Category Archives: US News

Trump tells Artemis II crew he saved Nasa despite trying to slash agency’s budget

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Astronauts had a call with the US president from space after setting record for the farthest-traveled humans from Earth

The crew of Artemis II phoned home from above the moon on Monday night after their record-breaking day, to find Donald Trump musing about how he had saved the US space agency, Nasa, from closing down and telling the astronauts how much they deserved the honor of the president seeking their autographs.

The intermittently uncomfortable 12-minute Earth-to-space call, facilitated by the Nasa administrator and Trump acolyte, Jared Isaacman, featured a lengthy period of silence, several references by the president about his friendship with the retired Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, and how “America is the hottest country in the world right now”.

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Artemis II swings back around after completing record-setting moon flyby

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Four astronauts become Earth’s farthest travelled and exceed a 1970 record on the fifth day of the mission

Artemis II astronauts broke Apollo 13’s distance record at 1.57pm eastern time on Monday, hugging each other in the cramped capsule as they made history for being the first four humans to travel the farthest from Earth than anyone before them.

About five hours later, at 7.02pm ET, the crew reached the furthest point in its mission, before swinging back around, at 252,756 miles from Earth – 4,111 miles farther than the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

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Second ex-staffer accuses Texas lawmaker of sending sexually explicit messages

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Republican Tony Gonzales ended re-election bid in March after admitting to having affair with a different aide

A second former female staffer for Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas, has come forward claiming Gonzales sent her sexually explicit messages.

The San Antonio Express-News first reported the text messages on Monday and NBC News later confirmed the report.

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Down the rabbit hole: Trump offers dark Iran warnings after Easter bunny act

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President’s press conference after White House Easter egg roll did little to dispel fears he has lost touch with reality

Donald Trump began his day standing with a person in a giant bunny costume and boasting about the Iran war to an audience of children.

The annual Easter egg roll on the White House South Lawn conjured a fitting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland image for a US president who has disappeared down what many would call a rabbit hole.

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California county records sixth person bitten by rattlesnake in under a month

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Two fatalities reported in southern California so far, with warmer spring bringing reptiles out on trails earlier

A sixth person has been bitten by a rattlesnake in southern California’s Ventura county in just under a month, two-thirds of the number of people bitten in all of 2025.

Andrew Dowd, a Ventura county fire department spokesperson, said paramedics responded to a call on Sunday for a man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake. The victim said he had been bitten near California State University Channel Islands.

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Hatchings of two California bald eagle chicks delight vast livestream audience

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Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets emerged from eggs on Easter weekend in Big Bear Valley as watched by thousands online

Over Easter weekend, thousands of people tuned in to celebrate something spectacular unfolding 145 feet up a pine tree in southern California’s San Bernardino national forest – the hatchings of two bald eagle chicks.

Two eaglets were born to Jackie and Shadow, the southern California pair that have become avian celebrities thanks to the webcam that has livestreamed their activities since 2018.

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Trump threats cause dilemma for US officers: disobey orders or commit war crimes

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Legal experts say attacking Iran’s infrastructure would constitute a war crime – but would military officers be held responsible?

Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran present US military officers with a dilemma: disobey orders or help commit war crimes.

It is an urgent matter for the US chain of command. In an expletive-laden threat, Trump set a Tuesday 8pm Washington time deadline for the Iranian government to open the strait of Hormuz or face “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one”.

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Trump uses Neville Chamberlain jibe to mock Starmer over stance on Iran

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As UK PM resists pressure to back airstrikes, US president invokes British leader known for his policy of appeasement

Donald Trump has appeared to compare Keir Starmer to Neville Chamberlain in his latest disparaging remarks about the prime minister, who has refused to back the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The comments, during an Easter Monday event at the White House, underline Trump’s continued annoyance at Starmer’s scepticism about the aims and legality of the conflict, a view that has not been shifted by the US president’s jibes.

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House Democrats demand end to ‘cruel’ US energy blockade after visit to Cuba

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Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson denounce ‘collective punishment’ amid vast disruption s from US oil blockade

Two Democratic US lawmakers on Monday called for an end to the “cruel collective punishment” of Cuba after they visited the island to witness the effects of an US energy blockade.

The US House members Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois met with the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, as well as members of Cuba’s parliament during a five-day trip ending on Sunday.

“This is cruel collective punishment – effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country – that has produced permanent damage,” Jayapal and Jackson said in a statement released on Sunday. “It must stop immediately.”

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Trump accused of ‘threatening possible war crimes’ in Iran post | First Thin

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Chuck Schumer accuses president of ‘ranting like an unhinged madman’ in threat to obliterate Iran’s power plants and bridges. Plus, Audrey Hepburn’s son Sean on her movies, marriages, good works and fascist parents

Good morning.

Donald Trump has faced sharp criticism after threatening to wipe out Iran’s power plants and bridges in an expletive-riddled social media post yesterday.

How has Iran reacted? Iran’s parliament speaker responded with a warning that the US president’s “reckless moves” would mean “our whole region is going to burn”.

This is a developing story. Follow the liveblog here.

What will they see? During the flyby, which will last about six hours, the crew will have to observe the celestial body with their naked eyes, along with cameras they have onboard. The journey promises views of the moon’s far side that were too dark or too difficult to see by the 24 Apollo astronauts who preceded them.

