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Billionaire cost-cutter's Starlink service the likely beneficiary of Trump plan to alter rural internet program

Business leaders can drop $5m for solo dinners, a likely way to cash in on those keen to get in president's good graces

Jose Raul Mulino calls Panama canal rhetoric new affront' to sovereignty amid tensions over Chinese involvement

Trump administration looks to axe half up to half of the tax agency's workforce and fire up to 83,000 workers at the VA

Trump has given the first speech to Congress of his second term as US president. While Republicans stood and cheered his points, Democrats were largely unimpressed. Al Green, a Democratic representative from Texas, was expelled from the House for interrupting while other Democrats held up signs that said 'Save Medicaid' and 'Musk Steals'. Melanie Stansbury held up a sign as Trump entered the chamber that said 'This is not normal' but it was ripped out of her hand by the Republican Lance Gooden

The Trump administration's tariffs have sparked tension with co-hosts Canada and Mexico. That's bad news for a tournament that is supposed to unite nationsThe start of the run-up to a World Cup is traditionally an upbeat affair. New stadium launches, inclusion-friendly marketing and merch campaigns, the unveiling of a tournament song or quirky mascot: these are the traditional signals by which host nations announce that the big show is approaching. This time, pre-tournament preparations are taking shape a little differently. Thanks to Donald Trump and his determination to pursue economic armageddon against the US's co-hosts, Canada and Mexico, the tone for the 2026 World Cup is being set not by Shakira or an anthropomorphic keffiyeh but by reciprocal tariffs, a flurry of cross-border insults, and crumbling diplomatic relations between the host nations. On Tuesday, Trump confirmed that the US will begin imposing levies on most imports from Canada and Mexico; Canada immediately retaliated, and Mexico looks set to follow. Welcome to the Trade War World Cup; please tip your host 25% of the entrance fee on your way in. If things continue on their current course, the 2026 tournament will be the first installment of the World Cup to be co-hosted by the antagonists of an active international economic conflict.Whether things do in fact continue as they are is, of course, difficult to predict: Trump's approach to policy is famously erratic, and the protectionism that marked his first administration was leavened by various exemptions and carve-outs to the tariffs imposed on trading partners, a cycle of aggression and moderation that could be repeated this time round. With the first match still 15 months away, there's plenty of time for the deterioration in diplomatic relations between the co-hosts to give way to reconciliation. But as things stand today, with Trump and his cabinet lackeys apparently hell bent on trashing the global economy and humiliating traditional allies, that hope seems pretty remote. The US - which is due to host 75% of the matches during the 2026 tournament, and every fixture from the quarter-finals onwards - looks set to steam into the approaching World Cup with a spirit of hospitality roughly equivalent to Roy Keane sizing up Alf-Inge Haaland's knee. Continue reading...

Black student unions at US colleges are fighting to stay in operation as state laws targeting DEI initiatives threaten their existenceFor Nevaeh Parker, the president of the Black student union (BSU) at the University of Utah, Black History Month is usually a buzzing time on campus.The school's BSU hosts several events - kickback parties and movie screenings - throughout the month. The Black cultural center, where students would usually congregate and attend activities, would be full. And the month's crown jewel would typically be a conference at the college for Black high schoolers in the area. Continue reading...

Sign waving in the chamber and a fiery outburst was followed by more forceful statements after the speechDemocrats panned Donald Trump's first prime-time speech to Congress since returning to the White House as reaction to the address revealed a country still deeply split on political lines and an opposition party unsure of how to deal with his radical agenda.The Democrats' exclusion from the corridors of powers - Democrats are in the minority in both the Senate and House of Representatives - has left them with limited options on how to effectively respond to Trump's hardline 1hr 40min oration that amounted to a celebration of his purported achievements during his six weeks back in office. Continue reading...

Democrats protested from the chamber as he thanked Elon Musk and spoke about upending US foreign policy. Plus, half of world's CO emissions come from 36 fossil fuel firms'

The paper's billionaire owner, who barred it from endorsing Kamala Harris, is leaving human journalists out of the equationThe past few months have been brutal ones for the readers and journalists of the largest news organization in California, the Los Angeles Times.Since he bought the paper in 2018, the billionaire and medical entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong has become something of a Donald Trump acolyte. Continue reading...

