Lady Falkner, chair of the EHRC, says moves run the risk of positive discrimination
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
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Continue reading...Category Archives: Trump administration
Rubio says Trump’s ‘51st state’ plan not on G7 summit agenda in Canada
Secretary of state’s visit has backdrop of trade war between US and allies and Trump’s threats to take over Canada
Marco Rubio has said he is not planning to discuss Donald Trump’s threat to “take over Canada” during a visit to Quebec, as Washington’s top diplomat arrives to the backdrop of a raging diplomatic crisis and trade war.
The US secretary of state is flying on Wednesday for a two-day summit with other foreign ministers from allied G7 countries at the river resort of La Malbaie, the first such gathering since Trump retook power with his “America first” agenda.
Continue reading...Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda could keep the world hooked on oil and gas
The US president is making energy deals with Japan and Ukraine, and in Africa has even touted resurrecting coal
Donald Trump’s repeated mantra of “drill, baby, drill” demands that more oil and gas be extracted in the United States, but the president has set his sights on an even broader goal: keeping the world hooked on planet-heating fossil fuels for as long as possible.
In deals being formulated with countries such as Japan and Ukraine, Trump is using US leverage in tariffs and military aid to bolster the flow of oil and gas around the world. In Africa, his administration has even touted the resurrection of coal, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, to bring energy to the continent.
Continue reading...‘I feel utter anger’: From Canada to Europe, a movement to boycott US goods is spreading
Tesla sales are falling and apps and online groups are springing up to help consumers choose non-US items
The renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff was blunt in explaining why he and his quartet have cancelled a summer tour of the US.
“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” Tetzlaff said, describing his horror at the authoritarian polices of Donald Trump and the response of US elites to the country’s growing democratic crisis.
Continue reading...US education department to lay off 1,300 people as Trump vows to close agency
Firings announced Tuesday as administration decried as ‘detached from how Americans live’
The US Department of Education intends to lay off nearly half of its workforce. The layoffs of 1,300 people were announced by the department on Tuesday and described by the education secretary, Linda McMahon, as a “significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system”.
In a post on X, McMahon said: “Today’s [reduction in force] reflects our commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
Continue reading...Columbia University ‘refusing to help’ identify people for arrest – White House
Trump administration has axed $400m in federal funding to Columbia and detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that Columbia University was “refusing to help” the Department of Homeland Security identify people for arrest on campus, after immigration authorities detained a prominent Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate over the weekend.
The Trump White House’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday the administration had given the university names of multiple individuals it accused of “pro-Hamas activity”, reiterating the administration’s intention to deport activists associated with pro-Palestinian protests.
Continue reading...US judge blocks deportation of Palestinian activist detained by Ice
Critics condemn arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia University graduate student who led protests over Gaza war
A judge has blocked the deportation of the prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s protests against Israel over the war in Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University until this past December who holds permanent US residency, is being detained by US immigration authorities at a facility in Louisiana after his arrest, according to information from officials.
A spokesperson for the US’s homeland security department – as well as the country’s top diplomat – confirmed the arrest. In a statement to the Associated Press, a homeland security department spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said Khalil’s arrest was made to support Donald Trump’s presidential orders “prohibiting antisemitism”.
Continue reading...RFK Jr directs FDA to revise ‘self-affirm’ rule to improve food ingredient safety
Health secretary accuses food companies of ‘exploiting loophole’ over food safety and urges greater transparency
The US secretary of health and human services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has directed the Food and Drug Administration to revise safety rules to help eliminate a provision that allows companies to self-affirm that food ingredients are safe.
The move would increase transparency for consumers as well as the FDA’s oversight of food ingredients considered to be safe, Kennedy said on Monday.
Continue reading...US rebrands immigration app to CBP Home with ‘self-deport’ function
Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, announced the new version, raising privacy concerns for those using CBP One
On day one of his presidency, Donald Trump issued a directive abruptly ending the government’s use of CBP One – an online application that had served as the primary means for people at the southern border to apply for asylum in the US. On Monday, the administration announced it has reimagined the app as a platform for “self-deportation”.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the app had been rebranded as “CBP Home” and that anyone with the old CBP One app would be redirected to the new version.
Continue reading...Canada’s designated PM Mark Carney meets Trudeau as Trump threat looms
Former central banker won landslide victory in Liberal party race as trade war with US hastens transfer of power
Canada’s incoming prime minister, Mark Carney, has met with Justin Trudeau as the pair discuss a transfer of power after the former central banker’s landslide victory at the Liberal party’s leadership race.
The meeting on Monday sets the stage for an imminent federal election and gives Canada a fresh leader to square off against the United States president, with the two countries locked in a bitter trade war provoked by Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Ontario sets 25% surcharge on energy exports to US to counter Trump tariffs
Premier Doug Ford says province ‘won’t back down’ until US president retracts duties on Canada
The Canadian province of Ontario is imposing a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the states of New York, Michigan and Minnesota in protest against Donald Trump’s tariffs, the premier, Doug Ford, said on Monday.
“President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the US economy. They’re making life more expensive for American families and businesses,” Ford said in a statement.
