3 h. ago Trump pauses $2.1B for Chicago infrastructure projects, leveraging shutdown to pressure Democrats

White House budget director Russ Vought says the Trump administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the government shutdown

Politics

4 h. ago ‘We called ourselves the lifeboat crew’: how fired USAID workers launched a rescue project ‘to save as many babies as we can’

After the Trump administration closed the organisation down, a group of former staff secured new funding for almost 80 programmes, benefiting an estimated 40 million peopleThey call themselves the “lifeboat crew”. After losing their jobs abruptly when the Trump administration slashed US overseas aid earlier this year, a group of dedicated workers decided to launch their own rescue package.Refusing to “wallow in misery”, Rob Rosenbaum, a former USAID economist, and a group of like-minded former agency staff began efforts to save some of the vital programmes that faced closure after the cuts. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago Apple pulls ICE tracking apps after pressure from the White House

Programs allowing public to post information about raids by immigration agents in their communities pulled from App Store following heavy criticism from Trump administration officials this summer

Events

11 h. ago Trump administration taps Army Reserve and National Guard for temporary immigration judges

The Trump administration is tapping National Guard and Army Reserve lawyers to be temporary immigration judges after firing dozens of existing judges

Politics

11 h. ago Trump’s crackdown on lawyers shows ‘no place is immune’, says US bar chief

Michelle Behnke says lawyers from around the world have given support as ABA challenges ‘policy of intimidation’The Trump administration’s crackdown on lawyers it does not like is something people thought “could never happen in the United States”, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA) has said.In an interview with the Guardian, Michelle Behnke, who was in London for a gathering on the safety and protection of lawyers, said the ABA was used to dispensing advice to associations in other countries but the tables had turned to an extent. Continue reading...

Politics

12 h. ago US archivist ousted after refusing to let Trump give Eisenhower’s sword to King Charles – reports

The Trump administration ultimately gave the King a replica sword on the president’s recent state visitThe Eisenhower Presidential Library’s director has exited his position after advocating against giving a sword from the collection to King Charles as a gift during Donald Trump’s recent state visit, according to US media reports on Thursday.Todd Arrington left his post on Monday after being told to “resign or be fired”, he told CBS News, which did not specify who had relayed the message to the historian. Continue reading...

Politics

14 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: Putin warns of ‘new level of escalation’ if Tomahawk missiles supplied to Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells European leaders that Moscow’s war ‘was never just about Ukraine’. What we know on day 1,318See all our Ukraine war overageRussian president Vladimir Putin has warned that supplying US Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would lead to a “whole new level of escalation”, including in relations between Moscow and Washington. Responding to questions at a forum in Sochi, Putin said it would not change the situation on the battlefield, where the Russian army is making slow but steady advances.The Trump administration’s desire to send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine may not be viable because current inventories are committed to the US navy and other uses, Reuters reported a US official and three sources as saying. The US may look into allowing European allies to buy other long-range weapons and supply them to Ukraine but Tomahawks were unlikely, the official said, questioning the feasibility of providing the cruise missiles with a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles) and suggesti...

Events

15 h. ago Trump news at a glance: President hails shutdown as ‘opportunity’ to further campaign of cuts

The government has already announced the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal funding for projects tied to Democrats. Key US politics stories from Thursday 2 October at a glanceAs the US government shutdown stretched into its second day, Donald Trump on Thursday hailed the funding lapse as an “unprecedented opportunity” to further his campaign of firing federal workers and downsizing departments.The president announced on social media that he would sit down with Russell Vought, the White House office of management and budget chief, an architect of the mass firings and buyouts of federal workers. Continue reading...

Politics

16 h. ago Trump administration approves generic version of abortion pill after RFK Jr had FDA review drug’s safety

The drug will now be produced by Evita Solutions LLC, which describes its mission as being to ‘normalize abortion’

Politics

24 h. ago Judge denies Kilmar Ábrego García’s bid for asylum in the US

Salvadorian man, who was deported to El Salvador in March before being returned to the US, has 30 days to appeal rulingAn immigration judge in Baltimore has denied Kilmar Ábrego García’s bid for asylum on Thursday, but he has 30 days to appeal.Ábrego’s case has drawn national attention since the 30-year-old was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March. Continue reading...