Experts say victory for state could give green light for other states to attack those who help women travel for procedureA bellwether test of states' ability to prosecute people over abortions that take place across state lines will hold a critical hearing on Wednesday, when Alabama abortion rights supporters will square off against the state attorney general over his threats to prosecute groups that help women travel for the procedure.In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, clearing the way for Alabama to ban virtually all abortions, Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall repeatedly suggested that abortion rights activists who help people go out of state for abortions could be charged as participants in an illegal conspiracy. The Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund that helped people pay for the procedure, and the West Alabama Women's Center, a former abortion clinic that pivoted to providing services like miscarriage management, joined with other abortion rights advocates to sue Marshall over his comments. Continue reading...

Republicans aren't simply shrinking the government. They're investing billions in defense, border control and prisonsLast week, the federal human resources department sent out a seven-page memo ordering agencies to submit detailed plans on how they will work with the so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge) to slash their payrolls. To do this, they were to eliminate whole job categories - except one. Untouchable were positions necessary to meet law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement, or public safety responsibilities".While we've had our eyes on the wrecking ball-Doge pulverizing social services, environmental protection and scientific research, we've hardly taken notice of what is being constructed. In the footprint of the already shabby, now half-demolished US welfare state, the Trump administration is building a police state. Continue reading...

A new book charts the history and characters around one of the most thrilling and striking moves in all of sportsYou can still see the moment online, 42 years later: The Philadelphia 76ers' Julius Erving pulling off his January 1983 rock the cradle" dunk against the Los Angeles Lakers. Yes, Dr. J cradles the ball in his arm as he goes airborne and slams it home over the Lakers' Michael Cooper.It's the greatest dunk of all time," says Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Mike Sielski. Continue reading...

Who is really suffering from this conflict? We are, said the US president, in a move straight from the populist playbookDuring a dramatic Oval Office meeting last Friday, US president Donald Trump confronted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a move that upended the long-established narrative of Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as the victim.In the conversation, which quickly escalated into a tense exchange, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war with Russia by refusing to engage in peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin. His rhetoric suggested that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for escalating the conflict and that the US had unfairly borne the burden of Ukraine's resistance. Trump constructed a new hierarchy of suffering, one in which the US emerged as the primary victim, Ukraine as the source of its burdens and Russia as innocent of blame.Lilie Chouliaraki is professor of media and communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the author of Wronged: The Weaponization of Victimhood Continue reading...

Emi Gurbuz's son was murdered in Hanau by a far right terrorist. Her plea for justice five years on drew an astonishing reaction from the stateThe first time I went to Hanau, I was creeped out by how ordinary it was. This mid-sized city of 100,000 people right in the geographical centre of Germany, looked and felt like many other places in western Germany I had been to: built around a bombed and reconstructed old town, expanded by a soulless mall with a multiplex cinema, surrounded by a vast industrial area and neighbourhoods separated along class lines. What the city prides itself on is that the Brothers Grimm grew up here in the late 18th century before they started publishing folk tales such as Cinderella and The Frog Prince. Since 2020, however, Hanau stands for something else: it's the place where a far-right gunman killed nine people he assumed to be immigrants, and afterwards killed his mother and himself.The attack on 19 February of that year not only left a deep wound within immigrant communities throughout the country, it again raised questions about how seriously the German state takes rightwing extremist terrorism, even after the infamous murders by neo-Nazi terrorist cell the National Socialist Underground (NSU), which spanned most of the decade from 2000.Fatma Aydemir is a Berlin-based author, novelist, playwright and a Guardian Europe 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.

US president Donald Trump declared America was 'back' after a radical start to his presidency that has seen his administration slash the size of the federal workforce, upend longstanding American alliances and rattle markets with an escalating trade war. Democrat Al Green was removed from the House in protest as Trump touted the 'swift and unrelenting action' of his administration and praised the work of his billionaire adviser, Elon Musk

In a long and menacing - but also boring - speech to Congress, Trump mocked his opponents. Across the aisle the resistance was stirringWell, at least he didn't give a Nazi salute, declare war on Canada or pull the plug on Nato. You never know these days. But this was the night that Donald Trump finally turned the once reverential occasion of a speech to Congress into just another sordid campaign rally.Deigning to address the branch of government he has so comprehensively sidelined in his first six weeks in office, Trump went off script and went long (a record 100 minutes). He lied, he weaved, demonised immigrants, he sold his economy as the greatest ever, he played the victim, he praised Elon Musk, he lambasted Joe Biden, he repeated himself and he lied some more. Continue reading...

