Category Archives: US Politics

Trump officials step up defiance over man wrongly deported to El Salvador

Posted on by

Administration advances new misrepresentations of US supreme court order in case of Kilmar Abrego García

The Trump administration on Monday misrepresented a US supreme court decision that compelled it to return a man wrongly deported to El Salvador, using tortured readings of the order to justify taking no actions to secure his release.

The supreme court last week unanimously ordered the administration to “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego García, who was supposed to have been protected from deportation to El Salvador regardless of whether he was a member of the MS-13 gang.

Continue reading...

The Trump administration trapped a wrongly deported man in a catch-22

Posted on by

The US says it can’t aid in his return as he’s in El Salvador; El Salvador says to help would be like ‘smuggling’ him back

It is difficult to find a term more fitting for the fate of the Maryland father Kilmar Abrego García than Kafkaesque.

Abrego García is one of hundreds of foreign-born men deported under the Trump administration to the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador as part of a macabre partnership with the self-declared “world’s coolest dictator”, Nayib Bukele.

Continue reading...

El Salvador president refuses to order return of wrongly deported US man

Posted on by

Trump officials claim they’re not legally bound to bring Kilmar Abrego García back despite supreme court ruling

The president of El Salvador said in a meeting with Donald Trump in the White House on Monday that he would not order the return of a Maryland man who was deported in error to a Salvadorian mega-prison.

“The question is preposterous,” Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday, where he was welcomed by Trump and spoke with the president and members of his cabinet. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I’m not going to do it.”

Continue reading...

Pennsylvania arson suspect planned to beat governor with hammer, documents say

Posted on by

Authorities say suspect told them he would have beaten Josh Shapiro with sledgehammer if he had found him

A man who authorities said scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion – where he set a fire – had planned to beat the governor, Josh Shapiro, with a hammer if he found him because he hates the politician, according to court documents released on Monday.

The fire left significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family and guests to evacuate the building early on Sunday. The man, arrested later in the day, faces charges including attempted homicide, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault, authorities said.

Continue reading...

Georgetown alumni and students call for release of scholar detained by immigration authorities

Posted on by

Letter says Trump administration’s detention of Khan Suri ‘represents a fundamental violation of academic freedom’

More than 370 alumni of Georgetown University joined 65 current students there in signing on to a letter opposing immigration authorities’ detention of Dr Badar Khan Suri, a senior postdoctoral fellow at the institution’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU).

The letter, dated Sunday and shared with the Guardian, follows the Trump administration’s detention of Khan Suri – a citizen of India – on 17 March. He is being held at an immigration prison in Alvarado, Texas, where his next hearing is scheduled for 6 May.

Continue reading...

UN calls on Trump to exempt poorest countries from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

Posted on by

Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US

The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.

In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.

Continue reading...

‘The sky won’t fall’: China plays down Trump tariff risks as stock markets rally

Posted on by

Chinese customs official says trade has diversified away from US in recent years and plays up its ‘vast domestic market’

China has played down the risk of damage to its exports from Donald Trump’s tariffs, with an official saying the “the sky won’t fall”, as stock markets rose on Monday amid signs of a retreat on electronics restrictions.

The world’s second-largest economy has diversified its trade away from the US in recent years, according to Lyu Daliang, a customs administration spokesperson, in comments reported by state-owned agency Xinhua.

Continue reading...

Trump official who oversaw dismantling of USAID leaves US state department

Posted on by

Under Pete Marocco’s lead, nearly all USAID staff was fired, with funding slashed and contractors dismissed

Pete Marocco, the Trump administration official who played a major role in dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has left the state department, a US official said on Sunday.

Donald Trump’s administration has moved to fire nearly all USAID staff, as billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” has slashed funding and dismissed contractors across the federal bureaucracy in what it calls an attack on wasteful spending.

Continue reading...

Hedge fund billionaire says US may face ‘worse than a recession’ from Trump tariffs

Posted on by

Ray Dalio’s comments come after rocky week across stock markets after policies including 145% tariff raise on China

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio said that he is worried the US will experience “something worse than a recession” as a result of Donald Trump’s trade policies.

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, the 75-year-old hedge fund manager said: “I think that right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession. And I’m worried about something worse than a recession if this isn’t handled well.”

Continue reading...

Man in custody after Pennsylvania governor’s home set ablaze, police say

Posted on by

No reported injuries after fire left ‘significant damage’ to portion of residence while Josh Shapiro and his family slept

Police say a person is in custody after a suspected arson fire at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansionwhere Josh Shapiro and his family were evacuated after someone set fire to the building.

No one was injured in the blaze and the fire was extinguished, authorities said.

Continue reading...

US deports 10 more alleged gang members to El Salvador, says Rubio

Posted on by

Secretary of state says ‘criminals’ were taken to country thanks to alliance between Trump and Nayib Bukele

The US has deported another 10 people that it alleges are gang members to El Salvador, secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday, a day before that country’s president is due to visit the White House.

“Last night, another 10 criminals from the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua Foreign Terrorist Organizations arrived in El Salvador,” Rubio said in an Twitter/X post.

Continue reading...

