Video posted online is said to show Trump Jr with a ruddy shelduck while on hunting trip
Donald Trump Jr has been accused of killing a protected duck while hunting in the Venice lagoon.
Andrea Zanoni, a regional councillor in Veneto, said a video of a hunting trip in northern Italy showed Trump Jr with the body of a rare ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea).
Continue reading...Office of personnel management workers say anxiety is palpable amid intimidation and threat of dismissal
US government workers are describing an atmosphere of “fear” and “madness” as they grapple with a barrage of executive orders issued by Donald Trump and threats to their jobs from the office of personnel management, the agency tasked with managing the federal civil service, which has been taken over by the billionaire Elon Musk.
Weeks before the administration transition, federal worker unions reported low morale among workers in anticipation of pushes for intimidation, mass firings and harassment.
Continue reading...Clergy abuse survivors and their supporters express pain over sports officials’ efforts to soften coverage of scandal
Survivors of Catholic clergy abuse and their supporters expressed disgust, pain and disbelief after the Guardian and WWL Louisiana’s investigation on Monday into hundreds of emails showing officials with the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans aided New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese efforts to soften critical media coverage about the church’s management of a clerical molestation scandal.
Richard Windmann said it was “disturbing” to see the emails mention his decision to go public about his abuse as a child at the hands of a priest and janitor at Jesuit high school in New Orleans in the 1970s.
Continue reading...China also announced an investigation into Google in an apparent retaliation. Plus, the Senate confirms a fracking executive as energy secretary
Good morning.
Donald Trump has fired the opening salvo of his trade war, imposing tariffs on China on Tuesday that prompted instant retaliation from Beijing and fears about the global economic repercussions.
What could be the impact on ordinary Americans? Economists have warned Trump’s tariff plans risk raising prices for millions of Americans just weeks after he pledged, upon taking office, to “rapidly” bring them down.
How much does the US trade with China? China is the US’s third-largest trading partner, behind Mexico and Canada, making up 11.3% of total trade and more than $50bn for November last year alone.
What have the lawmakers said about Musk’s behavior? The senator Elizabeth Warren said it “threatens the privacy and economic security of every American”. The congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described it as “a plutocratic coup”, and the congresswoman Ilhan Omar said “this is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: move to purge those who worked for Jack Smith came from Trump, sources say, in show of unchecked power
The US justice department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against Donald Trump hours after the president directly ordered it from the Oval Office, according to two people familiar with the intervention.
The move to purge people who worked for former special counsel Jack Smith had ostensibly come from the acting attorney general, James McHenry, who sent the formal termination notices that said they could not be trusted to implement Trump’s agenda.
Continue reading...Trump administration pulling references online ‘won’t make crisis’ stop affecting Americans’ lives, say experts
Donald Trump’s administration has started to remove or downgrade mentions of the climate crisis across the US government, with the websites of several major departments pulling down references to anything related to the climate crisis. Climate scientists said they were braced “for the worst”.
A major climate portal on the Department of Defense’s website has been scrapped, as has the main climate change section on the site of the Department of State. A climate change page on the White House’s website no longer exists, nor does climate content provided by the US agriculture department, including information that provides vulnerability assessments for wildfires.
Continue reading...Rapper alleges assault, false arrest and more when he was detained shortly after winning three awards at 2024 ceremony
Killer Mike, the hip-hop artist known for his solo work as well as the duo Run the Jewels, has sued a private security company after he was arrested at last year’s Grammys.
The rapper, real name Michael Render, won three awards at the ceremony, for best rap album, best rap song and best rap performance. But shortly after his wins, as he moved backstage towards the red carpet area, he was arrested and detained after an altercation with what Render later described as “an overzealous security guard”.
Continue reading...Officials are discussing executive order as part of efforts by Musk’s Doge team to seize control of federal spending
The Trump administration is weighing executive actions to dismantle the US education department as part of efforts by Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to seize control of federal spending and slash the size of the government workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported.
US officials have discussed an executive order that would shut down all functions of the education department that are not written explicitly into statute, or move certain functions to other departments, according to the paper, citing sources.
Continue reading...Oscar-winning director – and longtime Buffy fan – Chloé Zhao is onboard to direct, with Dolly Parton as executive producer
A sequel reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is reportedly in the works, with Sarah Michelle Gellar expected to return to the titular role and the Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao to direct the pilot episode.
On Tuesday Deadline reported sources close to the project confirming that the streaming service Hulu is “near a pilot order”, with lifelong Buffy fan Zhao onboard to direct the episode, written by the Poker Face writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman.