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‘The original triple threat’: two exhibitions celebrate Marilyn Monroe as creative pioneer

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BFI and National Portrait Gallery to mark centenary of the film star’s birth with ‘the summer of Marilyn’

Though often reduced to a sex symbol frozen in time, or a tragic figure at the centre of several scandals, Marilyn Monroe was something far more subversive, according to two exhibitions that will herald what has been nicknamed “the summer of Marilyn”.

To mark the centenary of her birth, Monroe is being celebrated by leading British cultural institutions as a performer of sharp comic intelligence, a canny architect of her own image, and a woman who reshaped the possibilities for female stardom on screen.

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Iran strikes Kuwait’s oil infrastructure before Opec+ supply talks

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Members reportedly agree a rise of 206,000 barrels a day in May, but move symbolic while strait of Hormuz is effectively closed

Iranian drones have struck Kuwait’s oil infrastructure, causing “severe material damage” that threatens to further disrupt oil supplies already hit by the US-Israel war on Iran.

The drone strikes on Sunday came hours before members of the Opec+ group of major global oil suppliers gathered to discuss how to bolster output despite Iran’s effective closure of the strait of Hormuz shipping route.

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Chance of alien life ‘goes to heart’ of space missions, Nasa chief says

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Jared Isaacman says odds of evidence we are not alone are ‘pretty high’ four days after Artemis II rocket lifted off

The top official at Nasa says that the chance of alien existence is a factor in how the US space agency plans its missions.

Speaking on Sunday, Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman told CNN’s Meet the Press that investigating the existence of alien life “goes to the heart of many things that we do at Nasa”, adding: “Our job here is to go out and try and unlock the secrets of the universe.”

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‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran

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Marjorie Taylor Greene and Bernie Sanders among those responding with alarm to Trump writing ‘open the fuckin’ strait, you crazy bastards’

Some US politicians have reacted with alarm and questioned the US president’s mental state after Donald Trump issued an abusive, expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to “open the fuckin’ strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards”, as he threatened to further attack the country’s energy and transport infrastructure.

The US president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

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Despite propaganda coup of F-15 crew rescue, downing is reminder to US that Iran can fight back

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Donald Trump will claim rescue as a triumph but 48-hour drama should be a caution against launching ground operation

Donald Trump will inevitably claim the rescue of the second crew member of the downed F-15 fighter as a propaganda triumph, though the 48-hour drama is a reminder that an undefeated Iran is able to fight back and inflict costs on the US.

It also ought to be a caution for a White House still contemplating whether to launch a ground operation in Iran to seize an island in the Persian Gulf – particularly if there a serious ambition to extract Iran’s highly enriched uranium from deep underground.

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Artemis II astronauts expected to reach far side of moon on Monday

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Nasa team get deeper into space than any humans have ever ventured

Astronauts on the historic Artemis II mission are expected to reach the far side of the moon on Monday, venturing deeper into space than any humans before.

Nasa has reported satisfaction with progress toward the lunar fly-round since the team’s launch on Wednesday, with the three Americans and one Canadian on course to break the record for maximum range from Earth just as a total solar eclipse awaits.

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Artemis II’s Jeremy Hansen calls Project Hail Mary ‘a real treat’ before his space mission

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Astronaut calls fellow Canadian Ryan Gosling’s movie ‘extraordinary’ ahead of Artemis II crew’s lunar fly-around

The new space movie Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling has gotten a rave review from more than halfway to the moon.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said on Saturday that he and his Artemis II crewmates got to watch the film with their families before launching on the lunar fly-around. He said it was “a real treat” to view the movie while getting ready for his own space adventure.

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Halting $400m White House ballroom project is national security risk, Trump officials say

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US National Park Service lawyers cite materials that will be installed to make ‘heavily fortified’ facility

Donald Trump’s administration is arguing that a judge’s order to halt construction of a $400m White House ballroom creates a security risk for the US president as his team asks a federal appeals court to pause the ruling.

In a motion filed on Friday, US National Park Service (NPS) lawyers say that the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the new facility is “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the president and his family, and the president’s staff”.

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California protection crews contain parts of wildfire that burned 4,100 acres

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Springs fire, which had spread quickly by windy conditions, at least 45% contained on Saturday, say fire officials

California fire protection crews on Saturday were getting a handle on the wildfire that broke out the previous evening in Riverside county, fanned by high winds that quickly spread the flames to more than 4,100 acres.

The Springs fire, about 64 miles (103km) east of Los Angeles, was at least 45% contained on Saturday, a fire department spokesperson said. It was 25% contained late on Friday evening.

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US rescues second crew member of downed F-15E fighter jet from Iran

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Trump gives further details on rescue and threatens to bomb infrastructure if strait of Hormuz is not reopened

The second crew member of a downed F-15E fighter jet has been rescued from an Iranian mountain by US commandos overnight, ending a two-day search after the warplane crashed in south-west Iran.

The crew member, a colonel and weapons systems officer, had been wounded but was successfully rescued from a mountain hideout by US special forces, Donald Trump first announced in a social media post soon after midnight.

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