Category Archives: Trump administration

‘A very real possibility of being detained’: LGBTQ+ Australians cancel travel to US for World Pride

Posted on by

Mik Bartels is among those fearful of Trump’s America, partly because their research includes 20 words on US government’s list of banned terms

Queer Australians are axing travel plans to Washington DC’s World Pride festival, as Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ rights lead to fears of discrimination at the US border and potential attacks.

People skipping the international event join other Australians and travellers from around the world who are avoiding the US after Trump’s inauguration and a string of controversial policies enacted in the early months of his second term as president.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Trump and Carney to meet at White House in closely watched encounter

Posted on by

Vibe at meeting could hint at future relationship between the two countries and their two leaders

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, was due to meet with the US president, Donald Trump, on Tuesday in a closely watched encounter at the White House that could hint at the future relationship between the two countries and their two leaders.

Over the weekend, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” he would use military force to annex Canada, a key trading partner and political ally. In recent months, the president has repeatedly threatened to use economic coercion to weaken Canada to the point that it accedes to Trump’s wish to make it the 51st state.

Continue reading...

Trump administration offers $1,000 to undocumented immigrants to leave US

Posted on by

DHS claims payment will be issued after individuals leave the US and it has been confirmed through their app

The Trump administration has announced a new program offering a $1,000 payment to people in the US without immigration status as an incentive to return to their home country voluntarily.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) outlined the initiative on Monday, pledging “financial and travel assistance” to undocumented immigrants who agree to leave the country using an app called CBP Home.

Continue reading...

US scientist who touted hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid named to pandemic prevention role

Posted on by

Steven J Hatfill, who promoted the drug despite scant evidence of efficacy, becomes special adviser at HHS

A proponent of using the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 despite scant evidence of its efficacy has been named to a top pandemic prevention role at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Washington Post reports.

Steven J Hatfill is a virologist who served in Donald Trump’s first administration, during which he promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus in the early months of the pandemic, when vaccines and treatments were not yet available. He recently started as a special adviser in the office of the director of the administration for strategic preparedness and response, which prepares the country to respond to pandemics, as well as chemical and biological attacks.

Continue reading...

Trump orders reopening of Alcatraz prison for ‘most ruthless offenders’

Posted on by

Plan to expand and reuse long-shuttered penitentiary off San Francisco described as ‘not serious’ by Nancy Pelosi

Donald Trump has said he is directing the administration to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on an island off San Francisco that has been closed for more than 60 years.

California lawmakers called the idea “absurd on its face” and part of the US president’s strategy of political distraction. Other officials pointed to the closure of the prison complex in 1963, known for its brutal conditions, due to operational expense and the high number of (unsuccessful) escape attempts.

Continue reading...

NPR and PBS push back against Trump’s order to cut funding: ‘This could be devastating’

Posted on by

PBS’s Paula Kerger and NPR’s Katherine Maher say they’re looking at legal options to defend against White House

The heads of embattled US public broadcasters, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), defended themselves against efforts by the Trump administration to cut off taxpayer funding, with both telling a Sunday political talk show they were looking at legal options.

PBS’s chief executive, Paula Kerger, told CBS News’s Face the Nation that Republican-led threats to withdraw federal funding from public broadcasters had been around for decades but are “different this time”.

Continue reading...

Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ using military force to control Greenland

Posted on by

President has repeatedly expressed idea of expansion into autonomous territory within fellow Nato member Denmark

Donald Trump would not rule out using military force to gain control of Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous territory within Denmark, a fellow Nato member with the US.

Since taking office, the US president has repeatedly expressed the idea of US expansion into Greenland, triggering widespread condemnation and unease both on the island itself and in the global diplomatic community. Greenland is seen as strategically important both for defense and as a future source of mineral wealth.

Continue reading...

Major delays at Newark airport as FAA cites air traffic control staffing issues

Posted on by

One of US’s biggest airports, in New York area, experiences 210 delays and 88 cancellations amid aviation safety fears

Flight delays continued on Sunday as a major crisis gripped one of the US’s biggest airports amid aviation safety fears.

As of Sunday morning, there were 210 delays and 88 cancellations at Newark Liberty international airport (EWR) in New Jersey, according to FlightAware. The large airport is one of the major hubs for New York city and its surrounding area.

Continue reading...

Trump says he doesn’t know if he needs to uphold constitutional due process

Posted on by

President also says he sees himself as leaving office at the end of his current term and not seeking a third one

Donald Trump said “I don’t know” when asked if he needed to uphold the US constitution when it comes to giving immigrants the right of due process as he gave a wide-ranging TV interview broadcast on Sunday.

At the same time the US president also said he saw himself as leaving office at the end of his current term and not seeking a third one – something he has not previously always been consistent on even though a third term is widely seen as unconstitutional.

Continue reading...

Arts agency terminates dozens of grants after Trump proposes eliminating NEA

Posted on by

National Endowment for the Arts notifies organizations that offers of government grants were terminated

Dozens of US arts organizations have been notified that offers of government grants have been terminated, hours after Donald Trump proposed eliminating federal agencies that support arts, humanities and learning.

The cancellation of grant offers were reported from organizations across the US, including a $25,000 offer to a playhouse in Portland, Oregon, hours before the opening of a new production, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

Continue reading...

