8 h. ago Hundreds of ‘Workers Over Billionaires’ Labor Day rallies take place across US

Protests denounce Trump administration’s policies and demand freedom, fairness and security for workersAs Labor Day rallies took place across the US, the Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson sharply denounced the Trump administration’s threat to deploy federal troops to the city as part of an immigration crackdown.“No federal troops in the city of Chicago,” said Johnson on Monday to a gathered crowd at the “Workers over Billionaires” demonstration in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. Continue reading...

Economics

25 h. ago Investors underestimate Trump’s threat to the Fed, economists warn

FT survey cites fears that president’s assault has caused long-term damage to the US central bank and economy

Events

4 d. ago Trump serious about pursuing a third term, Gavin Newsom warns

In an interview hosted by Politico, the California governor said the US must ‘wake up’ to the the threat posed by the president’s disregard of democratic normsDonald Trump is gravely serious about running for a third term in violation of the US constitution, California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, warning Americans to “wake up” to what he described as the president’s flagrant disregard for democratic norms.“I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election,” Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento. “This guy doesn’t believe in free, fair elections.” Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago America survived a coup attempt. Can it endure dictatorial creep? | Lawrence Douglas

Trump’s threat to deploy troops to Chicago is the latest example of a slow manipulation of the line between legal and illegalJanuary 6 demonstrated that longstanding democracies can readily resist a disorganized effort at a coup. They are less equipped to withstand the normalization of exceptional measures: the use of federal agents to quell domestic protest, the staging of police raids on the homes of leaders’ political opponents, the pretextual invocations of emergency powers. Each of these steps may seem temporary and targeted; they may even enjoy a thin patina of legality. But over time, a democratic order turns into what Ernst Fraenkel, a German-Jewish lawyer whose book The Dual State stands as one of the first and most perceptive examinations of Hitler’s regime, called a “prerogative state” – a government in which the executive “is released from all legal restraints and depends solely on the discretion of the persons wielding political power”.So let us be clear: Trump’s comman...

Events

6 d. ago Trump’s threat to deploy troops to Chicago sparks fear and defiance in a city on edge

President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago sent ripples through America’s third-largest city as residents defended their home against Trump’s escalating rhetoric toward violent crime, including claims Chicago is a “killing field.”

Politics

6 d. ago ‘It has a heroic, Roman quality’: how Arkansas’s timber university building could revolutionise architecture

First conceived as a ‘spider’s web of sticks’, this vast wooden wonder may end up being a template for the environmentally sound buildings of the futureFringed by a fragmented strip of big box stores, auto repair shops and brick buildings marooned in oceans of asphalt, the state highway of Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is not a place of architectural beauty. And yet, as unlikely as it may seem, this rumbling stretch of road on the edge of this small city is now home to one of the most significant buildings for the future of architecture in North America.Even at speed, it’s hard to miss. Standing opposite a 200-space Walmart parking lot, the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation looks like a group of great big barns caught in a highway pile-up. It begins as a low wooden shed at the back, before suddenly buckling up in jagged folds, its roofline jerking in staccato slopes until it greets the highway with a six-storey shop window. P...

Events

7 d. ago Lorne Michaels opens up on the future on SNL in Trump’s America: ‘Denouncing him doesn’t work’

‘Whatever crimes Trump is committing, he’s doing it in broad daylight,’ said the veteran producer as he downplayed the idea that the Trump administration poses a threat to TV comedy

Politics

7 d. ago Lorne Michaels opens up on the future of SNL in Trump’s America: ‘Denouncing him doesn’t work’

‘Whatever crimes Trump is committing, he’s doing it in broad daylight,’ said the veteran producer as he downplayed the idea that the Trump administration poses a threat to TV comedy

Politics

7 d. ago Trump follows through on threat to fire Federal Reserve governor in ongoing feud with central bank

The move is a sharp escalation in his battle to exert greater control over what has long been considered an institution independent from day-to-day politics.

