President’s tariffs are being scrutinized in crucial legal test of plan to impose duties on nearly every US trading partner
Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on the world are being scrutinized by the US supreme court today, a crucial legal test of the president’s controversial economic strategy – and his power.
Justices started to hear oral arguments this morning on the legality of using emergency powers to impose tariffs on almost every US trading partner.
Continue reading...Pentagon secretary says two people killed in attack on boat in eastern Pacific, bringing total killed to 66 in 16 strikes
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth announced yet another deadly strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, coming the same day an aircraft carrier began heading to the region in a new expansion of military firepower.
The attack Tuesday killed two people aboard the vessel, Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign in South American waters up to at least 66 people in at least 16 strikes.
Continue reading...Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said the deal amounted to ‘handing over’ the country’s independence
Malaysia’s government has been forced to defend its new trade deal with the US after opposition politicians, analysts and civil society groups warned that the deal was “one-sided” and could compromise the country’s sovereignty.
Investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz has called the trade deal “the best possible outcome for Malaysia.”
Continue reading...Though their neoconservative vision may seem less relevant since Bush left office, signs of the Cheneys’ influence linger in Trump’s administration
Weeks before one of America’s best-known businessmen, Donald Trump, was sworn in as president on an overcast day in Washington DC, a different politician with a similarly familiar name took her oath of office elsewhere in the Capitol.
Liz Cheney was then both a freshman congresswoman from Wyoming and a stalwart of the neoconservative philosophy espoused by her father Dick Cheney, the former vice-president under George W Bush who died on Monday. Trump had repudiated Bush’s invasion of Iraq in his campaign for president, but the congresswoman nonetheless went on to become an ally in bending Republican lawmakers to his will.
Continue reading...President says she’s repeatedly rejected such offers from Trump for US to confront Mexico’s powerful drug cartels
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has flatly denied reports that the United States is planning to send troops into Mexico to confront the country’s powerful cartels, noting that she had repeatedly rejected such offers from Donald Trump.
“It’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said during her daily morning news conference on Tuesday. “We do not agree with any process of interference or interventionism.”
Continue reading...Democratic leaders decry ‘unbelievably cruel’ move, saying ‘Trump is using food as a weapon’ during shutdown
Senate Republicans shot down a Democratic-led attempt to fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits on Monday during the government shutdown – a move that heightens uncertainty for the 42 million Americans participating in the country’s biggest anti-hunger program.
Jeff Merkley, a Democratic senator, and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, attempted to pass a resolution via unanimous consent that would have forced the Department of Agriculture to fund Snap benefits for the month of November.
Continue reading...Kleenex maker’s deal for troubled Johnson & Johnson spinoff comes amid lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny
Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark said on Monday it will buy Kenvue for more than $40bn in a landmark deal for the consumer sector, as the Tylenol maker grapples with White House scrutiny and choppy demand.
Kimberly-Clark would be scooping up the former Johnson & Johnson unit after months of struggles by Kenvue that include the ouster of its CEO in July and a share slump when Donald Trump in September asserted that Tylenol use can lead to autism, a claim not backed by conclusive research.
Continue reading...Patel reportedly became furious after stories revealed he flew to visit girlfriend and fired official who oversees fleet
A top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.
Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI’s critical incident response group which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency’s fleet of jets. He was the third head of the unit to be dismissed since Patel became the second Trump administration’s FBI director in February.
Continue reading...Federal judge rules proof-of-citizenship directive an unconstitutional violation of separation of powers
Donald Trump’s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington DC, sided with Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration over his executive order to overhaul US elections.
Continue reading...Request to Fulton county underscores determination to revive president’s falsehoods about election he lost
The justice department on Thursday asked election officials in Fulton county, Georgia, to turn over records related to the 2020 election, a request that underscores how the administration is trying to revive one of the president’s biggest falsehoods about the election he lost five years ago.
Investigators have cleared Fulton county of malfeasance in 2020. Nonetheless, a Republican majority on the board voted to reopen the investigation last year. On the night of the 2024 presidential election, the board voted to subpoena a slew of documents. This summer, the board passed a resolution asking the justice department to intervene and help them get the documents. The subpoenas issued last year seek records related to voter lists, chain of custody forms, ballot images, security seals and ballot scanner paperwork.
