Trump asks Smithsonian to install ‘Colossus statue’ of George Washington with exhibit

Trump, again trying to curate museum, says exhibit would stay until 2032 for 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth

Donald Trump asked the Smithsonian Institution to install a 30ft “Colossus statue” of George Washington outside the National Museum of American History, and a special exhibit honoring the nation’s first president, in a social media post late on Friday.

The president requested that the exhibit continue through February 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth.

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CIA releases dozens of presidential daily briefs on Bin Laden and al-Qaida from before 9/11

The presidential briefing documents were declassified on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks

Several dozen presidential briefing documents declassified on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, detail intelligence that government officials had gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida leading up to the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and upended American national security.

The documents illustrate security analysts’ tracking of Bin Laden’s movements and support system, as well as concerns about possible threats to US targets. They also detail officials’ understanding of his network in the United States and other countries, including how his operations were financed.

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US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to restrict mail-in voting before midterms

Court declined to ⁠put on hold ⁠injunction preventing the USPS from tightening rules around postal voting

A US appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting before November’s high-stakes midterm elections, dealing a fresh blow to the president’s attempted crackdown.

The Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals declined on Thursday to ⁠put on hold an ⁠injunction issued by a ​lower court judge last week, preventing the US Postal Service (USPS) from tightening rules around postal voting.

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Tens of millions of people fail to get humanitarian aid as global system crumbles

Funding cuts in 2025 left women, children, older and displaced people hard hit, with 64m fewer people receiving aid

The humanitarian aid system is crumbling as funding shrinks, pressures increase and governments not only fail to protect civilians but are increasingly responsible for endangering them, a new report warned on Thursday as figures revealed 64 million fewer people received aid last year.

With aid contributions cut by 30% between 2022 and 2025 and thousands of aid workers losing their jobs, the humanitarian system has suffered one of its biggest contractions since being formed in the post-second world war era, according to the State of the Humanitarian System 2026 report.

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Notorious Ecuadorian crime gang designated a terrorist group by US

Trump administration to seek extra funding from Congress to ‘dismantle’ Los Tiguerones over narcotics trafficking

The US has designated Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang, which stormed a television station during a live broadcast in 2024, as a terrorist organisation as the Trump administration expands its campaign against narcotics traffickers it says are destabilising Latin America.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made the announcement in Quito, where he met Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa, one of several rightwing allies of Donald Trump whom Rubio is courting as a security partner during a three-nation tour through Latin America that began on Tuesday.

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Trump gave $45,000 to Natalie Harp and other White House aides as holiday gifts

The president’s substantial holiday gifts to four White House aides were made public via financial disclosures released by the administration

Donald Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration, including $45,000 to executive assistant Natalie Harp.

Communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris also received $45,000, while director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta received a $20,000 gift.

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US bans Canadian dairy, alcohol and motorcycles as trade war escalates

Trump responds after Canada imposes $20bn in retaliatory tariffs and Canadian PM vows to diversify trade abroad

The US is banning dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles from Canada, the White House said on Tuesday, as the trade war between the two neighbors and longtime allies escalates.

The ban will take effect in three weeks and comes after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20bn in US imports earlier on Tuesday.

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Smithsonian Institution secretary to retire amid Trump attacks on museum independence

‘I have to be honest, it has been stressful,’ Lonnie Bunch III says

The Smithsonian Institution’s secretary, Lonnie Bunch III, will retire at the end of the year amid Donald Trump’s attacks on the museum’s content and independence.

Bunch, who was appointed in 2019 as the first African American to lead the museums, cited personal reasons for departing, while acknowledging the pressure that the president’s attacks on the Smithsonian’s depictions of US history had taken.

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Trump renames places and poses as superhero in bizarre social media blitz

Trump passed the long weekend posting a torrent of memes and musings on his Truth Social platform

The long weekend may have proved too long for Donald Trump, who passed the time by musing about annexing other countries, unilaterally renaming places he’s not allowed to rename and turning himself into a superhero.

Amid the torrent of memes and posts by the president on his Truth Social platform over the Labor Day holiday weekend was a bizarre AI-generated video depicting Trump as the Green Lantern DC superhero, wielding a glowing green power ring to erect his border wall, illuminate an “American manufacturing” scene, and command a fleet of warplanes and warships behind him.

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‘Nakedly political’: US attempts to link trans support to authoritarianism in new health department report

HHS releases report linking ‘gender ideology’ to political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a report linking “gender ideology” to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted and “nakedly political”, likely leading to greater politicization of science and health.