Representative Al Green, a Democrat of Texas, was escorted out of the House chamber after interrupting Donald Trumps address. Trump had been bragging about his electoral victory, framing it as a landslide, but the win was one of the closer results in US history

President praises letter from Ukraine's leader backing peace talks and says US will get Greenland one way or another'Donald Trump has said he appreciated Volodymyr Zelenskyy's willingness to sign a minerals deal with the United States and come to the negotiating table to bring a lasting peace in Ukraine closer.Earlier today, I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine," the US president said in a speech to Congress after last week's disastrous meeting at the White House. Quoting from the letter, Trump said Zelenskyy told him that Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians." Continue reading...

In his address to a joint session of Congress, Trump says he has a message for the people of Greenland. 'We strongly support your right to determine your own future,' he says. 'If you choose we welcome you into the United States of America.'Referring to his goal for the US to take control of Greenland, Trump says: 'I think we're going to get it - one way or the other, we're going to get it ... We will keep you safe. We will make you rich and together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.' Continue reading...

The new administration threatens to undo decades of progress in America, but as North Africa and the Middle East have shown, there is power in female solidarityFrom outside the US looking in, those of us who have experienced the tumultuous years since the Arab revolutions feel a strange sense of familiarity: the chaos of the Trump-Musk administration, the attacks on minority groups, the elevation of men - a number of whom have been accused of violence against women - to cabinet positions.Trump seems to have started his second term with the same ferocity, callousness, violence and ignominy in which his first term so notoriously ended. Amid the shock of the past few weeks, a sense of panic can be immobilising. But that is exactly what such a strategy is designed to do. Continue reading...

The president delivered a falsehood-laden speech, touting successes amid rattled markets and backlash from alliesDonald Trump delivered a divisive, falsehood-laden speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, touting the successes of his first weeks back in office even as his tariff policies have rattled global markets and his criticism of Ukraine has stoked backlash among European allies.Addressing lawmakers for roughly an hour and a half in the longest such speech to a joint session, the president's sweeping proclamations and biting attacks on Joe Biden prompted many Democrats to walk out of the House chamber as Republicans offered Trump one standing ovation after another. Continue reading...

The president's marathon address to a joint session of Congress was littered with false claims he's been corrected on but continued to repeatDonald Trump's marathon address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday was littered with false claims, many of them falsehoods he has previously stated, been corrected on, and continued to repeat regardless. Here are some of the main statements he made that are just not true. Continue reading...

As the world awaits Donald Trump's first key speech to Congress in second term, here are the key US politics stories from Tuesday at a glanceIn Donald Trump's first address to Congress since returning to the White House - and his first major speech in a chilling six weeks in office - the president claimed a mandate justifying his sweeping executive orders, despite having won the popular vote by 1.5 points - the smallest margin for any successful presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1968.Trump's second term has already seen him initiate sweeping mass layoffs of federal employees, and mobilize officers from nearly every federal law enforcement agency and the US military to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations. He has rattled Europe and other American allies with his pursuit of a peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine on terms preferential to Moscow. Continue reading...

Wearing pink and holding signs that read Protect Medicaid' and Musk steals', Democrats protested and heckled as Donald Trump gave an address to Congress laying out his vision for his second term

Mike Johnson orders Texas lawmaker's removal after Green repeatedly interrupted Trump's joint speech to CongressHouse speaker Mike Johnson ordered Texas representative Al Green removed from the House chamber on Tuesday night after the congressman repeatedly interrupted Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday, shouting: He has no mandate."As the president started his speech by discussing his electoral victory, Democrats heckled and booed. When Green refused to sit down, Johnson directed the sergeant-at-arms to remove him. Republican lawmakers responded by chanting Hey Hey Hey Goodbye". Continue reading...