Continue reading...One judge issued temporary restraining order while another judge ruled the government must continue to fund program that helps low-income households
Two federal judges issued back-to-back rulings on Friday in separate cases ordering the Trump administration to use contingency funds to continue paying for food stamps during the government shutdown.
A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday afternoon blocked the Trump administration from suspending all food aid for millions of Americans, in a case brought by a group of US cities, non-profit organizations and a trade union.
Continue reading...New analysis prompts letter to Trump from Elizabeth Warren: ‘Your administration has no answers for families hit by high energy costs’
Donald Trump promised to slash US electricity bills, but they have increased by 11% since he retook the White House, new data shows.
Democratic lawmakers highlighted the figures in a letter sent to Trump on Friday. “Your administration has no explanations for its failures and no answers for American families that are hit hard by high energy costs, and it continues to actively pursue policies to make this cost crisis worse,” reads the missive, led by Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator.
Continue reading...Decision to stay away from Cop30 meeting in Brazil underscores administration’s hostility to climate action
The Trump administration has confirmed that no high-level representatives will be sent by the US to upcoming UN climate talks in Brazil, underscoring the administration’s hostile stance towards action on the climate crisis.
The US has always sent delegations of various sizes to UN climate summits over the past three decades, even during periods under George W Bush and Donald Trump’s first term where there was scant desire to address the global heating crisis.
Continue reading...Majed al-Ansari calls for international force to be set up urgently to pave way for Israeli withdrawal
Gaza risks sliding towards a deadly limbo where a ceasefire is nominally in place but killing continues, a top Qatari diplomat has warned, calling for rapid progress in setting up the international security force and administration to pave the way for full Israeli withdrawal.
“We don’t want to reach a situation of no war, no peace,” said Majed al-Ansari, adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the foreign ministry.
Continue reading...Survey, in which one-third respondents voted for the president, found 56% disagree with move
More than half of Americans disapprove of Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing and the construction of a new ballroom, according to a new poll from the Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos.
The survey was conducted between 24 and 28 October and indicates 56% of the respondents disagree with Trump’s recent move while 28% are in favor of it. Most of the survey’s respondents were white, one-third of them voted for Donald Trump and another third for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Continue reading...RFA will begin closing overseas bureaus, as well as laying off and paying severance to staff members, with the hope that it could return in the future
Radio Free Asia (RFA) has said it is suspending its news operations due to the US government shutdown and the Trump administration’s cuts to government-funded news services.
“RFA has been forced to suspend all remaining news content production – for the first time in its 29 years of existence,” said Bay Fang, RFA’s president and CEO, in a statement.
Continue reading...Shooting at vehicle in Ontario comes as Trump officials attempt to step up deportation operations across US
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were involved in a shooting in southern California on Thursday, prompting a federal investigation.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that ICE officers were conducting a vehicle stop in Ontario when another driver, who was not the target, approached. Officers ordered the driver to leave the area, according to the statement.
Continue reading...Federal agency also estimates country’s GDP will reduce by one to two percentage points over shrinking demand
The US is set to lose between $7bn and $14bn as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown, according to the congressional budget office.
On Wednesday, the nonpartisan federal agency released its estimates in a new report to the House budget committee as the government shutdown reaches four weeks.
Continue reading...Army says 2nd Infantry Brigade combat team of 101st Airborne to redeploy to Kentucky ‘without replacement’
The US military is reducing the number of troops it has stationed in Romania, scaling back Nato’s deployment to countries along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine, US and Romanian officials have announced.
In a statement on Wednesday, the US army said that the 2nd Infantry Brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne division would redeploy to its home-based unit in Kentucky “without replacement” as part of a plan to “ensure a balanced US military force posture”.
Continue reading...Federal judge gives orders to Gregory Bovino in exceptional bid to impose oversight over Trump officials’ raids in city
A federal judge has ordered Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, to appear in federal court each weekday to report on the day’s incidents in an exceptional bid to impose oversight over the government’s militarized raids in the city.
The order came following a terse hearing on Tuesday morning.
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