Tehran believes it should control the shipping route but its neighbour has its own plans for reopening it
The strait of Hormuz is Iran’s chief bargaining tool in the negotiations with the US and so it was always likely to be the greatest point of contention. Every inch of the 24-mile-wide waterway is being contested in a test of wills and patience.
For Iran, the continuation of the dispute is not a problem so long as it does not lose control.
Continue reading...Markwayne Mullin’s remarks come after controversial supreme court ruling to strip TPS from over 350,000 people
Migrants in the US on temporary protected status should seek permanent residence or leave, Markwayne Mullin, Homeland Security secretary, said in the wake of last week’s supreme court decision that stripped humanitarian protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
The remarks to CNN’s State of the Union program comes after a decision that could allow Donald Trump’s administration to deport Haitian and Syrian immigrants to home countries plagued by conflict and destitution.
Continue reading...Out-going Louisiana senator’s rebuke over Iran war is rare instance of a Republican politician standing up to Trump
Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator from Louisiana who is being ousted from his position after Donald Trump successfully backed a challenger in May’s primary, has accused the US president of treating Congress as “merely an appendage” in his handling of the Iran war.
In an interview on Sunday with CBS News’s Face the Nation, the out-going Cassidy explained his recent face-to-face row with Trump over the president’s failure to brief Congress on the prosecution of the hostilities with Tehran. In a fleetingly rare instance of a Republican politician directly standing up to Trump, Cassidy let rip at a Capitol Hill lunch over the senator’s support for a war powers resolution that was a symbolic rebuke to the White House.
Continue reading...Pugnacious speech invokes Trump’s ‘vanity projects’ to makeover Washington and the ‘brazen, blatant corruption’
Joe Biden called Donald Trump “a loser” in a pugnacious speech on Saturday that invoked his presidential successor’s attempted makeover of Washington DC to portray him as incompetent, corrupt and vain.
He delivered those remarks while giving the keynote address at a gala in Hanover, Maryland, hosted by the state’s Democratic party, which is hoping to help wrest control of Congress away from Trump and his Republican allies during November’s midterm elections.
Continue reading...Citizens in Minnesota using lessons learned from migrant crackdown to protect elections from president’s threats
When thousands of immigration agents flooded Minnesota earlier this year, a loose network of neighbors sprang into action. They fed each other. They got kids to and from school safely. They tracked the surge that tore through their communities.
After organizing, block by block, to monitor Donald Trump’s extraordinary crackdown on their state, the same neighbors are shifting their focus to a different threat. What if the US president tries to steal an election?
Continue reading...Marco Rubio is scrambling to provide effective disaster response to country whose president US deposed in January
This week’s dual earthquakes in Venezuela are a test for the new era of American power in the western hemisphere, as the Trump administration scrambles to provide an effective disaster response mission to a country that it now calls an ally in Latin America, after a US special forces raid in January deposed the country’s strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro.
The US is marshalling what secretary of state Marco Rubio called a “big, fast, effective” and “whole-of-government” response as the state department sent three specialised urban search and rescue teams and pledged a $150m assistance fund that one former disaster relief expert called the largest he had seen within 24 hours of an incident.
Continue reading...Schroyer, whom Trump calls ‘a patriot’, led deportation campaign in Oklahoma under ICE-partnered program
Donald Trump said on Saturday that he will nominate Lance Schroyer as the next director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), succeeding David Venturella, who had been performing the duties of the director.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that Schroyer “has over 29 YEARS of Law Enforcement experience in Oklahoma — A State where I WON all 77 Counties in 2016, 2020, and 2024! Lance is a former Oklahoma State Trooper, and United States Marine”.
Continue reading...Vice-president appeared on Bill Maher’s show hours before more military strikes were exchanged in strait of Hormuz
JD Vance said on Friday that the US wins “either way” regarding negotiations with Iran, pointing to what he called the destruction of its nuclear program and diminishment as a country.
“If we make the final deal, then great,” the US vice-president told HBO’s Bill Maher. “If we don’t make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed. They’re still much weaker as a country, so my attitude is America wins either way.”
Continue reading...US president calls it ‘foolish violation’ of ceasefire agreement after drone damaged ship’s upper deck
Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for carrying out a drone strike on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz, calling it a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement with the US.
One drone damaged the upper deck of the ship but the ship was able to proceed, the US president said. The US shot down three other drones aimed at the ship, he said.
