Trump

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly proposed that the U.S. government take an equity stake in the company to ensure AI's economic benefits are shared with the public. • According to NOTUS, Altman first pitched this concept to President Donald Trump early last year, signaling a strategic effort to align the company with federal interests. • This move matters as it represents a potential shift in how the government interacts with private AI giants, moving from mere regulation to direct ownership or profit-sharing.

Trump administration has asked DC circuit court of appeals to reverse lower court decision which blocked construction of $400m ballroomNo court has the authority to halt construction of Donald Trump’s White House ballroom and a secure underground facility, a Department of Justice lawyer has argued, suggesting only US Congress had the power to stop the project.The Trump administration has asked the Washington DC circuit court of appeals to reverse a lower court decision which blocked construction of a $400m ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing. Construction of a secure bunker for staff underground at the site was allowed to proceed while the dispute between Washington DC preservationists and the White House continues. Continue reading...

Thousands have protested in the capital, Tirana, this week against a planned luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.Groundwork has begun on the $1.6bn complex in an area long seen as one of the Mediterranean’s most environmentally sensitive, containing 200 species of birds including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans.After builders began erecting a concrete-based, barbed wire-topped fence around the site, alarm turned to public outrage at the environmental damage and lack of political transparency around the deal.Lucy Hough speaks to US live news editor Chris Michael – watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Request for evidence to support claims of reputational and financial harm from Panorama documentary dismissed as ‘fishing expedition’Donald Trump’s legal team has rejected a request by the BBC to hand over financial information as part of his $10bn defamation case against the broadcaster.The US president’s lawyers accused the BBC of a “fishing expedition”, according to court filings, after the broadcaster’s representatives asked for details to get evidence on Trump’s claims he suffered reputational and financial damage by a Panorama documentary centred on the US Capitol riots. Continue reading...

Seven Republican senators joined Democrats to block Fisa extension amid disquiet over nomination of Bill PulteUS politics live – latest updatesSeven Republican senators joined Democrats early on Friday to block the extension of a powerful government surveillance program, a rebuke to Donald Trump for choosing an inexperienced ally as the country’s top intelligence official.The renewal had been in question amid bipartisan concern over the US president’s appointment of Bill Pulte, a major Republican donor and heir to a home construction fortune, to serve as acting director of national intelligence. Continue reading...

• Donald Trump is preparing for a busy summer schedule involving several high-profile sporting events, including the NBA Finals and UFC Freedom 250. • The schedule culminates with the start of the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. • These events highlight Trump's continued close associations with major sports leagues and global tournaments.

Experts say dismantling the ocean observation system will ‘severely degrade’ the accuracy of weather predictionsThe Trump administration’s plan to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would “severely degrade” the accuracy of weather predictions and El Niño forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned.Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to research published last month. Continue reading...

Tech giants claim Australia’s free trade agreement with the United States will be violated, as they try to kill a proposal to force them to pay news companiesTech companies are invoking Australia’s free trade agreement with the United States, and threats of a Trump administration retaliation in a bid to kill off the federal government’s proposal to force them to pay news companies.The news media bargaining incentive is designed to force Meta, Google and TikTok to make commercial deals with Australian media outlets, or be forced to pay a dedicated 2.25% levy on local revenues. Continue reading...

Legislation would also sanction key segments of Russian economy, overriding objections from Republican leadersThe House passed legislation Thursday that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy, overriding objections from Republican leaders who warned the bill would undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.The 226-195 vote is a sign of impatience with Donald Trump’s approach to the war and represents the House’s second major foreign policy break with Trump this week. The day before, the House, for the first time, approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting US military action against Iran. Continue reading...

• The Union of Concerned Scientists is sounding the alarm over a proposed rule by the Trump administration aimed at exerting greater control over the federal scientific enterprise. • The organization argues that the move is a political attempt to redirect research toward a specific agenda, threatening the independence and integrity of federal science. • This shift is viewed as a risk to public health and safety, as federal funding through agencies like the NIH has historically led to critical breakthroughs in cancer treatment and pesticide reduction.

• The 2026 stock market is being primarily shaped by the Trump administration's policies, specifically focusing on tariffs, tax cuts, and oil prices. • Market performance is driven by a combination of corporate earnings, inflation rates, interest rates, and overall economic growth. • This environment highlights the importance for investors to focus on broad economic trends rather than reacting to isolated short-term events like single policy shifts or war headlines.

• European Pravda provides analysis and reporting on Ukraine's integration with the EU and NATO, focusing on international relations and Western policy. • Recent explainers examine the impact of Denmark's government changes under pro-Ukraine Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and potential EU rule changes for Ukrainian refugees. • These developments are critical as they influence the level of diplomatic support and legal protections available to Ukrainians during the ongoing conflict.

• Professor Matthew Herder of Dalhousie University warns that the current Ebola outbreak is exacerbated by a lack of U.S. support for regional responses. • The situation is attributed to significant cuts in public health investments both domestically and abroad under the Trump administration's policies. • Herder highlights that the National Institutes of Health previously served as the primary global funder for biomedical research against infectious diseases.

US president’s appointee for acting director of national intelligence has sparked bipartisan criticismDonald Trump has suggested his controversial ally Bill Pulte will investigate “rigged elections” while serving as the country’s top intelligence official, as the US president continues to make unfounded allegations about voting.But Pulte, whom Trump appointed as acting director of national intelligence earlier this week, will only serve in the role temporarily, the president claimed on Thursday. Continue reading...

