Senior figures have reservations over agreement to cede sovereignty over islands to Mauritius, Labour sources saySenior Downing Street figures have concerns about the government's deal to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, Labour sources have told the Guardian.Ministers are under fire over an agreement to hand control of the islands, including Diego Garcia, which houses a joint US-UK airbase, to Mauritius. Under the terms of the deal, the base would remain under UK control on a 99-year lease. Continue reading...
The US's former allies must not normalise or legitimise the president's lawless concept of international deal-makingNothing about Donald Trump's notion that Gaza should come under US control makes sense according to established laws and norms of international relations. But the current White House regime despises the old way of doing things and intends to reshape the world so drastically that restoration of a pre-Trumpian order will be impossible.The absurd incoherence of Mr Trump's proposal that the US take over" Gaza doesn't make it any less sinister. The requirement that 2.2 million Palestinians be forcibly resettled in neighbouring Arab states amounts to unambiguous endorsement of a criminal atrocity - ethnic cleansing. Continue reading...
Lawsuit claims Trump's orders violate the constitution and cause confusion and disruptions on college campusesHigher education groups, including college professors and university diversity officers, are suing the Trump administration over its executive orders eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions in government and the president's threats to suspend funding to institutions because of their DEI policies.Education officers and organizations are teaming up with non-profits and local governments to challenge the executive orders. The basis of the lawsuit filed on Monday is the stance that Trump's orders violate the US constitution. Continue reading...
Gwynne Wilcox says her dismissal from National Labor Relations Board was blatant violation' of lawA former member of the top US labor watchdog has sued Donald Trump over her firing last week, describing it as an unprecedented and illegal" attempt to strip the agency of its independence.Gwynne Wilcox said her removal from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was a blatant violation" of the National Labor Relations Act in a lawsuit against the president and Marvin Kaplan, whom Trump installed to chair the watchdog. Continue reading...
Plane departed Texas and landed in Amritsar as Washington prepares to welcome Indian PM Narendra ModiA US military plane carrying 104 deported people has landed in India as part of the Trump administration's policy of deploying the armed forces to enforce its trumpeted mass deportation programme.The migrants, the first to be flown to India by military aircraft, were sent on a C-17 aircraft from San Antonio in Texas to the northern Indian city of Amritsar. Continue reading...
One person was killed and five injured in what police call a targeted type of attack' near ColumbusAuthorities in Ohio on Wednesday arrested a suspect they said killed at least one person and injured five others during a shooting on Tuesday night at a warehouse in a Columbus suburb.New Albany police said Bruce Reginald Foster was detained when officers executed a search warrant at a residence in the Weinland Park neighborhood of the city at about 10am. The police chief, Greg Jones, said Foster was a worker at the cosmetics warehouse. Continue reading...
Neil Jacobs was acting Noaa chief and came under fire after Trump altered a projected hurricane impact map in 2019Donald Trump has nominated Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, turning to the man who was his acting Noaa chief in 2019 when Trump altered an expected hurricane impact map in what became known as the Sharpiegate" scandal.After Alabama meteorologists had contradicted an earlier Trump tweet warning of the state being in a storm's path, the Jacobs-led agency chastised them. That eventually drew criticism of Jacobs and his political higher-ups in a Department of Commerce inspector general's report on Sharpiegate. Continue reading...
Europe's biggest firm, whose sales of Wegovy almost doubled, feels it can meet demands' of US administrationEurope's biggest company, Novo Nordisk, has rebuffed fears of a hit to its business from Donald Trump's threatened tariffs as sales of its weight-loss drug Wegovy almost doubled.Since the US president took office, he has imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada - since paused for a month - and China, and has said levies of imports from the EU will definitely happen". Continue reading...
'We remain here, even if it means living on the rubble of our homes,' said one Palestinian in Rafah, as Gaza residents condemned Trump's proposal for the US to take long-term ownership of the strip.
A court has allowed one of state's largest centers to resume operations, weeks after reports Ice wants to build new onesAs the Trump administration scrambles for space to hold detained immigrants, California - the country's largest sanctuary state - is in the crosshairs.Last week, a court ruling allowed one of the state's largest detention centers to resume holding immigrants, reversing a pandemic-era decision that reduced its population to just two people. That ruling came weeks after reports emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was seeking to establish a new facility in northern California, even as allegations of abuse at the privately run sites continue to accumulate. Continue reading...