Continue reading...State’s largest home insurer, which has paid customers over $1bn, claims fires put firm under increased financial strain
State Farm General, California’s largest home insurer, is seeking an emergency rate increase for homeowners following the Los Angeles wildfires last month. If approved, the hike would average a 22% increase for policyholders.
The insurance giant claims that the fires have put the company under increased financial strain. The company has already received at least 8,700 claims and paid more than $1bn to customers and expects to pay out “significantly more”, according to a press release.
Continue reading...Lawmakers point to shutting of USAid and accessing federal payment system as markings of ‘constitutional crisis’
Progressive lawmakers condemned Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Monday, pointing to the attempted shuttering of the foreign aid agency USAid and the accessing of the treasury department’s federal payment system as the markings of a “constitutional crisis”.
After Musk declared that he was working to shut down USAid, Democratic members of Congress tried to enter the agency’s Washington headquarters but said they were turned away on the orders of Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge). USAid staffers were also locked out of the building on Monday, as the White House confirmed plans to merge the agency with the state department.
Continue reading...The singer paid tribute to her home city wearing an LA Dodgers baseball cap crafted by English woollen mill Moon
When Billie Eilish took to the stage at the 67th Grammy awards wearing a hat with the branding of the baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers, few would have noticed the much smaller logo on the side with two tiny union flags and the word “Moon”.
But in a small town in West Yorkshire, Moon is a household name, as one of the last surviving woollen mills in the UK.
Continue reading...Bill to rule out interference from abroad expected to pass this week as country prepares for polls before 6 April
Greenland plans to ban foreign political donations over fears about potential interference in its forthcoming elections after attracting Donald Trump’s interest.
The government of the autonomous territory, which is a former Danish colony and remains part of the kingdom of Denmark, announced details of a bill on Monday intended to “safeguard the political integrity of Greenland”.
Continue reading...Doug Ford says Canada will not work with ‘people hellbent on destroying our economy’, blaming failed deal on Trump
The leader of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, announced on Monday that he would be “ripping up” a contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet services in response to the US tariffs on Canada announced by Donald Trump.
The contract, first signed in November, aimed to provide high-speed internet access through Starlink’s satellite service to 15,000 eligible homes and businesses, notably those in remote, rural and northern communities of Canada, by June 2025.
Continue reading...Ex-Senate majority leader is one of few party members to criticize president’s trade war with US neighbors and China
Republicans on Capitol Hill have largely fallen in line with Donald Trump’s move to impose tariffs on the US’s biggest trading partners, with the notable exception of the former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who called it a “bad idea”.
With even Trump admitting that the tariffs – 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on China – might cause “some pain”, there was mostly strong support from the president’s loyalists. Jason Smith, chair of the ways and means committee of the House of Representatives, said the tariffs would “send a powerful message that the United States will no longer stand by as other nations fail to halt the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants into our country”.
Continue reading...President says measures against bloc will ‘definitely happen’ following moves against Mexico, Canada and China
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has appealed to leaders to pressure the Donald Trump administration to reverse its decision to pull out of the UN’s health agency.
“Bringing the US back will be very important,” Associated Press reports Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told attenders of a budget meeting. “And on that, I think all of you can play a role.”
Continue reading...Israeli PM expected to begin discussions on second phase of ceasefire with Hamas ahead of Trump meeting
Iran has condemned Donald Trump’s widely criticised proposal to relocate Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring countries, warning it would amount to “ethnic cleansing”.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has been quoted by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency saying that the international community should help Palestinians “secure their right to self-determination... rather than pushing for other ideas that would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.
Continue reading...After standoff, Doge members gained control over access system, letting them lock out workers and read emails
Two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have been put on administrative leave after they blocked efforts by members of Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency (Doge) to access sensitive data from the agency, five current and former USAid officials have told the Guardian.
The demands led to a tense standoff during which a senior deputy to Musk threatened to call the US marshals in to grant access to the building. The officials said John Voorhees, USAid’s director of security, and a deputy blocked efforts by Doge members to physically access restricted areas.
Continue reading...Billionaire says in social media discussion that Donald Trump agrees the world’s largest single donor should be shut down
Elon Musk, who is heading Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, has said they are working to shut down the foreign aid agency USAid, in a social media discussion on X early on Monday.
The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senator Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAid).
Continue reading...Cyril Ramaphosa’s government ‘treating certain classes of people very badly’, says Trump, calling for investigation
Donald Trump has claimed South Africa is “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly”, announcing he is cutting off all future funding to the country pending an investigation.
The US president’s intervention into one of South Africa’s most divisive issues was rebutted by the country’s government and criticised by groups across its political spectrum.
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