Continue reading...Government asks justices to allow people who have lived in US for years to be held without chance to seek bond
The Trump administration on Friday asked the US supreme court to let it detain people arrested in its immigration crackdown without a chance to seek bond, even if they have lived in the country for years.
The administration made that request in a filing made public on Friday, asking the court to overturn a May decision by a federal appeals court, which had rejected its reinterpretation of a decades-old immigration law that now underlies its mass detention policy.
Continue reading...High commissioner for human rights calls for ‘those responsible for violations of the law’ to be held to account
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, on Friday raised the alarm internationally about deaths in US government immigration custody and called for “prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations”.
Türk’s call came as the Trump administration faced investigations by watchdogs at its own Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into deaths and use of force against people detained in its expanding immigration detention system across the country.
Continue reading...PM says: ‘I love this country, I want this country to thrive, and I shall do everything I can to make sure it’s a success and thrives’
In her Q&A this morning Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, confirmed that she wants the government to approve the licences for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
She said:
I’ve been very clear that I think that the North Sea is a crucial asset for the UK, and that oil and gas will be an important part of our energy mix for years to come. And I’m very keen to make sure that we use that resource, to ensure our energy security.
There are decisions to be made shortly on both Rosebank and Jackdaw. Those are quasi-judicial decisions. But in our manifesto two years ago, we committed to honour existing licences, and I hope that we do.
Continue reading...Advocates condemn change that caps loans at $20,500 per year – less than half median annual cost of PA program
Strict new caps on federal student loans are causing would-be physician assistants to reconsider training, groups representing physician assistants said.
An overhaul of the federal student loan system scheduled to go into effect 1 July strictly caps the annual amount of federal loans physician assistants can borrow to $20,500 per year – less than half the median annual cost of a PA program.
Continue reading...Defence minister says troops not withdrawing though Tehran sees end to war in Lebanon as part of deal with US
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Israeli troops would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, further complicating Iran peace talks as fighting in Lebanon continues to be an obstacle to permanent peace.
Speaking on stage in an interview in Tel Aviv, Katz said Israeli troops would remain in south Lebanon – echoing sentiments from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Continue reading...Judge vacates administrations policies, finding actions of ICE and another government arm ‘arbitrary and capricious’
A federal judge in California vacated the Trump administration’s nationwide policies expanding arrests at immigration courthouses and the duration for detaining noncitizens in short-term facilities, finding the actions of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another government arm “arbitrary and capricious”.
US district judge P Casey Pitts of the northern district of California on Tuesday vacated ICE’s policies that had rescinded previous strictures on arrests at immigration courthouses and allowed detainees to be held in short-term cells for up to 72 hours. He did the same for a similar policy undertaken by the US Department of Justice’s executive office for immigration review that removed limits on courthouse arrests.
Continue reading...Decision comes after Aden Duale was held in contempt for ignoring previous high court ruling to stop work
Kenya’s health minister told a court he had ordered preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility to stop, after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous order to end work.
Many Kenyans strongly oppose the facility, with deadly protests erupting since the complex was announced in May for US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a widespread Ebola outbreak.
Continue reading...Federal judge rules subpoenas linked to Trump’s immigration operation were ‘issued for unlawful reasons’
A federal judge agreed to quash the US federal government’s subpoenas of leaders in Minnesota issued during the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown on the state earlier this year.
The US Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the attorney general, Keith Ellison; the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey; and other local officials in the Twin Cities in January.
Continue reading...Trump’s pre-Fourth of July renovation project has endured problems with algae, peeling paint and an inflating price tag
Donald Trump’s rush to repaint the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, a symbol of Washington DC, has hit roadblock after roadblock as the country’s 250th anniversary nears.
The public has been gripped by the ill-fated $14m attempt to renovate the reflecting pool, which the US president vowed to make “beautiful” in time for this summer’s birthday celebrations at the capital.
Continue reading...Mayor says ‘violence has no place in our city’ as president criticizes governor for not accepting national guard troops
At least seven people have been killed and dozens injured in several shootings in Chicago since Friday, police said, with Donald Trump once again calling for military intervention in the midwestern city.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump questioned why Illinois’s governor, JB Pritzker, had not welcomed military deployment.
Continue reading...Advocates say the Safe Third Country Agreement forces immigrants to head to an unsafe country: the United States
It was the threat of gang violence in Honduras that pushed Carlos and Antonia to flee their home. In 2021, with their toddler, Alejandro, and a handful of belongings, the married couple ventured north hoping to reach safety in the US.
The journey, through Guatemala and Mexico, was filled with danger and uncertainty.
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