Officials say slashing of US Department for International Development leaves power vacuum for adversariesHundreds of diplomats at the state department and US Agency for International Development have written to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, protesting against the dismantling of USAid, saying it undermines US leadership and security and leaves power vacuums for China and Russia to fill.In a cable expected to be filed with the department’s internal “dissent channel”, which allows diplomats to raise concerns about policy anonymously, the diplomats said the Trump administration’s 20 January freeze on almost all foreign aid also endangers American diplomats and forces overseas while putting at risk the lives of millions abroad that depend on US assistance. Continue reading...

Politics

Lawyers for Brad Sigmon said he chose a death by firing squad because he thought lethal injection would be tortuousSouth Carolina’s supreme court has rejected what is likely the final appeal of convicted murderer Brad Sigmon, clearing the way for his execution by firing squad on Friday.Sigmon’s lawyers wanted to delay his death so they could get a fuller hearing in court to learn more information about the drug South Carolina uses in lethal injections. Sigmon said that lack of information forced him to choose to be shot to death. The state also has an electric chair, but Sigmon said he didn’t want to suffer being cooked alive by electricity. Continue reading...

Events

The Trump administration is dropping an emergency abortion case in Idaho in one of the administration’s first moves on the issue since President Donald Trump's second term began

Politics

The South Carolina Supreme Court has rejected what is likely the final appeal of condemned man Brad Sigmon, clearing the way for Friday’s firing squad execution

Sport

Ministers issue joint statement after Israel cuts off supplies in effort to push Hamas to accept change in ceasefire dealBritain has joined Germany and France to warn that Israel could be in breach of international law by halting the entry of aid into Gaza, which is facing a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis.The foreign secretary, David Lammy, signed a joint statement with his French and German counterparts to urge Israel and Hamas to engage constructively to get ceasefire talks back on track. Continue reading...

Society

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

Former Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell said the decision to cut international aid by £6billion a year would be a 'clarion call to terrorists' as Keir Starmer faces a growing backlash

Events

Republicans are relying on ‘nameless’ donors who want to push a rightwing agenda and gain long-term hegemonyBillionaires are increasingly bankrolling Republican candidates in state legislative races across the US to push a rightwing agenda and gain long-term hegemony.The concerted effort shows that Donald Trump ally Elon Musk, currently throwing his weight behind a candidate for Wisconsin’s state supreme court, is far from alone in seeking to build influence at the grassroots. Continue reading...

Politics

High court’s ruling clears the way for nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding to be released

Economics

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

As countries lose vital foreign aid from the UK and US, some fear governments could turn to China to seek funding packages saddled with unsustainable debts. Alicja Hagopian reports

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure from MPs over his decision to cut the overseas aid budget to fund an increase in defence spending

Politics

Peter Marocco assigned as head of Inter-American Foundation after White House fires president and CEOThe White House has installed Peter Marocco as head of a small independent international development agency, part of a broader push by Donald Trump and Elon Musk to dramatically reduce US foreign aid.Marocco, a Trump loyalist who presided over the administration’s evisceration of foreign aid programs at USAid and the state department, was placed in charge of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) on Friday, after the White House fired the foundation’s president and CEO, Sara Aviel, according to a letter sent by the chair of the agency’s board of directors and reviewed by the Guardian.Andrew Roth contributed reporting from Washington Continue reading...

Politics

The Tennessee Supreme Court has set new execution dates for four inmates after a nearly three-year pause

Politics

The evidence shows international aid – when spent correctly – can bring tremendous benefits and save millions of lives, writes expert and author Stefan Dercon. But if helping people cope with deprivation won’t convince the Maga crowd, advocates of aid spending will have to try a different argument

Politics

Ruling by the court, which has a Republican super majority, undermines the 1972 Clean Water ActThe US supreme court has weakened rules on the discharge of raw sewage into water supplies in a 5-4 ruling that undermines the 1972 Clean Water Act.The CWA is the principle law governing pollution control and water quality of the nation’s waterways. Continue reading...

Events

Taking place in the middle of a chaotic time for the US and the world at large, this year’s ceremony was light on statements and devoid of the Trump word entirelyTwenty-two years ago, the last time Adrien Brody won the Academy award for best actor, film-maker Michael Moore accepted his own Oscar for Bowling for Columbine, a documentary about America’s obsession with guns, by offering a preview of sorts of his next feature, Fahrenheit 9/11. He decried then president George W Bush as “fictitious” (alluding to his fishy, supreme court-assisted election win a year and a half earlier) and excoriated the Bush administration for sending the United States to war with Iraq – just three days earlier, in fact – for “fictitious reasons”. It was received with a mixture of applause and boos, probably the most memorable moment of the night, give or take Brody planting a kiss on Halle Berry.Two years later, when Fahrenheit 9/11 might have been similarly honored (and almost certainly would have been...

Politics

The Supreme Court is turning back a challenge from conservative college students who say their freedom of speech is violated by a university program for reporting allegations of bias

Events

Tariffs will come in but exact levels will be ‘for president and his team to negotiate’, says commerce secretary Howard LutnickWith less than two weeks to go before a 14 March deadline, Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress appear to be nowhere close to a deal to avert a government shutdown that would throw Washington into deeper turmoil, Reuters reported.The talks have been complicated by president Donald Trump, who has ignored spending laws passed by Congress, suspended foreign aid and fired tens of thousands of federal workers. Continue reading...

Politics

South Carolina is preparing this week to execute a man by firing squad, a capital punishment method that hasn’t been used in the U.S. in nearly 15 years

Politics