Continue reading...Starmer facing Reform UK byelection challenge as Mike Amesbury quits as MP after assault conviction – UK politics live
Contest in Runcorn and Helsby will be a challenge for Labour
Around 80 Labour MPs could refuse to back government plans to cut billions from the welfare budget, Amy Gibbons and Tony Diver claim in a story for the Daily Telegraph. They report:
The Telegraph understands that around 80 Labour MPs – roughly a fifth of the parliamentary party – “won’t tolerate” billions of pounds of welfare cuts set to be announced by the Chancellor later this month.
The anger is said to have spread beyond the “usual suspects”, with MPs who would not typically criticise Sir Keir threatening to “give the government a slap” over the proposals.
Our Labour values are built on a simple but powerful idea: that every individual, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the support they need to make the most of their lives. Everyone who is capable of working deserves the security, dignity and agency that employment offers. Of course, there are some people who are not able to work and they must be treated with compassion and respect. But for those that can, we must restore the pathways to opportunity which are currently so sparse for millions of people. It is exactly what a Labour government exists to do …
As MPs, we understand that delivering this new social contract requires hard choices to be made. We welcome the work that has begun to rebuild our welfare system, and we are fully supportive of it. We believe reforming our broken system is not only necessary, but also a truly progressive endeavour. And so we have established the Get Britain Working Group to make that argument, insistently.
The radical package of reforms will see:
-£5bn in savings by making it harder to qualify for Personal Independence Payments - a benefit not linked to work that is meant to help people with the additional costs of their disability
This government is determined that instead of facing a life on benefits … we stretch every sinew and pull every lever to ensure that we can get those people into work, because that is the best way for them to have a successful and happy life into the future.
So I think it’s quite right to look at a benefit system which is clearly broken.
Continue reading...Trump confirms detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil: ‘the first arrest of many to come’ – live
Trump says Ice took the Palestinian student protester into custody after his executive order
Secretary of state Marco Rubio has announced that USAid will cancel the majority of its programs, while the rest will be folded into the state department.
Writing on X, Rubio said:
After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.
The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.
Continue reading...‘Reeks of McCarthyism’: outrage after Ice detains Palestinian student activist
Arrest of Mahmoud Khalil a ‘targeted, retaliatory’ attack on his first amendment rights, say civil rights groups
Free speech organizations and advocates are expressing outrage after a prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last year, was arrested and detained over the weekend.
Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident with a green card, was taken into custody by federal immigration authorities on Saturday night, who reportedly said that they were acting on a state department order to revoke his green card.
Continue reading...Risk of ‘Trumpcession’ rising, economists say, as global markets fall
Donald Trump’s brinkmanship and stop-start approach to tariffs rattle investors
The risk that the US economy will enter recession this year is rising, according to economists, as Donald Trump’s chaotic approach to tariffs continued to hit markets.
Shares on Wall Street fell sharply on Monday as investors bet the president’s unpredictable tariff trade war and handling of the economy would hit growth, amid a recent plunge in business and consumer confidence.
Continue reading...What the world needs now is more fossil fuels, says Trump’s energy secretary
Chris Wright signals abandonment of Biden’s ‘irrational, quasi-religious’ climate policies at industry conference
The world needs more planet-heating fossil fuel, not less, Donald Trump’s newly appointed energy secretary, Chris Wright, told oil and gas bigwigs on Monday.
“We are unabashedly pursuing a policy of more American energy production and infrastructure, not less,” he said in the opening plenary talk of CERAWeek, a swanky annual conference in Houston, Texas, led by the financial firm S&P Global.
Continue reading...Kleptocrats to benefit from Trump DoJ’s anti-corruption pause, experts warn
Former prosecutors criticize Pam Bondi’s decision to halt enforcement of bribery laws as short-sighted and dangerous
A radical makeover at the US department of justice has seen key drives to fight corruption hamstrung in ways that could benefit US businesses operating abroad and foreign kleptocrats, including some Russian oligarchs.
The moves have sparked sharp criticism by former US prosecutors, transparency experts and top Democrats, who warn that the moves to cut back on anti-corruption efforts is a huge setback for American efforts to clean up global business practices and tackle the power of oligarchs and of authoritarian rulers.
Continue reading...US added to international watchlist for rapid decline in civic freedoms
Civicus, an international non-profit, puts country alongside Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia
The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms.
Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to “strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world”, announced the inclusion of the US on the non-profit’s first watchlist of 2025 on Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia.
Continue reading...‘I hate to predict things’: Trump doesn’t rule out US recession amid trade tariffs
President downplays recent stock market volatility that followed his ducking and weaving over tariff policy
Donald Trump on Sunday refused to rule out the possibility that the US economy will head into recession this year and that inflation will rise, as his chaotic trade tariffs policy cause uncertainty and market turbulence.
The US president predicted that his economic goals would take time and a period of transition to bear fruit. But when asked in an interview with the Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures “are you expecting a recession this year?” he demurred.
Reuters contributed reporting
Continue reading...Ice arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia protests, lawyer says
Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest comes as Trump vows to deport foreign students involved in protests against Israel’s war
A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student encampment movement was arrested on Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who claimed they were acting on a state department order to revoke his green card, according to his attorney.
Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned apartment, blocks from the private Ivy League university’s main campus in New York when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press.
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