United States
Kennedy Center to close for two years for renovations, Trump says
The Kennedy Center in Washington DC will be closed for a two-year renovation beginning in July, US President Donald Trump has announced. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that the centre would close on 4 July this year “in honour of the 250th Anniversary of our Country”. The move follows several artists cancelling performances at the storied institution after it was recently renamed as the Trump Kennedy Center. Shortly after taking office, the president fired several of the board members at the centre and replaced them with allies, whoRead more
Trump says administration ‘reviewing everything’ after fatal shooting of Minneapolis nurse
EPA US President Donald Trump says his administration is “reviewing everything” after the fatal shooting by immigration agents of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. In his comments to the Wall Street Journal, Trump also indicated that he would eventually withdraw agents from the city. But he did not give a timeframe. Protests continued in Minneapolis and other US cities on Sunday, as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz warned that America was at an “inflection point”. The facts around the incident – the second fatal shooting byRead more
Trump trips, a fake video and 10 possible co-conspirators – Takeaways from new Epstein files
The US Department of Justice released its latest – and largest – tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files on Tuesday. The 11,000-plus documents continue a stream of released information that began on Friday, the deadline mandated in a new law that required the department to publicly release all of its investigative files into the deceased paedophile and financier. Many of the documents released on Tuesday are redacted with names and information blacked out, including names of people who the FBI appears to cite as possible co-conspirators in the Epstein case. TheRead more
Congress ups pressure to release boat strike video with threat to Hegseth’s travel budget
Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images US lawmakers are trying to pressure the Trump administration to release video of a controversial “double-tap” military strike by limiting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget. The incident on 2 September, in which the US carried out a second deadly strike on a boat in the Caribbean, has raised fresh questions about the legality of Trump’s campaign targeting alleged drug-carrying vessels. A provision buried in a lengthy defence spending policy would restrict travel funds for Hegseth’s office until the Pentagon hands over unedited footage. TheRead more
Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn E Jean Carroll verdict
Getty Images Jean Carroll at a Manhattan federal court President Donald Trump is asking the US Supreme Court to review the $5m (£3.6m) civil case that found he defamed and sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll. He has repeatedly claimed that the judge who oversaw the civil trial, Lewis Kaplan, improperly allowed evidence to be presented that hurt how the jury viewed Trump. A federal appeals court agreed with the jury’s verdict last year and said Kaplan did not make errors that would warrant a new trial. A New YorkRead more
Four potential obstacles in House vote to end US shutdown
Getty Images Texas Democrat Greg Casar has warned against healthcare “betrayal” A day after the US Senate passed a spending bill to end the longest-ever government shutdown, the budget fight now moves to the House of Representatives. The lower chamber of Congress is expected to vote this week on the funding measure. Unlike in the Senate, if House Republicans stay united, they don’t need any Democrats to pass the budget. But the margin for error is razor thin. Here are four potential hold-ups for the budget, before it can clearRead more
US aircraft carrier group arrives in Caribbean
Getty Images Dozens of aircraft on the USS Gerald R Ford add significant combat power to US forces near Latin America A US naval strike force centred around the world’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford, has arrived in the Caribbean, the US Navy has confirmed. The arrival of the strike group, which was ordered to the region by President Donald Trump last month, comes amid ongoing strikes against alleged drug boats and tensions with Venezuela. The US has so far carried out at least 19 strikes against boatsRead more
Will Musk’s explosive row with Trump help or harm his businesses?
Getty Images When Elon Musk recently announced that he was stepping back from politics, investors hoped that would mean he would step up his involvement in the many tech firms he runs. His explosive row with President Donald Trump – and the very public airing of his dirty White House laundry – suggests Musk’s changing priorities might not quite be the salve they had been hoping for. Instead of Musk retreating somewhat from the public eye and focusing on boosting the fortunes of Tesla and his other enterprises, he nowRead more
Trump is starting a trade war. If he wants to absorb Canada, what comes next will be worse
The first shots of the trade war between the United States and Canada have been fired. Whether it escalates beyond the planned 25 per cent tariff into a wider economic war depends upon how genuinely serious President Donald Trump is about annexation, experts say. Tariffs are one thing. While painful and destructive, experts agree duties alone would not crush the Canadian economy, nor the political establishment, into submission. Prior to his inauguration, Trump threatened to use “economic force” to compel Canada to become the 51st state in the union. ThatRead more