Category Archives: Trump administration

Donald Trump’s Texas rally rocked by repeated protests

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Trump briefly stepped away from the microphone after one protester appeared to approach the stage

Donald Trump’s latest campaign rally was rocked by repeated protests on Wednesday as the US president urged Texas voters to back embattled Senate candidate Ken Paxton.

At least half a dozen demonstrators interrupted the US president during his remarks in San Antonio, with some led away by police. One was physically assaulted by an older Trump supporter as he tried to leave the arena.

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US, Israeli and European far-right figures to gather for conference in Israel

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Trump’s counter-terrorism ‘czar’, Sebastian Gorka, was scheduled to speak at conference but White House says he will no longer attend

A National Conservatism (NatCon) conference beginning today in Jerusalem advertises a talk from the Trump administration’s anti-terrorism czar alongside speeches from far-right Israeli politicians, European figures who have faced disciplinary action over alleged antisemitism, and Christian nationalist and far-right figures from the United States.

The Jerusalem event is perhaps the most significant recent gathering to feature large contingents of Israeli nationalists alongside Christian nationalists and far-right European nationalists from a milieu sometimes shadowed by accusations of antisemitism.

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Gatorade maker recalls 122,000 cases of popular sports drink across 37 US states

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PepsiCo initiated class II recall of 28oz bottles last month over ‘undeclared’ yellow dyes, FDA notice says

About 122,000 cases of the popular sports drink Gatorade have been voluntarily recalled across 37 US states due to their having “undeclared” food dye, according to an official federal notice.

The varieties of the drink involved in the notice include 28oz bottles of Gatorade Lemon Lime, Lime Zero, Orange and Gatorade Orange Zero, the notice said. Gatorade’s manufacturer – the soda giant PepsiCo – initiated its recall on 25 September, said the advisory, which was posted on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s website.

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DoJ declines to reopen investigation into former Fed chair Jay Powell

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Kevin Warsh’s predecessor had been investigated over cost overruns related to central bank renovation project

The US ⁠justice department is not reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell ⁠for cost overruns ⁠related ​to the central bank’s building renovation project, a department spokesperson said on Friday.

Attorney general Todd ⁠Blanche – in comments to Bloomberg News, which first reported the development – said he has not ruled out ⁠continuing to look into the project’s oversight and potentially take ​action if evidence of ‌wrongdoing came to ‌light.

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Swing-and-a-miss: MLB rescinds idea to host baseball game in national park after backlash

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Officials in Wyoming had called notion to host game in Grand Teton national park ‘deeply unwelcome’

Major League Baseball (MLB) leadership is no longer considering holding a game inside a national park, according to a letter commissioner Robert Manfred sent to officials in Teton county, Wyoming, on Thursday in what could be the league’s biggest swing-and-a-miss off the diamond.

On 26 September, the Washington Post reported that MLB had reached out to the White House about staging a one-day game at Grand Teton national park in Wyoming. Teton county describes itself as a “a year-round resort community” and sits within the Jackson Hole valley. It’s also a habitat for grizzly bears, osprey, bison and more.

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Britain in talks with European allies over release of emergency diesel stockpiles amid Trump pressure

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Ministers discuss drawing down EU countries’ reserves after Donald Trump threatens to cut off US supplies

Britain is in talks with European allies over releasing emergency diesel stockpiles after Donald Trump threatened to cut off US supplies of the fuel.

Ministers held calls with counterparts from the European Commission (EC), Germany, France, Italy and Ireland on Thursday to discuss whether to draw down reserves after the Trump administration told Germany and France to release their stockpiles to help ease soaring global energy prices or face a US export ban.

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Trump and his allies credit deportations with record low crime. Experts disagree

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Administration says increased immigration enforcement led to fewer homicides, but they have been on the decline since Joe Biden’s term

Over the last year and a half, the US has seen a historic drop in homicides. Researchers and reporters are still puzzling through the complex set of reasons why - from the easing of pandemic-era stressors and the Biden administration’s investments in community-based violence prevention to policing and other factors.

But for the Trump administration, there’s one easy explanation: increased immigration enforcement. As the midterm elections approach, the White House has been doubling down on this message, saying its crackdown against immigrants is why US crime rates are now falling.

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Ukraine persists with Russian oil refinery strikes in defiance of Trump

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US president blames attacks for driving up fuel prices before midterms, though analysts say his Iran war is main cause

Ukraine is pressing on with strikes on Russian oil refineries, defying Donald Trump, who blames the attacks for exacerbating a global diesel shortage and pushing up fuel prices.

Kyiv struck an oil facility in Russia’s southern Samara region overnight, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday in a statement on social media. The Ukrainian president added that a Russian vessel in the Black Sea was hit, as well as a launch and storage site for attack drones in the Oryol region.

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Burundi agrees to receive ‘third-country’ migrant deportees from US

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Burundi joins several other African nations in accepting people deported under Trump’s hardline policy

Burundi has agreed to join a clutch of ⁠other African nations in receiving migrants from other countries deported from the US under ⁠Donald Trump’s hardline ⁠immigration ​policy.

However, Burundi will only accept those not accused of crime or terrorism links, said ⁠Nancy Ninette Mutoni, a spokesperson for the country’s president, Évariste Ndayishimiye. Tuesday’s announcement gave no details of numbers, timing or financial ⁠details.

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Trump campaign ads paid with public money violate federal law, critics say

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White House has labeled ads ‘public service announcements’ and has responded defiantly to criticism

Federal regulators have been urged to stop the broadcast of White House advertisements promoting Donald Trump that critics say amounts to government propaganda and violate laws against using public money to promote partisan causes.