The president's appalling threat to seize Gaza and drive out its people imperils global stability, even if he never deploys a single US soldierThe comments were brazen, swaggering, jaw-dropping, audacious, and, to many, simply outrageous. Stupefaction mondiale" was how the French paper Liberation responded on Wednesday morning. The sober-sided New York Times contented itself with improbable". A US senator gave voice to what will surely become a drumbeat charge across the Middle East and beyond in the hours and days to come, that what Donald Trump had said about Gaza amounted to ethnic cleansing by another name".On Tuesday, at the end of his White House meeting with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump declared that the US should seize control of the Gaza Strip and permanently remove its 2.2 million Palestinian inhabitants to resettlement in places such as Egypt and Jordan. The US would own it and be responsible", said Trump. We'll take it over and develop it," he added. There would be unlimited numbers of jobs and housing" for the people of the area" - though which people they would be was not specified. Gaza would be turned into the Riviera of the Middle East". Continue reading...
The Maga kingpin has only been president for a couple of weeks, but the chaos he has unleashed is already much worse than I thought it could be. I'm genuinely frightenedThe day after Donald Trump won the election, everyone in my liberal corner of Philadelphia seemed shell-shocked. At preschool drop-off, a mom burst into tears. At the playground, a gay parent I know told me that they were aggressively downsizing in case they had to flee the country. Meanwhile, I felt oddly sanguine and thought people were being a tad dramatic. I rolled my eyes about Ellen DeGeneres relocating to England. I was optimistic that Trump 2.0, while horrific, wouldn't actually be the end of US democracy.This was an unusual attitude for me, because catastrophising is one of my main pastimes. I spent about 10 minutes this morning staring at a red dot that has appeared on my nose, wondering if it meant I was dying. But when Trump won the election, I was already too emotionally drained from a year of watching Joe Biden help turnGaza into an unliveable hellscape to worry about things gettingeven worse. Continue reading...
Kim Caldwell was back on the sideline days after childbirth. But experts say the decision of when to return to work is a personal oneTennessee's women's basketball head coach Kim Caldwell didn't manage to beat South Carolina on 27 January (but truly: who can?). But she did manage to surprise a lot of people by choosing to return to the sidelines just a week after giving birth to her first child (and after having battled the flu at the same time).Caldwell, who is in her first year of coaching the Lady Vols, told reporters she would be back for the game in a press conference the day before. She had missed the team's 23 January game against Texas, something she said was not great." Continue reading...
Questions linger for director of counterintelligence nominee, Joe Kent, over ties to white nationalists and employment with shadowy military contractorDonald Trump's pick for the head of US counterintelligence has advocated for the FBI to surveil antifa" groups, and has lingering questions over millions of dollars in campaign finances, his employment with a shadowy military contractor and links to far-right figures.Joe Kent, twice an unsuccessful congressional candidate in south-west Washington state and a former Green Beret and CIA operative, has also been criticized for his proximity to white nationalist activists such as Nick Fuentes, and for the revolving cast of far-right activists his campaigns employed. Continue reading...
This moral failure and sends a clear message - the government prioritizes deterrence over dignity and cruelty over compassionIn a move that has reignited outrage, the president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay, aiming to detain up to 30,000 immigrants labeled as high-priority criminal aliens". For many, including myself, this decision is a painful reminder of the facility's dark history - a history marked by torture, indefinite detention and systemic dehumanization.Guantanamo Bay, a name synonymous with human rights abuses, was first repurposed in 2002 under then president George W Bush and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a detention center for individuals branded as the worst of the worst". I was among those detainees - abducted, shackled and transported like cargo, blindfolded and unaware of my fate. The memories of roaring military planes, soldiers barking orders and the growls of attack dogs still haunt me.Mansoor Adayfi is the author of Don't Forget Us Here Continue reading...
