4 h. ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s Congo deal: mineral riches for protection | Editorial

Faced with regional chaos and shrinking options, Kinshasa seeks terms of trade that echo the old extractive order in modern disguise“The vilest scramble for loot that has ever disfigured the history of human conscience” is how Joseph Conrad described colonial-era concessions granted to private companies for Congo’s natural resources in Heart of Darkness. Under Donald Trump, that scramble may be back. If news reports are right, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is offering the US a blunt deal: minerals for military help – a slice of sovereignty traded for a shot at stability.The concern is this isn’t a return, it’s a sequel. For three decades, Washington supported Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, a cold war ally and brutal dictator who looted the Congo until his 1997 fall. That history of power politics still casts a long shadow. The Trump administration openly favours muscle over diplomacy. Fadhel Kaboub, an associate professor of economics at Denison University, notes that Biden-era ...

Politics

8 h. ago Donald Trump hails standing ovation at UFC 314 as vote of confidence: ‘We’re doing a good job’

Trump’s administration has come under intense scrutiny after imposing the steepest American tariffs on imports in over a century

Politics

8 h. ago Mad House: new book exposes Capitol Hill’s absurdity and dysfunction

Reporters Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater shine a jaundiced spotlight on the foibles and foolishness of the US political classAnnie Karni, once of Politico, covers Congress for the New York Times. Her colleague Luke Broadwater, once a Pulitzer prize winner for the Baltimore Sun, makes the Trump administration his beat.As co-authors, at book length of Mad House, they deliver a sharp and wit-filled portrait of Capitol Hill dysfunction. Generally unflattering, Karni and Broadwater dedicate their book on modern US politics to “the leakers, gossips, and busybodies who populate the halls of Congress”. Continue reading...

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8 h. ago ‘Bureaucratic cruelty’: 9/11 responders and survivors shaken by US health cuts

World Trade Center healthcare program for people affected by attacks is in turmoil over Trump officials’ overhaulA program that provides free healthcare to first responders and survivors of the World Trade Center terror attacks has been in turmoil for months, with services cut, restored and cut again as part of the Trump administration’s “restructuring” of the federal health department.Following the most recent cuts, groups representing survivors and even Democratic US senators say they have no clarity on how the program will continue to provide benefits. Continue reading...

Events

9 h. ago RFK Jr giving families ‘false hope’ on autism, says outgoing US vaccine official

Dr Peter Marks, forced to resign by Trump administration, sees no ‘possible way’ to determine cause by SeptemberThe US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, should not offer “false hope” to families by boasting he can figure out what causes autism as soon as September, says the physician who resigned as the nation’s top vaccine official amid what he called anti-vaccination misinformation from the Trump administration cabinet member.In an interview during which he alluded to his help helming Operation Warp Speed – the initiative that took only about nine months to develop, manufacture and distribute the vaccines protecting the public from Covid-19 – Dr Peter Marks warned that autism “is an incredibly complicated issue”. Continue reading...

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9 h. ago Trump’s already skirting due process. Now he’s musing about deporting citizens | Moira Donegan

Amid a series of sadistic expulsions, the White House says Trump has reflected kicking Americans out of the countryThey’re rounding people up, and you could be next. The Trump administration has largely dispensed with due process rights in deporting immigrants, who are now being targeted for their protected speech, having their visas or green cards summarily cancelled without process and sometimes without notice, and getting kidnapped off the streets and hustled into vans so that they can be shipped to “detention centers” too far away for their loved ones, or their lawyers, to visit them.Some immigrants are being targeted for disappearance because they oppose Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, an opinion that it is now physically dangerous, instead of merely unpopular, to hold. But others the government seems to be seizing almost at random. More than 200 Venezuelan nationals have been seized and deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador, rendered outside of US jurisdiction in...

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22 h. ago Trump lawyers confirm wrongly deported Maryland man in El Salvador prison

Administration fails to show they have taken any steps to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego García The Trump administration on Saturday confirmed to a federal judge that a Maryland man who was wrongly deported last month remains confined in a notorious prison in El Salvador.However, the White House filing did not address the judge’s demands that the administration detail the steps it was taking to return Kilmar Abrego García to the United States. The White House only confirmed that García was under the authority of the El Salvador government. Continue reading...

