Category Archives: US News

First Thing: China raises tariffs on US imports to 125%

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Xi Jinping makes move after urging EU to resist Trump’s ‘bullying’. Plus, the supreme court orders the US to help return a Salvadorian man it wrongly deported

Good morning.

China has raised its tariffs on US goods to 125% as the trade war between Washington and Beijing continues to escalate, just hours after its leader, Xi Jinping, said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.

How are markets reacting? Oil prices were expected to fall for the second week running, and US stocks fell again on Thursday. Follow our business live blog here and our US politics blog here.

What are her lawyers requesting? Öztürk’s attorneys on Thursday asked the federal court in Vermont to order her release or her transfer to the state of Vermont while her case is heard.

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‘A huge cudgel’: alarm as Trump’s war on universities could target accreditors

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Advocates braced for revamp of certification system as experts warn of political pressure being brought to bear

Advocates for academic freedom are bracing for what they expect to be the next phase of the government’s effort to reshape higher education: an overhaul of the system accrediting institutions of higher learning.

Donald Trump has made no secret of such plans. During the campaign, he boasted that accreditation would be his “secret weapon” against colleges and universities the right has long viewed as too progressive.

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‘Cop City’ legal case could cast spotlight on US police foundations’ activities

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Case related to Atlanta project raises issue of state open record laws, and whether they apply to police foundations

A legal case in Atlanta stemming from the controversial “Cop City” project is being closely watched because it has the potential to cast a spotlight on the activities of police foundations nationwide.

The case raises the issue of state open records laws, and whether they apply to police foundations. The private foundations exist in every major US city, with more than 250 nationwide, according to a 2021 report by research and activist groups Little Sis and Color of Change.

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Mississippi orders deletion of race and gender databases in state libraries

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Library commission says state ‘in dire shape’ and has ‘had a reconsideration of everything with regard to’ Doge

The Mississippi library commission, which offers services such as specialized research assistance to libraries in the state, has ordered the deletion of two research collections: the race relations database and the gender studies database. The collections were stored in what’s called the Magnolia database, which is used by publicly funded schools, libraries, universities and state agencies in Mississippi.

The commission’s executive director, Hulen Bivins, confirmed the deletion to the Guardian, and said: “We may lose a lot of materials.”

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‘We’re location scouting’: where next for White Lotus and who will star?

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HBO renewed Mike White’s hit drama before third season aired and rumours abound about luxury settings and return of stars

You’ve only just got home from a holiday when you start planning the next one. So it is with the super-rich spa satire The White Lotus. The gunsmoke is still clearing from the finale of the third season but speculation is rife about where the HBO hit will head next.

This week’s climax of Mike White’s drama might have divided critics, but it was still group chat-dominating, column inch-gobbling TV, notching its highest ratings yet. The show was renewed for a fourth trip before the third had even aired, with White reportedly pitching HBO execs his next idea while still filming in Koh Samui. Buzz is now building about the next chapter, expected on our screens in late 2026.

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Spanish PM offers condolences after family of five killed in New York helicopter crash

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Spanish family including three children age 11, five and four killed in crash along with pilot, who has not yet been named

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has offered his condolences to friends and relatives of a Spanish family who died in New York on Thursday after their sightseeing helicopter crashed in the Hudson River, killing all onboard including the pilot.

It emerged on Friday that the victims were Agustín Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí, and their three children, who were 11, five and four. The identity of the pilot has not yet been made public.

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China raises US tariffs to 125% as Xi invites EU to team up against Trump ‘bullying’

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Chinese leader canvasses Spain and other trading partners on how to tackle economic fallout as market turmoil continues

China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.

Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.

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Trump’s economic adviser dampens Starmer’s hopes of tariffs relief

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It would take an ‘extraordinary deal’ for any country to improve on 10% rate, says Kevin Hassett

A senior economic adviser to Donald Trump has said it would take “an extraordinary deal” for any country, including the UK, to improve on the 10% tariff rate the US has imposed almost worldwide, pouring cold water on Downing Street’s hopes for a breakthrough.

Trump succumbed to pressure from plunging financial markets on Wednesday and temporarily reduced “retaliatory” tariffs on all countries’ goods to 10%, except those from China, which face a rate of 145%.

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EU will not rip up tech rules for trade deal with Trump, senior official says

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Bloc is ‘very committed’ to laws on big tech and is not targeting US companies, says European Commission’s Henna Virkkunen

The EU will not rip up its tech rules in an attempt to reach a trade deal with Donald Trump, the bloc’s most senior official on digital policy has said.

Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission vice-president responsible for tech sovereignty, indicated the EU was not going to compromise on its digital rulebook to reach an agreement on trade with the US – a key demand of Trump administration officials.

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Supreme court orders US to help return man wrongly deported to El Salvador

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Justices uphold judge’s order and say Trump officials must ‘facilitate’ return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to United States

The US supreme court upheld on Thursday a judge’s order requiring Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate the return to the United States of a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador.

