Trump administration
Trump administration to burn $13M worth of female contraceptives, despite NGO’s offer to take them
A view of a warehouse of Kuehne+Nagel in Geel, Belgium, which houses U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million US, after the U.S. State Department confirmed that the stocks would be sent to France to be destroyed. (Marta Fiorin/Reuters) As It HappensThis NGO tried to save $13M worth of USAID contraceptives from being burned The U.S. State Department plans to incinerate roughly $13.2 million worth of women’s contraceptives despite offers from multiple aid agencies to distribute the supplies at no cost. The supplies, which include various forms of birth control, wereRead more
Trump administration releases flood of FBI records on Martin Luther King Jr.
The Trump administration on Monday released records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate’s family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. In a lengthy statement released Monday, King’s two living children, Martin Luther King III, 67, and Bernice,Read more
Trump administration promises on Jeffrey Epstein case fizzle out, angering some allies
The U.S. Justice Department and White House have scrambled this week to explain a significant walkback from promises of potentially explosive information involving accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele. A Justice Department memo on Epstein, released on Monday, concluded that after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data, there was “no incriminating client list” nor was there any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people. The memo also confirmed prior findings by the FBI which concluded that Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial, andRead more
See the Ukraine war ceasefire proposals put forth by the Trump administration
Reuters has seen the text of a set of proposals to end Russia’s war in Ukraine that were presented to European officials by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff at talks in Paris on April 17. Witkoff was in Moscow on Friday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, just over a day after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly implored Putin to stop bombing Ukraine after several civilians were killed in Kyiv airstrikes. But at other points early in his second term as president, Trump has directed his ire at Ukrainian President VolodomyrRead more
Trump administration threatens Harvard’s foreign enrolment, tax-exempt status
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during an event on April 9, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Harvard University will lose its ability to enrol foreign students if it does not meet demands from the Trump administration to share information on some visa holders, marking the government’s latest escalation against the educational institution. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced on Wednesday the termination of two DHS grants totalling more than $2.7 million US to Harvard. NoemRead more
U.S. Supreme Court upholds ruling ordering Trump administration to fulfil $2B in USAID contracts
Demonstrators hold signs on Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C., to honour former USAID employees terminated after the Trump administration initiated cuts to the agency. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) A divided U.S. Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to let President Donald Trump’s administration withhold payment to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government, as the Republican president moves to pull the plug on American humanitarian projects around the world. In a 5-4 decision, the court upheld Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s order that had called on theRead more
USAID workers pack belongings, as Trump administration targets 90% of foreign aid contracts
A U.S. Agency for International Development worker holds a bouquet of flowers after retrieving her belongings from agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/The Associated Press) U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) workers — many in tears — carted away belongings through cheering crowds in a final visit to their now-closed headquarters on Thursday as the Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of the congressionally authorized agency moved into its final stages. Notices sent out in mass mailings this week are terminating more than 90 per cent of USAID’s contractsRead more