 1989 killing of their parents. Continue reading...

Head of Federal Highway Administration informed New York that the traffic-calming program must cease'The Trump administration has ordered New York City to end its congestion pricing program by 21 March.In a letter dated 20 February and publicized on Wednesday, the US transportation department's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) executive director, Gloria Shepherd, informed New York state and city officials that they must cease the collection of tolls on federal-aid highways in the [central business district tolling program] area by March 21, 2025". Continue reading...

Scheme operators take cars of LA county residents and demand hefty fees for their return, county officials sayAfter surviving the deadly Eaton fire, some Los Angeles county residents were left vulnerable to a second danger: fraudulent towing companies that took their vehicles and were demanding hefty fees for their return, county officials say.The Eaton fire, which started on 7 January near Pasadena, razed more than 9,400 homes and businesses and left 17 people dead. Kathryn Barger, chair of the Los Angeles county board of supervisors, said that during the first four days of the blaze, some tow truck operators were falsely claiming to be working for Altadena officials. They towed vehicles without telling owners where the cars were being stored. Continue reading...

Case from Ohio woman could transform workplace discrimination claims and lead to flood of lawsuitsThe US supreme court justices appeared to lean on Wednesday toward making it easier for people from majority backgrounds", such as white or heterosexual people, to pursue workplace discrimination claims, as they heard an appeal by an Ohio woman who claims she was denied a promotion and demoted because she is heterosexual.The court heard oral arguments in a case that has the potential to transform workplace discrimination claims and unleash a flood of lawsuits from white people, straight people and men. Continue reading...

Dozens of demonstrators lie down in government office building to warn against dismantling foreign aid agencyFired USAid employees and advocates for people with HIV staged a protest in a Capitol office building on Wednesday, warning that Donald Trump's drive to dismantle the agency tasked with implementing Washington's foreign aid agenda imperils the fight against the virus.Wearing white T-shirts that read Aids funding cuts kill" and chanting Congress has blood on its hands, unfreeze aid now", around three dozen protesters lay down in the rotunda of the Cannon House office building, home to the offices of representatives from both parties. Capitol police said about 20 arrests were made of demonstrators who defied their orders to disperse. Continue reading...

Hunter College faculty and staff union condemns Kathy Hochul's order to take down listing, calling it overreach of authority'The New York governor, Kathy Hochul ordered the City University of New York (Cuny) to immediately remove a job posting advertising a Palestinian studies professor role at the state university system's Hunter College.In the job listing, Hunter College wrote that the institution is seeking a historically grounded scholar who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to: settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality". Continue reading...

Men get away with two puppies selling for $4,299 each as pet store employees distracted by accomplice's fake seizureThieves nabbed a pair of high-priced bulldogs from a Colorado pet store after a man allegedly faked a seizure to distract employees while an accomplice grabbed the puppies from a pen and ran out, authorities said.The theft, which was captured on surveillance video, happened on Sunday. Continue reading...

Fox News correspondent among those to decry move that journalists say will tear at independence of a free press'The Trump administration announced it will take control of the White House press pool, stripping the independent White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) of its longstanding role in deciding which journalists have access to the president in intimate settings.The move has immediately triggered an impassioned response from members of the media - including a Fox News correspondent who called it a short-sighted decision". Continue reading...

Trump's budget chief and head of personnel management direct bosses to provide detailed plans by 13 MarchUS government agency heads have been given a 13 March deadline to produce a plan for drastically slashing the federal workforce as Donald Trump reinforced warnings that workers who failed to account for what they do could be fired.A White House memo issued on Wednesday directed bosses to provide details of their workforce reduction plans in the most specific instruction yet to managers to cut stuff who are deemed unnecessary or inefficient. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has threatened to slap 25% tariffs on the European Union, claiming the 27-country bloc was 'formed to screw the United States'. Speaking at his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the US president said he would soon release details of the latest tariff threat. 'We have made a decision and we'll be announcing it very soon. It'll be 25%,' he said

