Tech company blames ‘phonetic overlap’ for problem where US president’s name appears
Apple has promised to fix a bug in its iPhone automatic dictation tool after some users reported it had suggested to them “Trump” when they said the word “racist”.
The glitch was first highlighted in a viral post on TikTok, when the speech-to-text tool sometimes briefly flashed up the word “Trump” when they said “racist”, and was later repeated by others on social media.
Continue reading...President says ‘I hear he’s coming on Friday’ amid reports that terms of US-Ukraine aid exchange have been reached
Donald Trump has said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is likely to visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal to pay for US military aid to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The announcement followed days of tense negotiations between the US and Ukraine in which Zelenskyy alleged the US was pressuring him to sign a deal worth more than $500bn that would force “10 generations” of Ukrainians to pay it back.
Continue reading...President opens new front in assault on global trade norms as advisers claim China moving to dominate copper market
Donald Trump on Tuesday opened yet another front in his assault on global trade norms, ordering a new investigation into possible tariffs on copper imports to rebuild US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer goods.
Trump, looking to thwart what his advisers see as a move by China to dominate the global copper market, signed an order directing commerce secretary Howard Lutnick to start a new national security investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the same law that Trump used in his first term to impose 25% global tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Continue reading...US district judge in Seattle says Trump’s executive order exceeded his powers by shutting down program
A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to suspend the US’s refugee admission system after ruling that the move exceeded his powers.
The ruling, from US district judge Jamal Whitehead, stated that Trump’s executive order affecting refugee admissions, issued on the day of his inauguration, amounted to an illegal usurpation of the powers of Congress.
Continue reading...Majority of producers on Maddow and Joy Reid’s shows let go with option to re-apply amid network shake-up
MSNBC has told the majority of the employees who produce Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid’s primetime evening news shows they are being let go as part of the network’s programming overhaul with the option to apply for new roles, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.
Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, will get to keep her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers, the people said.
Continue reading...‘We’re not going to fund failure,’ says governor, who warned local authorities they could lose out on millions of dollars
California’s governor warned cities and counties that they could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if they do not make progress in clearing out encampments and tackling homelessness.
Gavin Newsom’s comments on Monday, while announcing $920m in funding to address the crisis, come as he escalates efforts to push local governments to take greater action. Last summer, Newsom told counties he could withhold state support if they failed to do more homeless encampment sweeps.
Continue reading...Appeal from officials, including two senior figures from Trump’s first term, comes amid reports National Science Foundation’s budget will be slashed
Chuck Hagel, the former US defense secretary, and other former US national security officials, including two senior figures from Donald Trump’s first term, on Tuesday warned that China was outpacing the US in critical technology fields and urged Congress to increase funding for federal scientific research.
The appeal comes a week after the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funds science research, fired 170 people in response to Donald Trump’s order to reduce the federal workforce. An NSF spokesman declined comment on reports that hundreds more layoffs were possible and that the agency’s budget could be slashed by billions.
Continue reading...Holt to step down as anchor as Katie Phang and Jonathan Capehart, whose shows also canceled, to remain at MSNBC
NBC’s Lester Holt is stepping down as anchor of its Nightly News show, and MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin is stepping down from a similar role at his namesake weekend evening show as the networks’ owners continue a major programming shake-up on Monday.
Others at MSNBC affected by changes revealed on Monday include Katie Phang and Jonathan Capehart, the New York Post reported.
Continue reading...France’s Macron corrects US president’s claim that Europe has only loaned funds to Kyiv at White House meeting
Donald Trump has said the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the three-year war.
The US president was speaking alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House on Monday as the leaders sought to smooth over a transatlantic rift to achieve peace.
Continue reading...US-based nonprofit Dawn also accuses ex-secretary of state Antony Blinken and ex-Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin
A US-based nonprofit organization has urged the international criminal court to investigate former president Joe Biden and two of his cabinet members for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The request, submitted by the Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) last month but made public by the group on Monday, urges the ICC to investigate Biden, as well as former secretary of state Antony Blinken and former defense secretary Lloyd Austin, for their “accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza”.
Continue reading...The Emilia Pérez best actress nominee will be at Sunday’s ceremony with Netflix paying for all expenses incurred
The Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón is reportedly set to attend this Sunday’s Oscars after controversy over bigoted tweets.
The Spanish actor, who is nominated for best actress, had been removed from the campaign trail by Netflix after resurfaced tweets led to a backlash.
Continue reading...Hill received awards and was promoted for actions that day but for decades blamed himself for then president’s death
Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who leapt on to the back of John F Kennedy’s limousine after the then president was shot, then was forced to retire early because he remained haunted by memories of the assassination, died on Friday. He was 93.
Hill died at home in Belvedere, California, according to his publisher, Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A cause of death was not given.