Council rejects Kristin Crowley's bid and backs decision of mayor, who said firing was in best interest of public safetyThe former fire chief in Los Angeles, Kristin Crowley, failed to regain her job on Tuesday after she was ousted by Mayor Karen Bass last month following the most destructive wildfires in the city's history.Crowley made her case to the LA city council on Tuesday for why she believes her firing was unwarranted, to which the council voted 13-2 to reject the proposal and back Bass's decision. Continue reading...

Administration to drop Idaho emergency abortion lawsuit and back South Carolina in Planned Parenthood funds caseThe Trump administration fired off a series of dramatic attacks on abortion rights on Tuesday, as it signaled its plan to to drop out of a case defending access to emergency abortions while asking the US supreme court for permission to join a case against the abortion provider Planned Parenthood.The justice department said it would move to dismiss the case over emergency abortions, which had been originally filed by the Biden administration, according to court papers filed by the largest hospital network in Idaho. The Biden administration had sued Idaho over its near-total abortion ban, which it accused of running afoul of a federal law that protects patients' right to health care in emergencies. Continue reading...

Peter Marocco assigned as head of Inter-American Foundation after White House fires president and CEOThe White House has installed Peter Marocco as head of a small independent international development agency, part of a broader push by Donald Trump and Elon Musk to dramatically reduce US foreign aid.Marocco, a Trump loyalist who presided over the administration's evisceration of foreign aid programs at USAid and the state department, was placed in charge of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) on Friday, after the White House fired the foundation's president and CEO, Sara Aviel, according to a letter sent by the chair of the agency's board of directors and reviewed by the Guardian.Andrew Roth contributed reporting from Washington Continue reading...

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White House adviser's quote included in suit: The AP and the WHCA wanted to f--k around. Now it's finding out time.'The Associated Press amended its complaint against the Trump administration on Monday, including in its epigraph a punchy quote from an anonymous White House adviser: The AP and the White House Correspondents Association wanted to f--k around. Now it's finding out time."The unnamed White House adviser's quote came about during an exchange on 25 February 2025 and was first reported by Axios last week. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president signals willingness to sign US minerals deal as he attempts to rebuild ties after Oval Office clashVolodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed a possible peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying he is willing to work constructively" under Donald Trump's strong leadership" and to sign a deal giving the US access to his country's mineral wealth.In an attempt to mend fences with Washington after Trump abruptly suspended supplies of military aid, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he was ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible". Continue reading...

Carefully curated guests will underscores administration's hard line on transgender and immigrationWhen Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night for the first time in his second term, the make up of the packed crowd will serve as a reminder of political tensions that frame both the administration's and the opposition's most contentious policy arguments.The carefully curated guest list, assembled by the White House and congressional leaders, appears like a roadmap for a competing cultural vision, touching on everything from transgender athletes, immigration and the federal worker purge - each with a story to tell. Continue reading...

Republican Tina Peters of Colorado was sentenced to nine years for her role in voter interference data-breach schemeDonald Trump's justice department said it will review the Colorado conviction of former election clerk Tina Peters, who received a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a voting system data-breach scheme as part of an unsuccessful quest to find voter fraud in 2021.Yaakov Roth, an acting assistant attorney general, wrote in a court filing on Monday that the Department of Justice was reviewing cases across the nation for abuses of the criminal justice process", including Peters'. Continue reading...

Republican Mark Gordon says bill goes too far' despite having signed several anti-abortion laws in past three yearsA bill that would have required women seeking medication abortions to get ultrasounds has been vetoed by Wyoming's Republican governor, who questioned whether it was reasonable and necessary especially for victims of rape and incest.Mandating this intimate, personally invasive, and often medically unnecessary procedure goes too far," Mark Gordon wrote in a letter explaining his veto late on Monday. Continue reading...

Education secretary Linda McMahon's plan to eliminate department will hurt disadvantaged children, staff sayIn a message to employees on Monday, the newly confirmed secretary of education, Linda McMahon, a billionaire ex-wrestling executive, laid out the final mission" for the department as Donald Trump threatens to dismantle the agency.My vision is aligned with the president's: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children," wrote McMahon, a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the professional wrestling organisation. This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students." Continue reading...