Public Citizen, an advocacy group, called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to intervene and block further airing of three ads it said were “designed to boost the image and character of Donald Trump” as part of the Republicans’ campaign for November’s midterm elections.

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Decades of fossil fuel influence paved way for Trump’s assault on university research, study says

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Fossil fuel firms have spent years trying to regulate climate research by donating to US universities, study authors argue

Recent attacks on US universities by the Trump administration have built on decades of efforts by libertarian donor networks, fossil fuel companies and conservative thinktanks to reshape university governance and increase outside influence, according to a new study.

The authors of the new perspective study argue that the erosion of university autonomy has left colleges more vulnerable to corporate interests, especially within climate and energy research.

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Trump asked Xi Jinping if China would like to buy US weapons, American ambassador says

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David Perdue’s remarks come after a Taiwanese minister spoke of the ‘severe’ military threat posed by Beijing to the self-ruled island

Donald Trump offered to sell weapons to China while hosting its leader, Xi Jinping, last week, the US ambassador to China said on Sunday.

David Perdue told Fox News on Sunday: “President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some at one point.”

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Republican says Trump’s support of Ken Paxton in Texas primary was ‘colossal mistake’

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Thom Tillis says Trump’s decision to back Paxton over John Cornyn has put the Senate seat at risk for Republicans

US senator Thom Tillis on Sunday criticized Donald Trump, his fellow Republican, for the president’s support of Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn in the Texas Senate Republican primary.

“He made a colossal mistake,” Tillis, a frequent Trump critic from North Carolina, said during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union in reference to the president’s support of Paxton who defeated Cornyn in the May primary.

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UN ambassador Waltz says Iran was not negotiating ‘in good faith’ to end war

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Waltz says Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to end war because they ‘were asking for everything up front’

The Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations said the US rejected Iran’s proposal to end the ongoing war there because Iranian negotiators “were asking for everything up front”.

Echoing comments by Donald Trump on Saturday, the president’s UN ambassador Mike Waltz told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that Iran had asked for relief “from billions and billions of sanctions that are going into place” as part of an economic blockade on Iran. The blockade is aimed at putting pressure on Iran to stop its attacks ‌on vessels in the strait of Hormuz.

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‘The weaker he gets, the more dangerous he gets’: Trump lashes out as his power wanes

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Trump tries to dominate at the UN as his approval ratings plummet and even some Republicans stray from the script

Donald Trump stood before the United Nations on Tuesday and threatened to “annihilate” Iran. Yet even as the most powerful man on the planet flexed his military muscles, he was powerless to keep the gravitational pull of domestic politics at bay.

Heading into the UN building in New York, the US president was questioned by Kaitlan Collins, an anchor at CNN, which he had banned from the White House before a judge ruled against him. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me,” the 80-year-old snapped. “You should not be here covering me.”

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‘Let’s tell the truth’: Smithsonian head given standing ovation as he hits back at Trump attacks

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Outgoing secretary Lonnie Bunch rejects claims the institution is unpatriotic, telling audience ‘You cannot understand all without illuminating the dark corners’

Lonnie Bunch, the outgoing secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has defended the organisation against political interference, insisting that telling the unvarnished and complex truths of history is an act of “great love” for the country.

Speaking on Friday at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, Bunch received a standing ovation from hundreds of audience members and rejected claims that the institution’s staff or exhibitions were unpatriotic.

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Trump cancels nearly $1bn in funding approved by Congress

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President using rare power to revoke expenditure with bipartisan approval to aid immigrant services

Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1bn in spending approved by Congress, the White House announced on Friday, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives.

Trump’s office of management and budget described the funding cut as focused on “the most harmful government spending”.

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Trump faces tough choices as Iran dangles deal to reopen Hormuz before US midterms

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Iran’s seven-day timetable would restart nuclear talks, but will the US be willing to deliver on terms that include reining in Israel in Lebanon?

Iran’s seven-day timetable to reopen the strait of Hormuz and start talks on its nuclear programme has been pitched as a deal that could rapidly extricate Donald Trump from a political crisis but requires the US president to make difficult concessions.

In the five days left before the proposed reopening of the strait, which is expected to relieve pressure on global energy markets, Trump would need to lift Iranian asset freezes, permit Iran to export its oil and, probably most difficult of all, order Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, thus achieving the “ceasefire on all fronts”.

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OpenAI hack on Australian government reveals anxiety at heart of global artificial intelligence dilemma

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As the UN warns traditional safeguards are ‘unravelling’, Donald Trump says he will encourage, not restrain, the AI race

When the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, sat down for an interview in the heart of Silicon Valley at the weekend he had known for two days that his was the first government known to have been attacked by a rogue AI agent.

He didn’t reveal the attack then, but he sounded a warning about the march of AI: “the risk is that AI develops in a way in which humans are no longer in control of what AI is producing.”

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Removal of 760,000 people from ACA marketplace could undermine US health system

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Trump administration move weakens federal insurance programs – and some poor people will likely forego healthcare

The Trump administration is removing 760,000 people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace on allegations of fraud, officials said on Tuesday – adding to previous efforts to chip away at federally subsidized insurance programs and likely causing some of the lowest-income Americans to forego healthcare, experts said.

The US government is also investigating about 420,000 people whom they suspect of fraud, and they are putting a six-month enrollment moratorium on new agents and brokers selling Obamacare policies, officials said at a press conference.

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