US district judge Paula Xinis last week issued an order that the administration “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in response to a lawsuit filed by the man and his family challenging the legality of his deportation.

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US judge allows White House to require noncitizens to register with government

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Trump administration says it’s enforcing existing mandate applying to people age 14 and older without legal status

A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that noncitizens in the US must register with the federal government, in a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for immigrants across the country.

In a ruling on Thursday, judge Trevor Neil McFadden sided with the administration, which had argued that they were simply enforcing an already existing requirement for everyone in the country who wasn’t a US citizen to register with the government.

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China and North Korea aid to Russia poses security risk in Indo-Pacific region, says top US commander

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Beijing and Pyongyang are aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine, and Moscow in turn is assisting their militaries

The top US commander in the Pacific has warned senators that the military support that China and North Korea are giving Russia in its war on Ukraine is a security risk in his region as Moscow provides critical military assistance to both in return.

Adm Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate armed services committee that China has provided 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the legacy chips to Russia to help Moscow “rebuild its war machine”.

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US extradites Canadian citizen to India for alleged role in deadly Mumbai attacks

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Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, to stand trial for plotting multiday slaughter carried out by 10 Islamist gunmen

A Pakistan-born Canadian citizen wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege has landed in New Delhi after his extradition from the United States.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, arrived at a military airbase outside the Indian capital under heavily armed guard late on Thursday, and will be held in detention to face trial.

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Mahmoud Khalil can be expelled for his beliefs alone, US government argues

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Marco Rubio provides two-page memo to judge who asked government for evidence against Columbia student activist

Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo, signed by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country damages US foreign policy interests.

The two-page memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press, does not allege any criminal conduct by Khalil, a legal permanent US resident and graduate student who served as spokesperson for campus activists last year during large demonstrations against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the war in Gaza.

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Will Trump’s tariff chaos be China’s gain in global trade wars?

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As China retaliates against tariffs, it is also making strategic manoeuvres on EU and Asia to maximise opportunities

On the basis of Napoleon’s dictum “never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake”, there was a large incentive for China to do precisely nothing as Donald Trump displayed his determination to lose friends and induce market panic. Indeed, the Chinese advocates of passivity cited a social media meme attributed to President Xi Jinping: “Do nothing. Win.”

Initially it was tempting for China to sit back and watch the US’s former allies recoil at Trump’s disruptive war on globalisation and let them realise that, by comparison, China represented an oasis of stability, modernity and predictability.

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US government has revoked more than 600 student visas, data shows

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Some cases were related to activism and participation in protests against Gaza war, others were for 'minor crimes’

More than 600 international students and recent graduates in the US have had their visas revoked or their legal status changed by the state department, according to data aggregated from around the country.

The data, collected by Inside Higher Ed, shows that as of Thursday more than 100 colleges and universities have identified more than 600 cases of students whose immigration status was changed by the Trump administration. These institutions say that their students have lost their F-1 or J-1 student visas.

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Trump’s about-face on tariffs reveals chaos at the core of his presidency

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Time will tell how much damage has been inflicted on the credibility of Trump’s economic policy and administration

Donald Trump’s climbdown on Wednesday from the most draconian aspects of his tariff regime has uncovered a damning picture of chaos at the heart of his presidency without necessarily alleviating their most painful effects.

The president’s landmark “liberation day” unveiling of tariffs in the White House Rose Garden on 2 April was supposed to be symbolic gateway to his promised “golden age of American greatness”; instead, it triggered a cascade of global market crashes that prompted warnings of a recession, or even a 1930s-style depression, while Trump brushed it all off as temporary “disruption”.

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Trump administration cuts $4m to Princeton’s climate research funding

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White House claims university’s work exposed students to ‘climate anxiety’ and ‘exaggerated climate threats’

Almost $4m in federal funding has been stripped from an Ivy League university’s prestigious climate research department because the Trump administration has determined it exposed students and other young people to “climate anxiety”.

The government research grants to Princeton University have been cut off because the White House considers its work on topics including sea level rise, coastal flooding and global warming to be promoting “exaggerated and implausible climate threats”, according to the New York Times.

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China to restrict US film releases after Trump’s tariff hike

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After the US president imposed 125% duties on Chinese imports, Beijing says it will restrict American films opening in its lucrative market

Hours after Donald Trump imposed record 125% tariffs on Chinese products entering the US, China has announced it will further curb the number of US films allowed to screen in the country.

“The wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favourability towards American films,” the China Film Administration said in a statement on Thursday. “We will follow the market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported.”

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Apple said to be flying iPhones from India to US to avoid Trump tariffs

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Tech firm has reportedly flown 600 tonnes of handsets from Indian factories as Chinese goods face huge tariffs

Apple is reportedly chartering cargo flights to ferry iPhones from its Indian manufacturing plants to the US in an attempt to beat Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The tech company has flown 600 tonnes of iPhones, or as many as 1.5m handsets, to the US from India since March after ramping up production at its plants in the country, according to Reuters.

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