Tech billionaire, who is not a member of the cabinet and described himself as humble tech support', warns without evidence that US could go bankrupt'

The prime minister must handle Donald Trump with tact, but without flinching from a duty to confront falsehoods in the president's worldviewIt is hard to set expectations ahead of a summit with no useful precedent. British prime ministers have visited the White House before and in a wide variety of geopolitical contexts, but never has the hosting president been hostile to the transatlantic alliance. Never before could it be said that Washington's foreign policy regarding European security was closer to a Moscow line than a London one.Conventional platitudes about a special relationship" and common values are of little use to Sir Keir Starmer in handling Donald Trump. History is notirrelevant, but on matters of substance - most urgently, a settlement to end the war in Ukraine - Mr Trump is behaving more like a mafia boss than a statesman. His method is to demand tribute in exchange for protection. Continue reading...

The Ukrainian president said in a press conference on Wednesday that without future security for Ukraine there would be no 'just peace ... we will not have a ceasefire, what Trump spoke about'. He added that his trip to visit Donald Trump on Friday had yet to be confirmed

Lawyers push for charges to be dropped over leaked internal DoJ correspondence about the New York mayorThe New York City mayor, Eric Adams, asked a federal judge to toss out the corruption case against him on Wednesday, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, even as the justice department seeks dismissal of the charges on the Democrat's behalf.In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, his lawyers alleged that the misconduct occurred when the government publicly leaked a letter that the then US attorney Danielle Sassoon wrote to the attorney general, Pam Bondi, explaining why charges should not be dropped. Continue reading...

The athlete hopes his arrest after excoriating the Maga movement in a city council meeting will inspire others to resistLast week the former NFL player Chris Kluwe was arrested at a city council meeting in his home town of Huntington Beach, California, for approaching councilmembers after making an impassioned speech likening the Maga movement to nazism. This came after the council approved a plaque commemorating the city library's 50th anniversary. Writ largest on the plaque are the words Magical Alluring Galvanizing Adventurous" - an acrostic of Maga.Kluwe ranked among the NFL's top punters while playing for the Minnesota Vikings in the early 2000s. During his career he was as well known for calling out NFL immorality and championing civil rights causes like same-sex marriage and racial justice as he was for pinning the opposition against their own goalline with his booming right leg. Continue reading...

US president says new visa program would be open to Russian oligarchs, some of whom are very nice people'

As families move away to avoid deportation, excruciating goodbyes leave teachers feeling completely empty'A soccer ball covered in signatures from classmates. A handwritten letter telling a child of their worth. A T-shirt bearing a school emblem meant to remind a newcomer how much they were loved in a place they once called home.These are among the items teachers have given their multilingual learners - students who learn in more than one language - whose families fled their school districts rather than risk being detained by immigration agents. Continue reading...

Wall of receipts' drops five largest savings claimed by department of government efficiency' after debunking

The lifelong atlanticist was frank after his election victory: Nato is on the brink, and Germany must reassess its core beliefs on defenceIt is hard to overstate the importance of Friedrich Merz's urgent message to the nation after his win in the German elections. This, after all, is the beginning of a new, dangerous era in European security. It would be his absolute priority", Merz said, immediately after victory for the CDU/CSU was confirmed, to create unity in Europe as quickly as possible, so that, step by step, we can achieve independence from the US". He added: I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television programme."Indeed. For the leader of the conservative CDU, a lifelong believer in the transatlantic security alliance, this is a significant reversal. And it is highly personal for Merz: there is hardly a more pro-American politician in Germany than the man who worked for the investment company BlackRock and was the long-serving chairman of the influential lobbying group Atlantik-Brucke (Atlantic Bridge).Jorg Lau is an international correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit Continue reading...

