14 h. ago Trump cuts will increase devastation after disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will hamstring emergency managers, warns professor Samantha MontanoThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost American lives, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled. Continue reading...

Events

14 h. ago Trump cuts will lead to more deaths in disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will impact how they predict and respond to disasters, warns professor Samantha MontanoThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost lives in the US, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled. Continue reading...

Events

14 h. ago Bank of England poised to cut rates as fears grow over impact of Trump tariffs

Markets suggest quarter-point reduction to 4.25% is almost certain but some economists say Bank must go furtherThe Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates on Thursday amid growing concerns over the hit to UK jobs and growth from Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic global trade war.In the Bank’s first intervention since the US president’s “liberation day” tariff policy announcement sent shock waves through the world economy, Threadneedle Street is expected to reduce its key base rate from the current level of 4.5%. Continue reading...

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59 h. ago Scientific societies to do climate assessment after Trump administration dismissed authors

Two groups join forces for peer-reviewed research after key contributors on Congress-mandated report dismissedTwo major US scientific societies have announced they will join forces to produce peer-reviewed research on the climate crisis’s impact days after Donald Trump’s administration dismissed contributors to a key Congress-mandated report on climate crisis preparedness.On Friday, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) said that they will work together to produce over 29 peer-reviewed journals that will cover all aspects of climate change including observations, projections, impacts, risks and solutions. Continue reading...

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3 d. ago Trump live: President’s unprecedented budget proposal alarms some key Republicans

Despite steep cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, huge military parade still being planned for president’s birthday in June

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3 d. ago Trump 100 days: White House action plan makes Project 2025 look mild

Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the radical rightwing blueprint for government during the campaign but its prescriptions are all over the administration’s agendaTrump’s whirlwind start to his second presidencyWhen Donald Trump chose a Project 2025 author to lead a key federal agency that would carry out the underpinnings of the conservative manifesto’s aims, he solidified the project’s role in his second term.Shortly after he won re-election, the US president nominated Russ Vought to lead the office of management and budget. Vought wrote a chapter for Project 2025 about consolidating power in the executive branch and advances a theory that allows the president to withhold funds from agencies, even if Congress has allocated them. Consolidating power, in part through firing a supposed “deep state” and hiring loyalists, is a major plank of the project – and of Trump’s first 100 days. Continue reading...

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4 d. ago US and Ukraine finally sign minerals deal as Donald Trump makes key concession

The deal appears to contain some important concessions by Washington and comes days after Trump and Zelensky held talks at Pope Francis’s funeral

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5 d. ago Trump administration signs minerals deal with Ukraine in key move for Russian peace

Agreement is aimed at centering future US engagement in Ukraine

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5 d. ago Five key moments from Donald Trump’s combative interview marking his first 100 days back

‘I’ve never even heard of you,’ the US president tells ABC reporter Terry Moran as they clash over key issues, including tariffs and the Ukraine-Russia war

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6 d. ago Trump dismisses contributors to key US report on climate crisis preparedness

The assessment, mandated by Congress, is used by federal and local governments to prep for climate disastersDonald Trump’s administration has dismissed all contributors to the US government’s flagship study on how to prepare for climate change impacts, prompting strong criticism from experts over a “senseless” move.The climate assessment is used by federal and local governments to understand how to prepare for climate crisis impacts including from extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding and drought. Continue reading...

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6 d. ago Trump's approval rating for his first 100 days revealed in shock poll as voters hammer him on the economy

The Daily Mail and J.L. Partners poll shows where voters stand on Trump's first 100 days in office and indicate where they want him to focus during the rest of his administration.

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7 d. ago Trump news at a glance: President says he wants Putin ‘to stop shooting’ after talks with Zelenskyy

Trump expresses newfound sympathy for his Ukrainian counterpart, saying he ‘wants to do something good for his country’ – key US politics stories from Sunday 27 April at a glanceDonald Trump appears to have warmed to Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two presidents met at the Vatican, with the US leader emerging from talks with a plea for Vladimir Putin: “stop shooting”.Trump on Sunday said Zelenskyy “wants to do something good” for Ukraine and is “working hard”, adding he was also “surprised and disappointed” that Russia continued to strike Ukraine after discussions between his peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin. Continue reading...