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to undo the damage of the Oval Office confrontation, the question is not just how far but how fast the Trump administration movesHow long do Ukraine and Europe have to respond to USbetrayal? When Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago, each day that Kyiv held out was a victory. The west rallied to Ukraine's support at equally remarkable speed.Now, as the Trump administration turns upon the victim, and embraces the aggressor, Europe is accelerating nascent plans to bolster Ukraine and pursue security independence. Trump allies blame Friday night's extraordinary Oval Office confrontation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and JDVance for the shocking halt to all US military aid. Others suspect that the administration was seeking a pretext for the suspension. Mr Zelenskyy pledged on Tuesday to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts" and expressed gratitude for his first-term approval of Javelin missile defence systems sales.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...

US president also claims he will imprison agitators' a day after administration called for review at Columbia UniversityDonald Trump threatened on Tuesday to halt all federal funding for any college or school that allows illegal protests" and vowed to imprison agitators".All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests," the US president wrote on Truth Social. Continue reading...

Project Jes' targeted high-level figures including George Osborne and Mervyn King, emails suggestJeffrey Epstein deployed a consultant to push for Jes Staley to become Barclays' chief executive in 2012, a court was told on Tuesday, with the ultimately failed campaign - called Project Jes" - having targeted high-profile figures including the chancellor George Osborne and the Bank of England governor Mervyn King.The campaign's efforts were detailed as part of a landmark legal case launched by Staley against the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Staley is trying to overturn its 2023 decision to ban him from taking senior roles in the UK's financial sector for having allegedly misled the regulator over the depth of his relationship with the convicted sex offender Epstein. Continue reading...

Donald Trump's picks for top posts in his administration have tested the loyalty of Senate RepublicansSenate confirmation hearings are under way for Donald Trump's cabinet nominations.All cabinet-level positions require a majority vote of senators to be approved. With a current 53-seat Republican majority, Trump's more fraught nominees can only afford to lose three Republican senators, assuming Democrats are uniformly opposed. Continue reading...

A diet high in fibre from different food sources is far more effective for maintaining a healthy gut than supplements and online fads, experts sayThe emerging evidence of how our gut microbiomes influence our overall health has seen a surge in interest in how to achieve a healthy gut.Perhaps nowhere is that interest more manifest than TikTok's obsession - the hashtags #guttok and #guthealth show endless videos of influencers promising ways you can eliminate bloating!" or heal your gut". Continue reading...

Peter Navarro claims aluminium makers in Australia are undermining the US. Are they really?

Trump's levies won't bring factories home. But combined with infrastructure investment, protectionism can be a progressive boonIn the run-up to the 2024 election, a lot of people were ringing alarms about Donald Trump's tariffs. Kamala Harris called Trump's policies a tax on the American people" and warned of sky-high prices. According to the Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, they are very bad for America and for the world". His fellow Nobel laureate Paul Krugman called them small, ugly, and stupid" (seemingly unaware that he was invoking that joke in Annie Hall about the food being bad and the portions too small). More recently, the whirlwind tariff drama of the past two months - first a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada, then a 30-day pause" on that policy, a plan to raise tariffs on steel, aluminum and agricultural goods, plus an across the board tariff hike on China - has generated yet more frenzied debate about the danger of tariffs.Observers aren't wrong to criticize the US president's policies. His proposed tariffs seem unlikely to improve what ails the US economy. Worse, applying tariffs as broadly as he's proposed, and without any supplementary industrial strategy, does risk needlessly raising prices while acting like a big corporate giveaway. Yet, despite what elite economists say, tariffs can be sound, and progressive, economic policy. Continue reading...

James Dennehy, who had vowed to dig in', says he was told to leave or be fired but was not given a reasonThe FBI's top official in New York was forced out on Monday, just weeks after he vowed to dig in" and resist the Trump administration's purge of agents who investigated the January 6 assault on the Capitol.In an email to staff on Monday, James Dennehy confirmed that he had been ordered to leave - or be fired, according to sources interviewed by NBC News. Continue reading...