US stock markets expected to recover after Trump drops tariffs on mobiles

Posted on by

Exemption, seen as a climbdown, includes laptops and chips, and is likely to help firms such as Apple and Nvidia

US stock markets were expected to stage a recovery on Monday after Donald Trump excluded imports of smartphones and laptops from his tariff regime late on Friday night.

Shares in Apple and chip maker Nvidia were on course to soar after tariffs on their products imported into the US were lifted for 90 days.

Continue reading...

Civilian deaths in Sumy attack may force Washington to get tough with Putin

Posted on by

Talks between US and Russia continue unabated as attacks on Ukraine’s cities appear to have stepped up

Even by the warped standards of wartime, Russia’s Sunday morning attack on Sumy was astonishingly brazen. Two high-speed ballistic missiles, armed, Ukraine says, with cluster munitions, slammed into the heart of the border city in mid-morning as families went to church, waited for a theatre performance or were simply strolling about on a mild spring day.

The death toll currently stands at 34, including two children. Images from the scene show bodies or body bags on the ground, a trolley bus and cars burnt out, rubble and glass scattered around. It was reckless, cruel and vicious and its consequences entirely predictable to those who gave the order and pressed “launch”.

Continue reading...

Democrat Gretchen Whitmer tries to distance herself from Oval Office visit

Posted on by

Michigan governor criticized for appearance, including for blocking her face with binders while her photo was taken

The Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer – considered to be a 2028 White House Democratic contender – was trying to distance herself from a recent Oval Office appearance alongside Donald Trump, which saw her get photographed while blocking her face with binders.

Whitmer visited the Republican president on Wednesday alongside a bipartisan delegation to discuss a northern Michigan ice storm, the state’s defense assets and tariffs, among other issues. Following the meeting, Whitmer was brought into the Oval Office where she – as the New York Times described – “stood glumly” during a press conference that saw Trump sign several executive orders that targeted his political opponents.

Continue reading...

Trump administration to exempt smartphones and computers from tariffs

Posted on by

Announcement says tariffs – including those imposed on China – will also not apply to other electronic devices

Donald Trump’s presidential administration has exempted smartphones and computers from the 125% levies imposed on imports from China as well as other “reciprocal” tariffs, which experts had cautioned might cause electronic consumer prices to spike dramatically in the US.

The announcement was made late on Friday in a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notice that said the devices would be excluded from the 10% global tariff that Trump recently imposed on most countries, along with the much heftier import tax on China.

Continue reading...

‘I’m super worried’: fewer UK tourists visiting US amid Trump’s policies and rhetoric

Posted on by

Number of Brits crossing Atlantic down 14.3% from 2024 – and the travel industry fears decline could continue

After backpacker Rebecca Burke was arrested and locked up for nearly three weeks by US immigration ­officials in February, she started urging people not to travel to America.

Britons seem to have listened: UK residents visiting the US were down 14.3% in March compared with the same month in 2024, official figures show.

Continue reading...

‘A new golden age’: how rightwing media stuck by Trump as global markets collapsed

Posted on by

Trump’s tariffs were sometimes played down, sometimes cheered but rarely seriously questioned by the right

While Donald Trump recently instituted and paused hefty tariffs, sparking a trade war and chaos in financial markets, most of the country’s conservative media either applauded the US president or critiqued the policy but not the person behind it, according to journalists and observers of conservative media.

Meanwhile, economists, business leaders, Democrats and even some Republicans warned that the tariffs, which prompted the largest American stock market drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, could cause a recession.

Continue reading...

‘Completely out of touch’: golf and dinners for ‘king’ Trump as economy melts down

Posted on by

Casual attitude as markets fall suggests man detached from anxieties of ordinary voters – and surrounded by yes men

After lighting a fuse under global financial markets, Donald Trump stepped back – all the way to a Florida golf course. A week later, having just caved to pressure to ease his trade tariffs, the US president defended the retreat while hosting racing car champions at the White House.

Trump had spent the time in between golfing, dining with donors and making insouciant declarations such as “this is a great time to get rich”, even as the US economy melted down.

Continue reading...

Tuberculosis could end if there’s more US public health funding, experts say

Posted on by

Resurgence could be on horizon as outbreaks pick up speed in US and abroad amid public health program cuts

As tuberculosis outbreaks pick up speed in the US and abroad amid deep cuts in funding for local, state and international public health programs, a resurgence of the deadliest infectious disease – including drug-resistant tuberculosis – could be on the horizon.

Increasing funding for public health responses could end tuberculosis (TB) altogether, says James Brookes, an IT specialist from Idaho, who told this to his representatives in Congress on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Panama opposition party accuses US of ‘camouflaged invasion’

Posted on by

Discontent with government handling of diplomatic crisis rises as Pete Hegseth says US troops moved to country

Panamanian opposition politicians have accused the US of launching a “camouflaged invasion” of the country, amid simmering discontent over the government’s handling of the diplomatic crisis.

After a three-day visit by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump appeared to confirm that US military personnel had been deployed to the Central American country on Thursday, telling reporters: “We’ve moved a lot of troops to Panama.”

Continue reading...