6 h. ago The making of Elon Musk: how did his childhood in apartheid South Africa shape him?

The billionaire and now Trump adviser grew up amid the collapse of white rule, attending an all-white school and then a more liberal oneWith an imposing double-winged redbrick main building, and school songs lifted directly from Harrow’s songbook, Pretoria boys high school is every inch the South African mirror of the English private schools it was founded in 1901 to imitate.Elon Musk, who has rapidly become one of the most powerful people in US politics, spent his final school years in the 1980s as a day pupil on the lush, tree-filled campus in South Africa’s capital, close to his father’s large detached home in Waterkloof, a wealthy Pretoria suburb shaded by purple jacaranda blossoms in spring. Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago Trump refuses to rule out recession as chaotic trade war with Canada, Mexico and China escalates: Live updates

President’s remarks follow turbulent week as markets rattled by series of aggressive tariff announcements and immediate walkbacks

Politics

10 h. ago Trump refuses to rule out recession and new Canadian PM Mark Carney vows to win trade war: Live updates

President’s remarks follow turbulent week as markets rattled by series of chaotic tariff announcements and immediate walkbacks

Politics

24 h. ago ‘I hate to predict things’: Trump doesn’t rule out US recession amid trade tariffs

President downplays recent stock market volatility that followed his ducking and weaving over tariff policyDonald Trump on Sunday refused to rule out the possibility that the US economy will head into recession this year and that inflation will rise, as his chaotic trade tariffs policy cause uncertainty and market turbulence.The US president predicted that his economic goals would take time and a period of transition to bear fruit. But when asked in an interview with the Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures “are you expecting a recession this year?” he demurred.Reuters contributed reporting Continue reading...

Politics

27 h. ago Trump does not rule out recession as he rejects business fears over tariffs

US administration concedes some prices might rise as fears grow of trade chaos causing disruption

Economics

28 h. ago Trump won’t rule out US recession amid tariff trade war confusion in Fox News interview

President won’t deny recession is coming as he says US faces ‘period of transition’

Politics

29 h. ago Trump refuses to rule out recession or clarify tariffs policy in Fox interview: Live

President’s comments follow turbulent week on Wall Street over tariff uncertainty

Politics

34 h. ago ‘Nothing like this in American history’: the crisis of Trump’s assault on the rule of law

Even if the supreme court were to resist the president’s onslaught, it has little means to enforce its decisionsWhen the chief justice of the US supreme court, John Roberts, delivered his bombshell ruling last July granting Donald Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, he laid out his vision of an expansive presidency. The executive, he wrote, should be “vigorous and energetic”, and free to carry out duties “boldly and fearlessly”.If that sums up Roberts’ ideal occupant of the Oval Office, then he has certainly got what he wants in the 47th president. In his first month back, Trump has vigorously fired tens of thousands of federal workers; energetically ignored congressional statutes; boldly run roughshod over the constitution; and fearlessly unleashed Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, in a slash-and-burn campaign against the US government. Continue reading...

Events

2 d. ago MAGA targets Justice Amy Coney Barrett after she rules against Trump

‘She is evil, chosen solely because she checked identity politics boxes,’ one conservative media personality said

Politics

3 d. ago Court rules Trump’s firing of labor board chief illegal, saying president is no king

Judge orders reinstatement of Gwynne Wilcox to National Labor Relations Board after her removal by US presidentA federal court ruled that Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of a former senior official at the top US labor watchdog was illegal, and ordered that she be reinstated.Gwynne Wilcox was the first member of the National Labor Relations Board to be removed by a US president since the board’s inception in 1935. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Court rules Trump’s firing of labor board official illegal, saying president is not a king

Judge orders reinstatement of Gwynne Wilcox to National Labor Relations Board after her removal by US presidentA federal court ruled that Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of a former senior official at the top US labor watchdog was illegal, and ordered that she be reinstated.Gwynne Wilcox was the first member of the National Labor Relations Board to be removed by a US president since the board’s inception in 1935. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Supreme court rejects Trump request to continue freezing $2bn in foreign aid

John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett join liberal justices to leave in place lower-court order on USAid cutsUS politics live – latest updatesA divided US supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to continue freezing nearly $2bn in foreign aid, marking a setback for the White House and the tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with slashing the size of the US government and its spending.In a 5-4 decision released on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett joined the liberal justices in leaving in place a ruling from a US district judge last month, which ordered the administration to unfreeze the nearly $2bn in aid for work that had already been done, and that had been approved by Congress. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago US supreme court upholds order requiring USAid to pay foreign aid groups – live

The decision saw the three liberal justices join with conservatives John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett in the majorityDonald Trump and Justin Trudeau will speak today, Reuters reports, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.The Canadian prime minister condemned Trump’s imposition of levies on his country yesterday, saying he was looking to make its economy collapse as part of a plan to incorporate it into the United States. Trump responded with insults, and a warning that he may tighten levies further next month. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Arab leaders endorse $53bn plan to rebuild Gaza as alternative to Trump idea

Proposal focuses on emergency relief and long-term economic development under Palestinian Authority administrationArab leaders have endorsed a $53bn (£42bn) plan to rebuild Gaza under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in a rushed attempt to present an alternative to Donald Trump’s idea for a property development-style plan, which involved a relocation of the Palestinian population that has been widely criticised as effectively endorsing ethnic cleansing.The prospect of the PA governing Gaza remains far from certain, however, with Israel having ruled out any future role for the body, and Trump having closed the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) liaison office in Washington during his first term while stepping up support for Israel. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Trump has utterly changed the rules of engagement. World leaders must learn this – and quickly | Simon Tisdall

The world’s most admired democracy is being held hostage by a clique of far-right thugs. It would be a mistake to placate themIt’s not only about Donald Trump. It’s not just about saving Ukraine, or defeating Russia, or how to boost Europe’s security, or what to do about an America gone rogue. It’s about a world turned upside down – a dark, fretful, more dangerous place where treaties and laws are no longer respected, alliances are broken, trust is fungible, principles are negotiable and morality is a dirty word. It’s an ugly, disordered world of raw power, brute force, selfish arrogance, dodgy deals and brazen lies. It’s been coming for a while; the US president is its noisy harbinger.Take the issues one at a time. Trump is a toxic symptom of the wider malaise. For sure, he is an extraordinarily malign, unfeeling and irresponsible man. He cares nothing for the people he leads, seeing them merely as an audience for his vulgar showmanship. His undeserved humiliation of Ukraine’s vali...

Politics

8 d. ago Fired federal watchdog must keep his job, judge rules, striking blow to Trump’s reshaping of government

A federal judge said President Donald Trump’s bid to remove the special counsel was unlawful

Events

8 d. ago Judge rules head of watchdog agency must keep his job, says Trump's bid to oust him was unlawful

A federal judge has ruled that the head of a federal watchdog agency must remain in his job, saying President Donald Trump’s bid to remove the special counsel was unlawful

Politics

9 d. ago ‘Britain doesn't rule the waves – it waives the rules for anything Trump wants’

Everything will be peachy as long as we keep toddler Trump happy, and as there are no depths our diminished country won’t plumb to win his approval, here’s Brian Reade's plan to win him over

Politics

9 d. ago Trump administration officially rescinds rules protecting transgender inmates despite ongoing lawsuits

Administration’s plans to move transgender women to men’s prison wings are paused due to lawsuits

Politics

1 week ago Fox News correspondent slams Trump administration for new press access rules that ‘gives power to the White House’

Leavitt announced at Tuesday’s press briefing that the White House would now choose the press pool participants going forward

Politics