It follows attempts by the administration to limit access to gender-affirming care – including, on Friday, an agreement reached between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care. Dozens of hospitals stopped offering gender-affirming care after the Trump administration began investigating them for offering the standard of care.

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Energy secretary says US might not reach nuclear agreement with Iran

Chris Wright tells ABC there ‘may not’ be an agreement that would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons

US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday morning that the US may not be able to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran that would prevent the country from having nuclear weapons.

Asked on ABC on Sunday morning about any sign of such a deal, as negotiations appear stalled and the US-Israel war on Iran continues, Wright said: “There may not be a nuclear agreement.”

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Falling ceiling debris at Kennedy Center may mire debate over renovations

Preservationists worry board may seize on incident ‘to make the point that the whole thing needs to be shut down’

Falling debris from a ceiling in the grand foyer of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts may have complicated a battle over renovations of the Washington DC arts center that could result in the building being demolished.

A portion of the ceiling collapsed on Friday evening after heavy rain swept through the area, prompting officials to temporarily close the Edward Durell Stone-designed building. No one was injured by the debris.

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Trump’s pique with UK could lead to favor to acolyte Milei over Falklands

US president suggests he might support his Argentinian ally’s drive to reclaim sovereignty of disputed islands

Donald Trump has long embraced vengeance. “I am your retribution,” he declared to an admiring audience at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as he commenced his march back to the White House.

It is unlikely Argentina, and far-flung holdovers of the former British empire, were on the US president’s mind at the time.

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Trump’s ex-labor secretary drank on job and created ‘toxic’ work environment, report alleges

Labor department report alleges Lori Chavez-DeRemer also made a staffer attend a strip club while on a personal trip

Donald Trump’s former secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, drank during working hours, kept alcohol on federal property and made a staffer attend a strip club while on a personal trip, according to a new report by the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General .

Chavez-DeRemer was appointed by Trump to serve as labor secretary in January 2025 and resigned in April 2026 amid the misconduct allegations.

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Trump names Adam Telle as acting army secretary following departure of Dan Driscoll

Telle has previously worked for Trump during his first term as a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs

Donald Trump on Thursday named Adam Telle as the acting army secretary after the departure of Daniel Driscoll amid widespread reports of tensions with defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

Telle is currently the assistant secretary of the army for civil works.

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Dutch central bank moves 86 tonnes of gold to UK from US and Canada, citing ‘geopolitical unrest’

Bank says gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily and the move will allow it to respond more rapidly in a ‘crisis situation’

The Dutch central bank says it has moved 86 tonnes of its gold reserves out of the US and Canada to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest”.

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) said gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily than those held in New York and Ottawa.

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Apple Maps renames Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ for US users after Trump order

Tech company submits to controversial Trump order to rename body of water amid US trade spat with Canada

Apple has renamed Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for US users of its Maps app, after an executive order from Donald Trump to change the name of the Great Lake amid his trade spat with Canada.

The Apple Maps app now displays the controversial new name for the lake, which sits between New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario, for users in the US. Apple users outside the country will still see the Lake Ontario name.

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Trump ally defends Venezuela oil deal amid ‘gunpoint diplomacy’ criticism

Energy secretary Chris Wright denies US seeks to ‘take’ country’s oil, saying deal is transformation of relations

The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has denied Washington is seeking to commandeer huge quantities of Venezuelan oil, amid growing criticism of Donald Trump’s energy deal with the country’s interim leaders.

“Absolutely not,” Wright replied when asked by a CNBC journalist if the US was engaged in a “heavy-handed” attempt to “take” Venezuelan oil in violation of the South American country’s constitution.

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Trump nominates loyalist Hung Cao to be permanent navy secretary

Acting secretary picked for top role as critics accuse president of overworking sailors during war with Iran

Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is nominating acting navy secretary Hung Cao for the permanent job, giving the navy combat veteran the nod as concerns have emerged that some sailors have been stretched to the limit during the Iran war.

Cao has been serving as acting navy secretary since John Phelan departed the job unexpectedly and without explanation in late April.

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US officials defend Venezuela oil deal amid questions over rebuilding plan

Government talks up pact but Venezuelan opposition alarmed that democracy yet to return after Maduro exit

Trump administration officials on Tuesday defended a highly contentious deal giving the US control of a significant chunk of Venezuelan oil reserves, arguing that the sweeping agreement would help stabilize and rebuild democracy in the shattered South American country while giving Washington vital access to strategic crude reserves.

Last week, Donald Trump announced a “groundbreaking” deal that would give the US “majority” control over 65bn barrels – roughly one-fifth – of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

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