Kansas City have all the ingredients needed for bad guys: victories, dubious calls and unlikable players. But they're also exactly what sports needThe term Chiefs fatigue, already in heavy use throughout the season, has only become more common the closer we get to Sunday's Super Bowl. The team's pursuit of a three-peat with a quarterback on pace to break all sorts of records for some reason doesn't do it for most people outside Kansas City.That so many teams (ahem, the Bills) have come so close to unseating the Chiefs only to head home in despair, means frustration and anger is naturally directed at the winner. But is it really fair to cast Kansas City as the NFL's leading villain? Continue reading...
The LSU star and one of America's most media-savvy athletes drew criticism for her call for more maximum scores. But she promises she has the sport's best interests at heartLivvy Dunne is worried about the future of women's college gymnastics. The NIL powerhouse, who has scored major brand deals with Vuori and American Eagle, among others, has started her final season with the national champion LSU Tigers. But she's made the biggest splash in this young season on social media by posting on X over her concerns over the popularity of gymnastics.I'm sitting here watching NCAA gymnastics and the empty seats are concerning," she wrote in a note on X last week. If you want fans to enjoy the sport and increase viewership, you have to look at what makes the crowds go crazy! People understand what a perfect 10 is and want people who do things that look great to be rewarded." Continue reading...
Nothing prepared me for the reality of mothering without my extended family to help. How have western women managed like this for so long?I hear the baby crying in my sleep. My mother hands him to me. I sit up to breastfeed without opening my eyes then I hand him back. I know that when I am ready to get out of bed, there will be fruits and katogo, a meal of plantain mixed with all the fatty meat cuts my mother could lay her hands on, waiting for me. Or I could choose to have porridge. It is sacrilege to have a nakawere (new mother) in the house and not have a flask of hot porridge available for her all day. Nakawere ... the syllables are pronounced slowly, and the word must roll off your tongue with awe at the woman who just went through the remarkable ordeal of bringing life.Replaying my new mum experience became my favourite pastime when I moved from Uganda to Switzerland in May last year. I moved with my husband and two children, aged six and 12, because I found my dream job in health advocacy. I was not ready for the parenting nightmare that came with it. While I had lived in Europe before, including in the UK in my 20s, I had never had to live outside Uganda with my family. Nothing prepared me for the reality of mothering without the extended family to help take care of you, and the nonchalance with which the western world treats mothers. Continue reading...
With Trump back in the White House, politicians on both sides of the Channel need to acknowledge the urgency of closer tiesFive years since leaving the European Union, Britain is still negotiating Brexit. This time next year, Britain will still be negotiating Brexit. And for every foreseeable year after that.That isn't a comment on the scope of the reset" in relations that Starmer outlined at a Brussels summit this week. It is a statement of fact that Britain is tethered to the EU by forces of geography, economics and geopolitics, and those factors didn't cease to exist when membership of the club was terminated. And since the European project is always evolving in response to global events, Britain will also continually seek adjustment to the terms of the relationship.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The Central Intelligence Agency offered buyouts on Tuesday, citing aim to bring agency in line with Trump priorities, US media reportThe Central Intelligence Agency offered buyouts to its entire workforce on Tuesday, citing an aim to bring the agency in line with Donald Trump's priorities, the Wall Street Journal and CNN have reported.The US spy agency is also freezing the hiring of job applicants already given a conditional offer, the WSJ reported, quoting an aide to CIA director John Ratcliffe. Continue reading...
Denied access to the Treasury Department, a contingent of Democratic lawmakers rallied in Washington, denouncing what they called Elon Musk's 'unfettered' access to its payment system. A department official said the Treasury Department has given Musk's group 'read only' access to its payment systems
by Helen Sullivan (now and earlier); Robert Mackey, C on (#6V1D6)
This live coverage has ended. You can find the latest US news here.As the clock nears midnight in Washington DC, signalling the beginning of Trump's tariffs on China's imports, here is a look at how China might respond, via AFP:From retaliatory tariffs on US goods like car parts and soya beans to controls on raw minerals essential for American manufacturing - analysts say China has plenty of options if it wants to reply to fresh US levies.9:00 AM In-Town Pool Call Time
Agency staffers overseas - except those deemed essential - placed on leave as diplomats' union plans legal actionThe Trump administration is placing US Agency for International Development direct-hire staffers around the world on leave, except those deemed essential.A notice posted online on Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home, upending the aid agency's six-decade mission overseas. Continue reading...