Manufacturer says city has not taken up its offer to inspect - and, if necessary, repair - blockade at no costAfter the deadly truck ramming attack on New Orleans's Bourbon Street early on New Year's Day, local police said they had intentionally left down a hydraulic barrier meant to prevent such violence because it had a history of malfunctioning - prompting the blockade's manufacturer to contact the city with an urgent offer of free inspection and maintenance, according to recently obtained emails.We would like to bring out a technician for no charge in order to inspect all the Delta Scientific barriers in New Orleans and ensure they are functional and offer any solutions for maintenance or repairs needed," Dianne Kennedy, the company's assistant to general counsel and manager of contracts, wrote to the office of the New Orleans mayor, LaToya Cantrell. Continue reading...

Cynical actors exploit the legal ambiguities around targeting healthcare facilities, as seen in Gaza. Unequivocal protections are neededHospitals in Gaza have turned into battlegrounds", the World Health Organization's representative for the West Bank and Gaza stated at the UN security council in January. He warned that the healthcare system was being systematically dismantled and driven to the brink of collapse".Israel's attacks on medical centres in Gaza have prompted widespread condemnation from civil society, academics and news agencies, many labelling these strikes as breaches of international law or war crimes. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted that: Any attack of healthcare facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law." Continue reading...

The Milan star's nine-episode docuseries is most notable in that it reveals anything at allDeep into the third and most recent episode of the Paramount+ docuseries on Milan and United States men's national team star Christian Pulisic - with the very does-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin title of Pulisic - a remarkable sight unfolds: Pulisic, coaxed by his girlfriend, reveals something of himself.In that scene, Pulisic and Alexa Melton, a golfer on the second-tier Epson Tour, sit at a table in his house in Italy playing a card game. He looks uncomfortable. What feelings are hard for you to communicate to me and how can I make it easier?" Melton asks, reading off a card. Continue reading...

Anger over blown calls is as old as baseball itself. But in Spring Training this year, players can ask technology for a little helpFor the first time ever this month, major league players who disagree with an umpire's rendering of the strike zone can do something about it. Something other than an exaggerated pantomime of disbelief or a testy reply liable to get them thrown out of the game entirely. They can do something effectual, productive, process-based. They can appeal to a higher power, one that has become revered within the sport for its ability to optimize anything and everything: Technology.Major League Baseball is testing the challenge system version of the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) in roughly 60% of Spring Training games this preseason. In layman's terms: this spring, players can ask robot umps to review pitch calls. Continue reading...

The massacre in Bucha, the mass graves in Izium - it is as if these atrocities never happened. Now the truth is being taken out and shotOrders and statements from the new US president come at us daily now, with unremitting speed, and international politics is reduced to an endless series of justifications and denials of unfounded accusations.It's hard to believe, but Ukrainian activists have had to write explainers for a global audience, reminding them who the true dictator is, that it was not Ukraine that started the war with Russia and that we are actually just trying to defend what is ours. And, you know, to survive a little bit. Continue reading...

Three times in the postwar era Germany made strategic choices that benefited Europe - with the US at its side. Now it must do it in opposition to TrumpThree times in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, its chancellors have made strategic choices that opened the door to a better future for Europe. Today there's not just an opportunity but an urgent need for a fourth such historic moment. If the country's new coalition government under Friedrich Merz manages to seize the chance of this crisis, both Germany and Europe will go forward. If it fails, then by the end of the 2020s both may have fallen backwards farther and faster than most of us could have imagined in our worst nightmares.The big difference with those three earlier pivotal moments is this: in 1949, 1969 and 1989 the Federal Republic's policy was fundamentally aligned with that of the United States. This time, Germany has to build up a stronger, free, democratic and Ukraine-supporting Europe against the current policy of the US. The most staggering moment of Sunday's election evening was when the lifelong Atlanticist Merz declared that Europe must really achieve independence from the US". (When compared with Emmanuel Macron's almost British sycophancy in the White House the next day, Germany's prospective chancellor is sounding more robustly Gaullist than the French president.)Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...