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8 d. ago Tyrants like Trump always fall – and we can already predict how he will be dethroned | Simon Tisdall

The US constitution protects incompetence. But don’t underestimate the self-destructive power of the president’s own hubrisTyrants come to a sticky end, or so history suggests. Richard III and Coriolanus made bloody exits. More recently, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows, Slobodan Milosevic went to jail, Bashar al-Assad went into exile. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was run to ground in a sewer. Tyranny, from the Greek túrannos (“absolute ruler”), is typically fuelled by hubris and leads ineluctably to nemesis. Tyrants are for toppling. Their downfall is a saving grace.Tyranny, in its many forms, is back in vogue, and everyone knows who’s to blame. To be fair, to suggest similarities between the aforementioned abominable individuals and Donald Trump would be utterly wrong. In key respects, he’s worse. Measured by willingness and capacity to harm the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, wreak global economic mayhem and threaten nuclear annihilation, Trump is uniquely dangerous – and ever ...

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9 d. ago Americans, including Republicans, losing faith in Trump, new polls reveal

Trump scores poorly on economy and immigration as some fear he is ‘exceeding powers’ and focussed on wrong issuesAmericans, including some Republicans, are losing faith in Donald Trump across a range of key issues, according to polling released this week. One survey found a majority describing the president’s second stint in the White House so far as “scary”.Along with poor ratings on the economy and Trump’s immigration policy, a survey released on Saturday found that only 24% of Americans believe Trump has focussed on the right priorities as president. Continue reading...

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1 week ago Steve Witkoff arrives in Moscow for further talks with Russia about Ukraine peace plan – Europe live

US peace envoy to meet Vladimir Putin to discuss Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine ahead of US president’s 100 days in office next weekAnd the Interfax news agency has now reported that Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow, where he is expected to meet Vladimir Putin.Reuters noted that Witkoff has emerged as Washington’s key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war in Ukraine, and has already held three long meetings with the Kremlin leader. Continue reading...

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1 week ago Trump news at a glance: president berates Putin; judge blocks changes to voting rights

US renews push to end Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia – key US politics stories from 24 AprilDuring his election campaign Donald Trump had promised to end the war in 24 hours. But almost 100 days into his second term the US president has appealed directly to Russian president Vladimir Putin, telling him on social media: “Vladimir, STOP!”Trump’s remarks referred to the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv this year, which killed 12 people and injured at least 90 on Thursday. The attack comes as Trump has made a renewed push to end the Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia. Continue reading...

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1 week ago The key reasons China holds the edge over the US in Trump’s trade war

Despite the slight change in tone from the White House, China says it will not be bullied into a deal

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1 week ago Elon Musk in White House 'WWE' style shouting match before stepping back from DOGE

Elon Musk has reportedly had a bust up with another key figure in the Trump administration, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, at the White House where witnesses described the pair going "chest-to-chest"

Events

2 w. ago Trump administration axes key STI lab amid dramatic rise in US syphilis cases

Chaotic cuts to CDC hit expert leadership and programs that surveil, test and research sexually transmitted diseasesThe Trump administration’s cuts to a sexually transmitted infection lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) comes as some states, such as Wisconsin, announce enormous increases in syphilis.Syphilis mitigation is just the latest example of work in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that will be affected by the lab’s closure, as the Trump administration discards expert leadership and programs that surveil, test and research STIs amid chaotic government cuts. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Conor McGregor reveals Trump's key mistake in first term as he delivers verdict on president's tariff controversy

Controversial MMA fighter Conor McGregor has weighed in on President Donald Trump's policies in an interview, in which he also addressed his own unlikely bid to become Ireland's next president.

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