Events

7 d. ago Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker warns Trump ‘Do not come to Chicago’ with military troops

Illinois leaders said Trump’s threat to bring the military to Chicago was unwarranted and part of attempt to silence dissent

Events

1 week ago Trump again mulls Russia sanctions as Ukraine peace remains elusive one week after Alaska summit

Russia’s foreign minister says no meeting planned between Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr ZelenskyyDonald Trump renewed a threat to impose sanctions on Russia if there was no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, as Moscow said there remained “no meeting planned” between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.“I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be a very important decision, and that’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or we do nothing and say it’s your fight,” Trump said, showing apparent frustration at Moscow a week after his meeting with Putin in Alaska. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago UN envoy warns of renewed violence in Syria a month into a fragile ceasefire

The top U.N. envoy for Syria is warning that its transition remains “on a knife-edge” and violence could resume at any moment in the southern city of Sweida, which saw deadly clashes last month

Events

1 week ago Russia rules out European troops in Ukraine as Trump makes veiled threats

Moscow backs away from accepting western security guarantees for Ukraine as US president appears to vent frustration in Truth Social postMoscow threw Donald Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative into disarray on Thursday, insisting it must have a veto over any postwar support for the country as its forces carried out a large-scale overnight missile barrage.In a series of hardline remarks, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said European proposals to deploy troops in Ukraine after a settlement would amount to “foreign intervention”, which he called absolutely unacceptable for Russia. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Russia upends Trump peace efforts with ‘foreign intervention’ veto demand

Moscow appears to back away from accepting postwar western security guarantees for UkraineRussia-Ukraine war – live updatesMoscow threw Donald Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative into disarray on Thursday, insisting it must have a veto over any postwar support for the country as its forces carried out a large-scale overnight missile barrage.In a series of hardline remarks, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said European proposals to deploy troops in Ukraine after a settlement would amount to “foreign intervention”, which he called absolutely unacceptable for Russia. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Moscow demands veto over support for Ukraine under any peace deal and questions Zelenskyy’s legitimacy – Ukraine war live

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, says European proposals to deploy troops in Ukraine after a settlement would amount to ‘foreign intervention’We have just heard from the European Commission, confirming that the EU and the US have now agreed on the much-awaited “joint statement” advancing the political commitments on trade agreed by Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump in Scotland last month.The commission’s press release says the statement “lays out in detail the new US tariff regime towards the EU, with a clear maximum, all-inclusive, tariff rate of 15% for the vast majority of EU exports, including strategic sectors such as cars, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber.” Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago Moscow must have effective veto over any measures to support Ukraine after potential peace deal, says minister – Ukraine war live

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, says European proposals to deploy troops in Ukraine after a settlement would amount to ‘foreign intervention’We have just heard from the European Commission, confirming that the EU and the US have now agreed on the much-awaited “joint statement” advancing the political commitments on trade agreed by Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump in Scotland last month.The commission’s press release says the statement “lays out in detail the new US tariff regime towards the EU, with a clear maximum, all-inclusive, tariff rate of 15% for the vast majority of EU exports, including strategic sectors such as cars, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber.” Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump’s tariffs replace diplomacy as other US tools of statecraft are discarded

Measures meant to rebalance America’s economy are wielded instead against the likes of Canada, India and Brazil ‘to compel loyalty to the president’On the campaign trail, Donald Trump pledged to use tariffs to revitalise American industry, bringing jobs home and helping to make America great again. But more than six months into his administration, experts say the president’s trade war is increasingly being wielded as a political cudgel, in lieu of more traditional forms of diplomacy.The president’s current target, India, has been unable to reach a trade agreement and Trump appears ready to follow through with his threat to impose a further 25% tariff on Delhi – bringing the total to 50% – the joint highest levy on any country, along with Brazil. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Mississippi becomes fourth state to send National Guard troops to DC in expanding federal crackdown

The Mississippi National Guard will deploy 200 troops to Washington as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing federal policing and immigration efforts in the nation’s capital

Events

2 w. ago Trump says he will sign executive order and lead ‘movement’ against mail

Trump’s threat follows his claims that Putin agreed 2020 election was ‘rigged’ because of vote-by-mail ballots

Politics

2 w. ago Trump news at a glance: DC crackdown expands with national guard to be deployed by three more states

The states of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio will deploy hundreds of national guard troops to DC in the coming days – key US politics stories from Sunday 17 August at a glanceAfter deploying the national guard to the streets of Washington DC, Donald Trump’s federal crackdown is moving into a new phase.Three more states – West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio – have said they will deploy hundreds of national guard troops to DC in the coming days. But crime prevention workers say the move will do little to prevent crime, and address systemic cycles of violence and property crime. Continue reading...

Politics