Events

22 h. ago Harvard University faculty sue to block Trump review of nearly $9bn in funding

Lawsuit filed along with motion for temporary restraining order calls threats an existential ‘gun to the head’Harvard University professors are suing to block the Trump administration’s review of nearly $9bn in federal contracts and grants awarded to the Ivy League school as part of a crackdown on what the White House says is antisemitism on college campuses.The Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the national arm of the academic organization said in a lawsuit filed on Friday in a Boston federal court that the administration was trying to unlawfully undermine academic freedom and free speech on the school’s campus. Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. ago US won't say whether it's facilitating return of mistakenly deported man, despite judge's order

The Trump administration has confirmed to a federal judge that a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported last month remained confined in a notorious prison in El Salvador

Events

27 h. ago The case against Mahmoud Khalil is meant to silence American dissent | Moustafa Bayoumi

The open door of American democracy is slamming shut faster and louder than we could have imaginedOn Friday afternoon, a federal immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, the lawful permanent resident who was arrested last month for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University, was removable – that is to say, deportable – under the law.Let’s be absolutely clear about how outrageous this decision is. The judge, Jamee Comans, had given the Trump administration a deadline to produce the evidence required to show that Khalil should be deported. In a functional state, such evidence would rise to a standard of extreme criminality necessitating deportation. Continue reading...

Politics

28 h. ago US ‘demands control’ from Ukraine of key pipeline carrying Russian gas

Senior Kyiv economist describes latest postion of Trump administration in talks as ‘colonial-type’ bullyingThe US has demanded control of a crucial pipeline in Ukraine used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, in a move described as a colonial shakedown.US and Ukrainian officials met on Friday to discuss White House proposals for a minerals deal. Donald Trump wants Kyiv to hand over its natural resources as “payback” in return for weapons delivered by the previous Biden administration. Continue reading...

Politics

32 h. ago Trump administration ordered to unfreeze funding in dispute with Maine over transgender students

A U.S. District Court judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal aid to Maine to comply with requirements under a law aimed at prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education

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46 h. ago Former Trump aide says he knows exactly when president's bromance with Elon Musk will implode

The former White House staffer Anthony Scaramucci, who spent an infamous 11 days in Trump's first administration spoke to the Welcome to MAGAland podcast on Friday. Listen now.

Politics

47 h. ago What we know about the Social Security Administration listing thousands of living immigrants as dead

The Trump administration’s move to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers is an escalation of the president’s crackdown on people who were legally allowed to live in the U.S. under programs instituted by his predecessor

Events

48 h. ago Judge allows Trump administration to deport Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil over pro

Immigration court judge will allow government to continue removal efforts against green card holder

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50 h. ago Judge says Trump lawyers’ failure to explain how they plan to return wrongly deported man ‘extremely troubling’ – live

US district judge Paula Xinis demands administration identify whereabouts of Kilmar Abrego GarciaAdvocates for academic freedom are bracing for what they expect to be the next phase of the government’s effort to reshape higher education: an overhaul of the system accrediting institutions of higher learning.Donald Trump has made no secret of such plans. During the campaign, he boasted that accreditation would be his “secret weapon” against colleges and universities the right has long viewed as too progressive.We may lose a lot of materials.All of the states, we are in dire shape. We have had a reconsideration of everything with regard to what Doge [is doing].” Continue reading...

Events

51 h. ago Legal Defense Fund exits Meta civil rights advisory group over DEI changes

Meta ending DEI programs, getting rid of factcheckers and changing content moderation policies led to LDF’s decisionOn Friday, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) announced its decision to exit Meta’s external civil rights advisory group due to its concerns over Meta’s content moderation and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) policy changes.In January, Meta made a series of sweeping changes, including ending its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, getting rid of its factcheckers and changing its content moderation policies. These changes, which some saw as aligning Meta with the then incoming Trump administration, informed the LDF’s decision to leave the civil rights advisory group. Continue reading...

Events

51 h. ago Federal judge refuses to block immigration enforcement operations in houses of worship

A federal judge has refused to block immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations at houses of worship in a lawsuit filed by religious groups over a new policy adopted by the Trump administration

Events

53 h. ago UK warned not to waste trade concessions to secure Trump deal as hopes of avoiding tariffs fade

Trade economist Simon Evenett told The Independent that the Trump administration seems ‘very reluctant to go below 10 per cent’ on tariffs

Events

54 h. ago US law firms quietly scrub DEI references from websites to appease Trump

Changes at two dozen prestigious firms underscore Trump’s successful intimidation campaign against legal professionNearly two dozen US law firms have quietly scrubbed references to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from their website and revised descriptions of pro-bono work to more closely align with Donald Trump’s priorities, a Guardian review has found, underscoring the Trump administration’s successful campaign of intimidation against the legal profession.The changes, which have occurred at some of the nation’s most prestigious firms, include eliminating mention of pro-bono immigration work from firm websites and deleting sections entirely related to DEI. In some cases, firms appear to have dropped the word “diversity” from descriptions of their work. In at least one case, a change included revising a quote from firm partners to eliminate mention of diversity and inclusion. Continue reading...

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