Events

28 h. ago Our girls theater: how the right claims to protect women’s sports while attacking them

The WNBA finals tip off on Friday. But many of those discussing the league denigrate its players while not bothering to watch the action itself“Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls.”– Donald Trump during the signing of his Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports executive order, 5 February 2025 Continue reading...

Events

31 h. ago Fifa says Donald Trump can’t move World Cup matches despite threat to ‘left lunatic’ cities

President Trump said last week his administration would make sure cities were ‘safe’

Politics

35 h. ago American democracy might not survive another year – is Europe ready for that? | Alexander Hurst

Trapped between Putin and Trump, EU citizens understand the grave dangers facing the continent. Their leaders urgently need to face reality, tooFascism is supposed to look a certain way: black-clad, uniformed, synchronised and menacing. It is not supposed to look like an overweight president who can’t pronounce acetaminophen and who bumbles, for a full minute, about how he would have renovated the UN’s New York headquarters with marble floors, rather than a terrazzo. But as Umberto Eco remarked in his timeless essay on identifying the eternal nature of fascism: “Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises.”Historians, scholars and even some insiders from the first Trump administration have seen through the comedic quality of the disguise. They appear to have seen in Donald Trump himself and those around him, Eco’s core criteria: the call to tradition and the rejection of reason, the fear of difference, the hostility towards disagreement, th...

Events

43 h. ago Buckle up, America — Republicans and Democrats appear dug in for a long government shutdown

Republicans say Democrats ‘don't have the high ground in this in this situation,’ Eric Garcia writes. But Democrats are unintimidated by threats from the Trump administration to target their states

Politics

44 h. ago Trump administration suggests ‘imminent’ layoffs as bipartisan group of senators seek way out of government shutdown – live

Bipartisan collaboration good sign that lawmakers are looking for a way out of the funding lapse; JD Vance falsely claims that Democrats want to fund healthcare for ‘illegal aliens’ US government shuts downThis shutdown is expected to be worse than previous ones. The impact on federal workers could be even more severe.Before Trump’s most recent threat of mass layoffs on Tuesday, a memo released last week by the White House’s office of management and budget told agencies not just to prepare for temporary furloughs but for permanent layoffs in the event of a shutdown. Continue reading...

Politics

46 h. ago What do Trump and Hegseth’s inflammatory speeches to military generals signal? | Moira Donegan

The Trump administration evidently seeks to transform the US military into a partisan tool of the president’s regimeShortly after Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s defense secretary, summoned all the military’s generals to Quantico, Virginia, from their positions around the world in an unusual demand for an in-person assembly, Ben Hodges, a retired general, took to social media to evoke a bit of history. “July 1935,” Hodges said. “German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weiman constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer. Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions.” Hegseth’s account replied to Hodges post: “Cool story, General”.Yet when the meeting finally happened on Tuesday morning, the army generals and navy admirals were treated to a 45-minute speech by Hegseth, followed by a rambling, hour-long address by Trump, which confirmed at least some of what Hodges ...

Events

46 h. ago Maine clinics also hit by cuts that targeted Planned Parenthood plan to halt primary care

A network of medical clinics that serves low-income residents in Maine says it is shutting down its primary care operations because of Trump administration cuts to abortion providers

Events

47 h. ago Jane Fonda relaunches free speech group started by her father during the McCarthy era

In wake of the Trump administration’s censorship threats, the actor re-established the Committee for the First Amendment with A-list supportJane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, the McCarthy-era initiative started by her father, Henry Fonda, with a groundswell of celebrity support.The new committee, established to protect free speech from government censorship, has the support of over 550 entertainment figures, including: Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Natalie Portman, Aaron Sorkin, Spike Lee, Pedro Pascal, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Penn, John Legend, Damon Lindelof, Julianne Moore, Janelle Monáe, Barbra Streisand, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ethan Hawke, Billie Eilish, Anjelica Huston and Judd Apatow. Continue reading...

Politics

48 h. ago Trump administration imposes sanctions on some Iranian people and firms after UN decision

The U.S. imposes new sanctions on firms and individuals linked to Iran's missile and military aircraft production

Politics

48 h. ago Donald Trump blows up his own approval ratings over embarrassing US government shutdown

Trump's administration is set to furlough 750,000 workers as government activities come to a standstill due to the inability of Republican and Democratic lawmakers to resolve a budget standoff

Politics