Continue reading...Starmer’s spokesperson says US intervention ‘could bring lasting peace’ as No 10 treads carefully before White House visit
Donald Trump has changed the global conversation around Ukraine “for the better”, Downing Street has said, as the UK imposed further sanctions on Russia in an effort to force Vladimir Putin to make concessions.
As world leaders marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the US president had opened the door to talks that could bring lasting peace.
Continue reading...Oil and gas interests coordinate campaign to stop local and state policies, putting climate at risk, new report shows
Oil and gas interests have waged a coordinated campaign to kill pro-electrification policies that ban gas connections in new buildings, putting the climate at risk, according to a new report.
Since 2019, utilities and fossil fuel trade groups, including the American Gas Association (AGA) and National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), have worked together to successfully thwart various local and state efforts.
Continue reading...Apparently baseless claim that $21m was given to help voter turnout seized on by Trump and Modi government
Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” has been accused of setting off a political firestorm in India after it claimed that the US government had been sending millions of dollars to support the Indian elections.
In a list published on Musk’s social media platform X last week, Doge, a special group that Donald Trump created, claimed that a $21m grant distributed by USAid – the US agency for international development – to help “voter turnout in India” had been cancelled, as part of the president’s sweeping cuts to foreign aid.
Continue reading...Anthocyanins in nuts, fruits and vegetables seem to lesson harmful effects of microplastics on reproductive systems
Antioxidants that give fruits and flowers their vibrant colors seem to counteract some of the most dangerous reproductive system effects of exposure to microplastics, such as decreased fertility, and could ultimately be used in developing treatments, new peer-reviewed research shows.
The paper focused on microplastics’ reproductive toxicity and plant compounds called anthocyanins, which are widely found in nuts, fruits and vegetables. The new review of scientific literature on anthocyanins found that the compounds are probably protective against a range of plastic-induced impacts on hormones, reductions in testosterone and estrogen, decreased sperm counts, lower sperm quality, erectile dysfunction and ovarian damage.
Continue reading...Government agencies give conflicting advice after email from Elon Musk demanding employees list accomplishments from past week
Elon Musk said on Monday that starting this week, government workers would be put on administrative leave if they fail to return to the office.
Musk, who is leading a downsizing effort at the US government wrote on X:
Those who ignored President Trump’s executive order to return to work have now received over a month’s warning.
Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave.
French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, saying he will present “proposals for action” to counter the “Russian threat” in Europe and ensure peace in Ukraine.
Conservative podcaster Dan Bongino has been appointed as FBI deputy director. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer turned conservative radio host, puts a second Trump ally at the top of the agency. Trump announced the appointment on Sunday night in a post on his Truth Social platform, praising Bongino as “a man of incredible love and passion for our country”.
The Trump administration on Sunday said it was placing all but a handful of USAid personnel around the world on paid administrative leave and eliminating about 2,000 of those positions in the US, according to a notice sent to agency workers and posted online.
More than 150,000 people from Canada have signed a parliamentary petition calling for their country to strip Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship because of the tech billionaire’s alliance with Donald Trump, who has spent his second US presidency repeatedly threatening to conquer its independent neighbor to the north and turn it into its 51st state.
Continue reading...It follows Russia’s biggest ever aerial attack on Ukraine. Plus, far-right AfD doubles support in German election
Good morning.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, hailed “three years of resistance … three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians”, as foreign leaders arrived in Kyiv to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
What’s the latest war news? Russia launched its biggest drone attack on Ukraine, using 267 drones and killing at least four people.
What did Zelenskyy say about US demands? He claimed the Trump administration was asking Ukraine to pay back $2 for every $1 of military aid the US provides going forward.
What do we know about the death toll after three years of war? Zelenskyy said in December that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, with 370,000 injured. US officials estimated last October that 600,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded. In November, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights verified 12,162 civilians killed, including 659 children, though the total is likely much higher.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Terrorist group the Base appears defiant as new administration aims to deprioritize threat from far right
An international neo-Nazi terrorist group with origins in the US appears to be quickly rebuilding its global and stateside ranks, according to information obtained by the Guardian from its digital accounts.
Founded in 2018, the Base has been the intense focus of a years-long FBI counter-terrorism investigation that has resulted in more than a dozen of its members arrested. It has plotted an assassination, mass shootings and other actions in Europe, which made it a proscribed terrorist organization in several countries.
Continue reading...Parliamentary petition launched due to billionaire’s link to Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to conquer Canada
More than 200,000 people from Canada have signed a parliamentary petition calling for their country to strip Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship because of the tech billionaire’s alliance with Donald Trump, who has spent his second US presidency repeatedly threatening to conquer its independent neighbor to the north and turn it into its 51st state.
The British Columbia author Qualia Reed launched the petition in Canada’s House of Commons, where it was sponsored by the New Democrat parliamentary member and avowed Musk critic Charlie Angus, as the Canadian Press first reported over the weekend.
Continue reading...