France and EU to incentivise US-based scientists to come to Europe

Posted on by

Macron and von der Leyen expected to announce protections for researchers seeking to relocate amid Trump’s crackdown

France and the EU are to step up their efforts to attract US-based scientists hit by Donald Trump’s crackdown on academia, as they prepare announcements on incentives for researchers to settle in Europe.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, alongside the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will make speeches on Monday morning at Sorbonne University in Paris, flanked by European university leaders and researchers, in which they are expected to announce potential incentives and protections for researchers seeking to relocate to Europe.

Continue reading...

Germany hits back at Marco Rubio after he panned labeling of AfD as ‘extremist’

Posted on by

Far-right German party was labeled a ‘confirmed rightwing extremist group’ by country’s domestic intelligence service

Germany’s foreign ministry has hit back at the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, following his criticism of Germany’s decision to label the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party as a “confirmed rightwing extremist group”.

On Thursday, Rubio took to X and wrote: “Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy – it’s tyranny in disguise. What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD – which took second in the recent election – but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.”

Continue reading...

‘What is left of our democracy?’: freed Palestinian human rights advocate warns of US authoritarian rule

Posted on by

Mohsen Mahdawi, student detained by Ice last month, pens blistering attack on Trump’s deportation policies

Mohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student freed on Wednesday after more than two weeks in immigration detention, has issued a stark warning about the US’s descent into authoritarianism.

“Once the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off. When they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: what is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?” said Mahddawi in an op-ed for the New York Times.

Continue reading...

Scientific societies to do climate assessment after Trump administration dismissed authors

Posted on by

Two groups join forces for peer-reviewed research after key contributors on Congress-mandated report dismissed

Two major US scientific societies have announced they will join forces to produce peer-reviewed research on the climate crisis’s impact days after Donald Trump’s administration dismissed contributors to a key Congress-mandated report on climate crisis preparedness.

On Friday, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) said that they will work together to produce over 29 peer-reviewed journals that will cover all aspects of climate change including observations, projections, impacts, risks and solutions.

Continue reading...

Mass resignations at labor department threaten workers in US and overseas, warn staff – as more cuts loom

Posted on by

Exclusive: Insiders sound alarm over ‘catastrophic’ impact of widespread departures and cuts under Trump

A “catastrophic” exodus of thousands of employees from the US Department of Labor threatens “all of the core aspects of working life”, insiders have warned, amid fears that the Trump administration will further slash the agency’s operations.

The federal agency has already lost about 20% of its workforce, according to employees, as nearly 2,700 staff took retirement, early retirement, deferred resignation buyouts or “fork in the road” departures earlier this year.

Continue reading...

Trump proposes cutting $163bn in non-defense funds and boosting military

Posted on by

Education, health, climate and more on chopping block and 13% rise – to over $1tn to Pentagon – in ‘skinny budget’

Donald Trump is proposing huge cuts to social programmes like health and education while planning substantial spending increases on defence and the Department of Homeland Security, in a White House budget blueprint that starkly illustrates his preoccupation with projecting military strength and deterring migration.

Cuts of $163bn on discretionary non-defence spending would also see financial outlays slashed for environmental and renewable energy schemes, as well as for the FBI, an agency Trump has claimed was weaponised against him during Joe Biden’s presidency. Spending reductions are also being projected for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Continue reading...

Woman in Florida deported to Cuba says she was forced to leave baby daughter

Posted on by

Heidy Sánchez says she was told her 17-month-old, who has health problems and is breastfeeding, couldn’t go with her

A mother deported to Cuba reportedly had to hand over her 17-month-old daughter to a lawyer while her husband, a US citizen, stood outside unable to say goodbye.

Heidy Sánchez was told she was being detained for deportation to Cuba when she turned up at her scheduled Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) check-in appointment in Tampa, Florida, last week.

Continue reading...

Trump signs executive order to cut funding for public broadcasters

Posted on by

President says neither NPR nor PBS ‘presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events’


Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to cut public funding for NPR and PBS, accusing the news outlets of being biased.

NPR and PBS are only partly funded by the US taxpayer and rely heavily on private donations.

Continue reading...

Why is Trump ending the ‘de minimis’ tariff loophole on low-value imports?

Posted on by

Goods worth less than $800 will be subject to 120% levy meaning prices on Chinese exports will probably increase

At one minute past midnight on Friday, eastern time, a US tariff exemption that has fuelled the rise of companies such as Shein and Temu, and stocked the wardrobes of millions of Americans with cheap fast fashion and other household goods, closed. As part of Donald Trump’s flurry of tariffs on China, the US is closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US without paying any import fees. The “de minimis” loophole, known by the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, was “a big scam going on against our country”, the US president said on Wednesday. “We put an end to it.”

Continue reading...

Amazon reports better-than-expected earnings despite tumult of Trump tariffs

Posted on by

Company exceeds expectations for third quarter in a row as chief executive Andy Jassy admits uncertainty over tariffs

Amazon reported strong first-quarter earnings for the 2025 fiscal year on Thursday after the New York stock exchange closed – results that will be seen in the context of consumer resilience in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff wars.

Amazon reported $1.59 in earnings-per-share (EPS) and revenue of $155.67bn. Analysts had estimated that the company’s EPS would come in at $1.36 on revenue of $155bn. In particular focus: Amazon’s advertising business, which grew 19% in the first quarter of 2025, handily exceeding analyst expectations as well. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for the previous two quarters.

Continue reading...