Three GOP senators joined Democrats as dispute over proposed payouts exposed party divisionsUS politics live – latest updatesSenate Republicans on Thursday narrowly scuttled an attempt by Democrats to stop Donald Trump from creating a $1.8bn fund to pay his allies, even as signs emerged that dissent over the proposal was spreading inside the US president’s own party.Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had proposed inserting language barring the payouts into Republican-backed legislation to fund Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term. Continue reading...

• The White House has proposed a new rule that would grant political appointees greater control over the approval and funding of scientific research grants. • Critics argue the proposal threatens the U.S. scientific enterprise by undermining the longstanding peer review process used to award grants. • This shift could restrict research into critical areas such as cancer, HIV, rare diseases, climate science, and artificial intelligence by prioritizing political agendas over scientific merit.

US president accused of ‘putting polluters first’ by invoking Defense Production Act to prop up coal outputDonald Trump is to use a wartime presidential authority to hand $700m to coal-fired power plants in the US, the latest move by the president to bolster what he calls “beautiful clean coal” despite it being the dirtiest of fossil fuels.Trump is using the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era statute used to accelerate American industrial output in times of national need, to provide grants to more than a dozen existing coal plants across the US, including facilities capable of exporting coal. Continue reading...

Trump, still negotiating to conclude the war, claims it’s already over. Some Republican lawmakers have had enoughDonald Trump has two things to say about his war with Iran. The first is that it’s already over. And second, a symbolic congressional vote to end it – carried by four members of his own party – is a stab in the back that could derail the peace talks he’s conducting for the war that’s already over.By a 215-208 margin on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted to direct the president to withdraw US forces from hostilities with Iran, the first time either chamber has passed such a measure in the little over three months since Operation Epic Fury began on 28 February. By Thursday morning, Trump was on Truth Social calling the vote “unpatriotic” and blaming it on “Trump Derangement Syndrome”. Continue reading...

• Investors are facing a grim economic outlook as inflation accelerates and economic growth slows under President Trump's administration. • This trend is concerning for the stock market because corporate earnings serve as the primary long-term determinant of stock prices. • To analyze these risks, the text references the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio, a valuation tool introduced in 1988 by Nobel laureate Robert Shiller and John Campbell.

US president alleges there is ‘big cheating’ in elections for governor and Los Angeles mayor as results are pendingDonald Trump has alleged without evidence that Democrats are cheating in California’s primaries and claimed in a late-night social media post that the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles was investigating.As counting continues in the most populous state in the US, the president’s unfounded remarks are likely to further alarm election observers, who have warned of the risk of escalating misinformation in the absence of a final result. Continue reading...

Deletion of the bureau’s website content is just the most recent part of a larger plan to ‘undermine an agency that’s helped people’The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deleted at least 2,200 webpages from its website last month, a move advocates say is part of the Trump administration’s latest effort to dismantle the federal consumer finance watchdog.The removed content was all published before Trump’s second term, and includes press releases, consumer advisories, congressional testimonies, speeches and blog posts. Some of the material dates back to as early as 2010, when the agency was formed. Continue reading...

Lebanese government agrees ceasefire but Israeli drone strikes continue. Plus the story of the man who launched Cuba’s first independent magazineGood morning.Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities, the Trump administration has announced – but it comes with caveats. Not only is the deal contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah armed group, and on the evacuation of all its fighters from the area south of the Litani River – but Hezbollah have not been part of the talks.Where has Israel been targeting? William Christou in Beirut reports that three hospitals in southern Lebanon have been attacked by Israel in under a week, wounding more than 150 people and killing nine. Analysts and human rights experts have said the attacks on healthcare facilities were aimed at degrading the conditions for life in south Lebanon.What did Israel say about it? The military said it had struck “Hezbollah infrastructure in the area of Tyre” and acknowledged a hospital was “affected incidentally”. It accused Hezbollah of “taking over” one of the hospitals it struck.Is that number significant? Yes, the 90-day threshold is important because the 1973 War Powers Resolution lays down that a president must seek congressional approval to continue waging war after hostilities have continued that length of time. Trump’s White House has rejected that argument, citing a temporary ceasefire that has been in place since 8 April – although it has been broken several times by the US, Israel and Iran. Continue reading...

White House says caps will lower tuition costs, but critics say they will exacerbate the country’s nursing shortageSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailWhile the Trump administration has argued that new restrictions on the size of federal student loans will lower tuition costs, public health officials and Democrats say the measures will exacerbate the country’s serious nursing shortage.As such, a group of 24 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia recently sued the federal government seeking to block the new rule, which is set to take effect on 1 July. Continue reading...

• The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is considering imposing additional tariffs of 12.5% on India and 53 other nations as part of a Section 301 investigation. • In response to these potential duties, India is seeking to resolve the dispute through strategic trade negotiations and agreements. • This move comes amid broader economic tensions and the potential for increased protectionism under a possible second Trump administration.

The US said the ceasefire was contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militiaIsrael and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire to end hostilities, the Trump administration has announced, as the US looks to overcome one of the largest barriers to reaching a broader deal to end the war with Iran.The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia and the evacuation of all its operatives from the country’s south, a joint statement released by the US state department said after negotiations in Washington. Continue reading...

Stunning rebuke to president as lawmakers vote 215-208 for measure forcing him to seek congressional approvalThe US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats. Continue reading...

Order strips job protections from workers earning up to about $200,000 a year and deemed to be ‘influencing’ policyDonald Trump has signed an executive order making it easier to fire thousands of the best-paid workers in the US government aspart of a broader drive by his administration to overhaul the federal workforce.The order, released by the White House and the office of personnel management (OPM) on Wednesday, strips job protections from a mostly senior group of federal workers – about 8,000 employees – earning up to almost $200,000 a year, and who are deemed to be “influencing” government policy. Continue reading...