After calling for the permanent resettlement' of all Palestinians from Gaza earlier in the day, Trump said the US would 'take over' and 'own' the Gaza Strip. The US president said he envisioned 'long-term' US ownership of Gaza after Palestinians were moved elsewhere
Bondi approved 54-46 as staunch political ally of president propelled to top perch of US law enforcementThe US Senate confirmed Pam Bondi on Tuesday as the next attorney general to steer the justice department through Donald Trump's second term and his clear intent to turn it into an extension of his executive power, especially as a cudgel against his personal and political adversaries.The 54 to 46 vote to confirm Bondi was largely across party lines. All Republicans voted to confirm and all but one Democratic senator, John Fetterman, voted against. Continue reading...
Trump ally, whose team has reportedly gained access to sensitive data, accused of desecrating our constitution'Hundreds of protesters and a contingent of Democratic lawmakers rallied outside the Department of the Treasury in Washington on Tuesday, denouncing what they called Elon Musk's hostile takeover" of federal financial systems, as demonstrations spilled on to, and took over, the street outside the building.The protests targeted reports of the department of government efficiency" (Doge) team's reported access to sensitive government financial data, including information related to social security payments, Medicare reimbursements, and tax refunds - systems that process trillions of dollars in annual transactions. Continue reading...
Crews continue working to recover parts of aircraft from Potomac River after collision between helicopter and jetThe remains of all 67 victims of last week's midair collision of an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter near Washington DC have been recovered, authorities said on Tuesday.The chief medical examiner is still trying to positively identify one set of remains, officials said in a news release. Continue reading...
Human rights groups alarmed as Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, meets with Nayib Bukele during overseas tripEl Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, has offered to accept deportees from the US of any nationality and hold them in his jails, including dangerous American criminals", Marco Rubio said on Monday.The US secretary of state, who this week made his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat, visited El Salvador on Monday as part of a wider trip through Central America and the Caribbean. Continue reading...
After 20-month pregnancy, Rose-Tu gives smoothest birth' with baby standing up on her own within 15 minutes'The Oregon zoo in Portland has welcomed its newest addition, a baby elephant.Thirty-year-old Asian elephant Rose-Tu gave birth on Saturday after 20 months of pregnancy, the zoo said in a news release. The calf appeared to be a 200lb (90kg) female, but zoo staff are giving the pair time to bond before conducting a first checkup to confirm weight and sex. Continue reading...
Democratic governor Kathy Hochul signs law permitting doctors to leave names off prescriptions for abortion pillsNew York state moved to increase protections for abortion providers who mail pills out of state, days after a Louisiana grand jury indicted a New York doctor for allegedly doing just that.New York's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, on Monday signed into law a bill that permits doctors to request that their names be left off prescriptions for abortion pills. Instead, they can use the names of their medical practices. Continue reading...
Press secretary says at least two deportation flights to Cuban base of undocumented immigrants under way'The Trump administration has begun flying undocumented migrants from the US to a military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday.Leavitt told Fox Business Network that at least two deportation flights were under way", but gave no further details. Continue reading...
Germany's Olaf Scholz criticises Trump's transactional foreign policy as very selfish, very self-centred'Ukraine is open to investment" from allies as long as they help it fight Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, after Donald Trump demanded Kyiv supply the US with rare earth resources - critical elements used in electronics - in exchange for military aid.The US president's proposal has been criticised as exploiting Russia's invasion for material gain, with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, calling the plan selfish". However, Ukrainian media reported that the idea may have originated in Kyiv as an incentive to keep weapon shipments flowing into the country. Continue reading...
The point is the show the world - not just Canada and Mexico - that he's willing to mete out big punishmentsTrump has struck last-minute deals with the leaders of Mexico and Canada to postpone for 30 days hefty tariffs on goods they export to the United States, temporarily averting a damaging trade war.Over the next month, Mexico and Canada will negotiate with Trump.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...
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