Tag Archives: glance

The Trump administration will start mass layoffs of federal workers if the president decides negotiations to end the government shutdown are “absolutely going nowhere,” a senior White House official has said. Kevin Hassett told CNN he still saw a chance that Democrats would back down, but added that Trump was “getting ready to act” if he has to. No tangible signs of negotiations have emerged between congressional leaders since Trump met with them last week. The shutdown began on 1 October, after Senate Democrats rejected a short-term funding measure that would keep federal agencies open through to 21 November. Democrats are demanding that funding include healthcare measures for low-income Americans. “They’ve refused to talk with us,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told CBS, saying the impasse could be solved only by further talks between Trump and the four...

Donald Trump has escalated tensions between Washington and one of its closest Latin American allies, declaring the US will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because its president, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production. Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” in a post on the Truth Social platform and warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”. Later on Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Colombia had “no fight against drugs” and “they are a drug-manufacturing machine” with “a lunatic” for a president. He said he would announce new tariffs on Monday. Here are the key US politics stories at a glance:Trump calls Petro a ‘drug dealer’ as US says...

Washington, D.C. is bracing for heightened security measures as the political and legal turbulence surrounding former U.S. President Donald Trump intensifies. In a significant development, three additional states have confirmed they will deploy National Guard units to bolster the capital’s security posture, extending the crackdown already under way in response to a volatile mix of legal battles, political demonstrations, and public safety concerns. National Guard Deployment Widens Officials in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania confirmed late Monday evening that their respective governors had approved the deployment of additional National Guard contingents to Washington, D.C. The decision, coordinated with federal agencies and the District’s mayor’s office, comes amid fears of renewed unrest following Trump’s recent court appearances and mounting pressure from both his supporters and opponents. According to Pentagon sources, the reinforcements will primarily support crowd-control operations, protect federal buildings,...

Donald Trump has told European leaders he believes a peace deal could be negotiated if the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, agrees to give up the Donbas region, which Russian invaders have not been able to seize in over three years of fighting, the New York Times reported on Saturday after his summit with Vladimir Putin. Two sources with direct knowledge of the talks in Alaska told the Guardian that Putin demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donbas, which is made up of the Donestk and Luhansk regions, as a condition for ending the war, but offered Trump a freeze along the remaining frontline. Although Luhansk is almost entirely under Russian control, Ukraine still holds key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and heavily fortified positions whose defence has cost tens of thousands of lives. Here are...